3.1.1  Identify service needs

Departments and agencies across jurisdictions are responsible for delivering particular services in line with their government's overarching service delivery goals and priorities and for ensuring that they have the necessary physical assets/infrastructure to achieve these goals. Infrastructure investment forms a key aspect of achieving government's service delivery outcomes.

Departments and agencies should undertake their asset/infrastructure planning within their government's overall framework. Where their asset strategy indicates that existing assets are insufficient to sustain appropriate service delivery levels, new capital works may be considered as a cost-effective option for service delivery.

While each jurisdiction will have its own asset management framework, typical aspects of the process will involve departments and agencies:

•  defining their service/business outcomes, and ensuring that these are consistent with their government's goals, strategies and priorities, such as health, education, transport and metropolitan and regional development. They should examine opportunities for collaboration and integration of their strategic planning with that of other departments and agencies, where this will lead to better service outcomes for the community;

•  considering what services are required and how these can be delivered sustainably within existing resource limits;

•  considering demand management and non-build or less asset-intensive solutions to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery strategies;

•  examining opportunities to improve the performance of their existing asset/infrastructure base (portfolio). They should ensure that assets align with service/business needs, asset-related risks to services are monitored and managed, existing assets are properly maintained and surplus assets are appropriately divested;

•  identifying as far as practicable the performance based requirements for the infrastructure needed to sustainably support agreed service/business outcomes. Generally, these requirements would include social, environmental and economic parameters; and

•  identifying financing options for asset management projects and programs.

Departments and agencies should plan new infrastructure investment only if the assets are required for service delivery and resources are likely to be available.