Appendix 2B Government and administrative policy for asset management in Victoria

Return to Contents of Part 2

Government and administrative policy for asset management in Victoria is evolving, and is recorded in various types of documents. Prior to asset management implementation, the applicability of administrative policy documents needs to be considered by management.

Sources
Documents which have been used as sources throughout Part 2 of the Asset Management Series are listed below.

Budget and Expenditure Review Committee, 1993
Budget Sector Asset Management Principles

Department of the Treasury (Victoria) 1994
Infrastructure Investment Policy for Victoria

Victorian Government.
Budget Information Paper No. 1 –
Public Sector Capital Works, 1994–95

Victorian Government
Budget Paper No. 2 – Budget Performance
and Outlook, 1995–96

Victorian Government
Budget Paper No. 2 – Budget Performance
and Outlook, 1994–95

Victorian Government
Budget Paper No. 2 – Budget Strategy
and Review, 1993–94

Outcomes
As outlined in Budget Paper No. 2 – Budget Strategy and Review, 1993–94, the Government’s asset management principles and policies aim to:

• place accountability for effective asset planning, management and performance with departmental managers;

• improve departmental financial and asset information by ensuring that comprehensive asset registers (including valuation data, expenditure histories, performance details and condition assessments) are established and regularly updated by departments, and reviewed to determine asset performance;

• provide incentives for more efficient asset management by ensuring that the costs of capital funds and assets used by departments are identified and provided for in their budgets;

• ensure that departments evaluate capital works proposals against all ‘non-asset’ solutions (for example, outsourcing, joint venture arrangements, or management of demand through price or similar mechanisms);

• provide a framework to link departments’ service delivery objectives and targets, forward budget estimates, and plans for asset acquisition, use, maintenance and disposal on at least a five-year horizon;

• ensure that departments’ asset planning fully reveals costs and asset management risks and provides clear service outcomes for comparison with ‘best practice’ standards;

• provide departments with capital and asset cost profiles comparable with those of the private sector, which are consistent with the Government’s competitive neutrality policy; and

• improve the capacity for overall departmental management, including interdepartmental transfer of under-performing assets and more efficient disposal.

Return to Contents of Part 2