Responsibilities of the Accountable Officer (Direction 10.1)

Responsibilities of the Accountable Officer (Direction 10.1)

Effective date: 1 July 2018

Principles

The nature of this Direction 10 is such that all of the procurement principles are relevant. However, of particular relevance are the procurement principles of accountability and scalability.

Recognising that all of the construction procurement principles are relevant to achieving accountability, of particular relevance to this Direction are the following construction procurement principles:

• conducting Public Construction Procurement in an open and transparent manner ensuring defensibility of processes
• fostering continuous improvement and building appropriate skills and capability in the conduct of Public Construction Procurement
• undertaking Public Construction Procurement in accordance with the relevant legislation, policy, guidance and any mandatory requirements in these Directions.

10.1 Responsibilities of the Accountable Officer

The Accountable Officer of each Agency must, with respect to their Agency:

(a) ensure the Agency is appropriately resourced with staff qualified and skilled to undertake Public Construction Procurement

(b) establish appropriate and effective governance frameworks to ensure compliance with these Directions and Instructions including appropriate record management systems

(c) ensure appropriate responsibility, authority and accountability for Public Construction Procurement is defined and allocated within the Accountable Officer's operating frameworks, including documenting:

(i) who is responsible for monitoring compliance with these Directions and Instructions

(ii) ensuring systems and processes to support compliance with these Directions and Instructions are in place

(iii) who is responsible and accountable for decision-making and any approvals required under these Directions and Instructions

(d) ensure that exemptions from these Directions and Instructions are sought and implemented appropriately.

Tools and support

Information on the transitional provisions for attestation are presented in the Fact sheet - Transition provisions for the introduction of the revised Ministerial Directions for Public Construction, available at Practitioners Toolkit - Fact sheets.

The Practitioners Toolkit includes key documents, guidance and information relating to the Ministerial Directions and Instructions.

For further information about the Ministerial Directions and Instruction for public construction procurement, please contact the Construction Policy Team.