Background

The CapSTAR (Capital Security, Technology, and Asset Refresh) Program’s aim is to refresh and maintain essential property and ICT assets, reduce risk in service delivery and to ensure our critical business systems are supported, patched and resilient.

One of the primary targets for the program is to enhance our ability to manage risk to information and systems through ICT remediation and uplift. Our aim is to remediate our department’s critical ICT property assets and reduce operational risk by uplifting the ICT fit out at DAFF sites across Australia.

Requirements

This assurance review provides an independent evaluation of our execution plan and strategy and a health check assessment for the ICT fit out stream in the CapSTAR program. This assessment will focus on the achievability of project objectives and delivery confidence with particular attention to scope, delivery planning, critical path dependencies and the capacity to meet planned objectives and milestones within the current intended schedule. It will culminate in a comprehensive “go forward” plan, to be implemented through collaborative leadership with the project team and its key stakeholders to address identified issues and improve the likelihood of successful delivery.

We require a provider to:

1. Engage relevant stakeholders and review existing project plans

2. Assess the progress and readiness of each of the projects to deliver according to their project management plans by:

• Reviewing the projects’ internal governance structures, planning, resourcing, and decision-making processes.
• Identify cultural and organisational barriers to effective delivery and outcomes adoption.
• Reviewing project plans and related documentation to:

          - Evaluate the core suit of project documents, supplemented by interviews with key stakeholders.

          - Assess the project strategy and approach including scope, delivery plan, critical path dependencies and the capacity to meet objectives and milestones.

        - Review of scope and performance of contracts related to delivery.

• Assess the stream’s ability to achieve the expected outcomes and benefits.

3. Develop findings and a comprehensive “go forward” plan. This should assess whether the project strategy and technical approach are appropriate for achieving the desired outcomes, identify necessary changes, and address improvements to the delivery approach.

Indicative deliverables/milestones

1. Interim findings report (delivered by day 8).
2. Final assurance review report (delivered by day 15), outlining key findings, recommendations and comprehensive “go-forward” plan.
3. Executive briefing presentation (delivered by day 17) summarising findings, recommendations and any suggested interventions.
4. Implementation of the “go-forward” plan (delivered by day 30) guide the start-up and initial implementation through collaborative leadership and immersion with the project team and its key stakeholders to address identified issues and improve the likelihood of successful delivery.
5. Progress reports delivered weekly, summarising progress to date against the key deliverables, highlighting key achievements and identifying any issues or risks requiring escalation.

Other Information

• A Delivery Confidence Assessment approach is envisaged with focus on the objectives and scope identified above.
• The department will facilitate the provision of documentation, interview scheduling and provide meeting rooms as required, noting that some of the meetings may be conducted virtually via Microsoft Teams.
• The successful vendor will provide their own equipment (e.g., laptop) and all necessary tools to complete the review.