Department of Trade, Business and Innovation cont… Conclusion The objective of the audit was to assess the performance management system in place at the Agency that enable it to manage the Project. It is my opinion that a robust competitive process was undertaken by DTBI to seek and evaluate the responses from private sector proponents at each stage of the competitive process. The governance documents, assessments, reports and documentation maintained by the evaluation committee were comprehensive. My opinion in relation to my assessment of the performance management system at the Agency that enable it to manage the Project should not be interpreted as a conclusion related to the probity of the processes leading to the announcement of the preferred proponent. Systems and processes are in place at the Agency to manage the Project. The audit identified that the Agency has some opportunities to enhance processes and systems relating to the Project. Recommendations Recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of the performance management system have been reported Enhance financial analysis Two cost benefit analyses were sought by LDC in relation to the Marine Industry Park as a whole. At the time of audit fieldwork, no cost benefit analysis had been performed by the Territory to determine the effects of increasing the Territory’s investment to $100 million or the risks and benefits associated with accepting terms proposed by the preferred proponent that were not consistent with those terms initially established prior to issuing the Request for Proposals. It would be prudent for the Territory to recalculate the net present value and undertake an updated cost benefit calculation to reflect key decisions including, but not limited to, levels of NT Government funding, variations to the length of the lease periods relevant to the Project and transactions relation to the contribution of land within the Marine Industry Precinct. I recommended the Agency consider updating the assessment of the cost benefit analysis attributable to the development of the Marine Maintenance Precinct including the Ship Lift in order to inform the decision to proceed or not to proceed with the Project at the conclusion of Phase One.
Department of Trade, Business and Innovation cont… Conclusion The objective of the audit was to assess the performance management system in place at the Agency that enable it to manage the Project. It is my opinion that a robust competitive process was undertaken by DTBI to seek and evaluate the responses from private sector proponents at each stage of the competitive process. The governance documents, assessments, reports and documentation maintained by the evaluation committee were comprehensive. My opinion in relation to my assessment of the performance management system at the Agency that enable it to manage the Project should not be interpreted as a conclusion related to the probity of the processes leading to the announcement of the preferred proponent. Systems and processes are in place at the Agency to manage the Project. The audit identified that the Agency has some opportunities to enhance processes and systems relating to the Project. Recommendations Recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of the performance management system have been reported Enhance financial analysis Two cost benefit analyses were sought by LDC in relation to the Marine Industry Park as a whole. At the time of audit fieldwork, no cost benefit analysis had been performed by the Territory to determine the effects of increasing the Territory’s investment to $100 million or the risks and benefits associated with accepting terms proposed by the preferred proponent that were not consistent with those terms initially established prior to issuing the Request for Proposals. It would be prudent for the Territory to recalculate the net present value and undertake an updated cost benefit calculation to reflect key decisions including, but not limited to, levels of NT Government funding, variations to the length of the lease periods relevant to the Project and transactions relation to the contribution of land within the Marine Industry Precinct. I recommended the Agency consider updating the assessment of the cost benefit analysis attributable to the development of the Marine Maintenance Precinct including the Ship Lift in order to inform the decision to proceed or not to proceed with the Project at the conclusion of Phase One.
2018_August.docx