Media release: Contracting non-government organisations

The Auditor-General for New South Wales, Margaret Crawford, today released a report on how the Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) is contracting non-government organisations (NGOs) to deliver community services in the Permanency Support Program (a component of out-of-home-care services) and Specialist Homelessness Services.

The report found that FACS needs to do more to demonstrate it is effectively and efficiently contracting NGOs to deliver these services. It notes that FACS is moving to an outcomes-based commissioning model and recommends this be escalated to align with government policy.

The current procurement approach restricts the selection of NGOs to current market participants. This limits the entry of new service providers to the market and also means FACS may miss the opportunity to benchmark existing providers against the whole market. 

When assessing the performance of NGOs, FACS validates financial data but there is only limited validation of self-reported information about client services. This audit also found that FACS does not provide contract management staff with sufficient training, support or guidance to identify errors or inaccurate reporting by NGOs.

Further information

Please contact Barry Underwood, Director of the Office of the Auditor-General by email or on 9275 7101 or 0403 073 664