The Asset Management Policy for the NSW Public Sector (AM Policy) was released and published in October 2019. There is a 12-month implementation phase between the release date and effective date of the policy. The effective date of the policy is 02 November 2020; however, agencies may wish to apply for ‘Transitional Arrangements’, which provides additional time (up to June 2024) to meet the core requirements of the AM Policy.

Transitional Arrangements

For Existing Agencies – Requests from agencies’ Accountable Authority can be directed to NSW Treasury, care of the Director Capital Strategy – NSW Treasury; and, copying in Infrastructure NSW (Executive Director Asset Management) and the Office of the Government Chief Information and Digital Officer (Government Chief Information and Digital Officer) - (capitalbudget@treasury.nsw.gov.au, assetmanagementcop@infrastructure.nsw.gov.au, and digital.nsw@customerservice.nsw.gov.au)

Agencies seeking transitional arrangements are to prepare an implementation plan (‘road map’) demonstrating the timeframe and annual milestones for how the agency will achieve compliance with the policy. These implementation plans are not required to be submitted with letters requesting Transitional Arrangements; however, agencies should outline in their requests, the work undertaken to date to develop their implementation plans.

Note, implementation plans need to be submitted as part of the Attestation process, which aligns with the budget timeframes, which will be announced in due course.

New Agencies - i.e. those agencies that were stood up following the publication of the policy (31 October 2019), have a transition period of 24 months from the date of their inclusion in the Government Sector Finance Act 2018 to meet the requirements of the AM Policy. New Agencies are not required in 2020/21 budget cycle to lodge a formal request for Transitional Arrangements.

Strategic Asset Management Plans (SAMPs) and Asset Management Plans (AMPs)

Agencies granted Transitional Arrangements are not absolved from adhering to the requirements of the Budget Process. As part of Outcomes Budgeting, the Expenditure Review Committee (ERC) will consider the impact of the Agencies’ individual SAMP and AMPs on their overall performance. This means Agencies will need to provide evidence of the connection between their SAMPs and AMPs to their outcomes and programs, as set out in their cluster Outcomes Business Plans. For further advice on Outcomes Budgeting, please refer to the NSW Treasury website for more information.

Asset Management Assurance Framework

In accordance with the recommendations of the State Infrastructure Strategy 2018-2038, Infrastructure NSW is developing an Asset Management Assurance Framework that will objectively assess the maturity of an agency’s asset management framework and its performance.

Building asset management capability and support for agencies

Building and sustaining a level of asset management capability is necessary to allow agencies to deliver the following improvements to state outcomes:

• Increase the level of asset management maturity of NSW public sector agencies in line with accepted industry standards to be able to manage the State’s growing asset base
• Demonstrate and increase economic and social benefit of current assets through better asset management and planning
• Decease life cycle operating costs through risk-based preventative maintenance regimes. Increase return on assets through improving commercial value and performance of assets
• Prospectively identify the optimal asset maintenance regime and any upfront expenditure required with consideration to criticality and economic outcomes.

Support for agencies

The following programs are available to support agencies build their asset management capability: