About this report or communique
Report of the Auditor-General No. 10 of 2024-25: Effectiveness of shared services arrangements in the General Government Sector
In the Tasmanian Government context, shared services are when a larger government entity provides services such as human resources and payroll, finance, ICT, and fleet and property management for a smaller government entity.
We selected 3 shared services arrangements to assess if their design and delivery was effective, efficient, and economical.
We concluded that shared services arrangements were, in part, effectively designed and delivered. Findings related to:
- inadequate planning for shared service arrangements because of the speed at which Machinery of Government (MOG) changes need to be implemented
- inadequate assessments to support decisions to renew arrangements
- documented agreements missing key elements that could reasonably be expected in a contemporary Service Level Agreement (SLA)
- performance assessment of shared service arrangements lacking formality and appropriate performance measures.
However, we were unable to form a conclusion about the efficiency or economy of shared service arrangements as sufficient evidence was not available.
We directed recommendations to the Department of Premier and Cabinet, service providers and recipients to address these exceptions and the limitation on the audit scope.