Assurance and Technical Advisor for the Inland Rail Interface Improvement Program

Background

Since February 2020, NineSquared has been assisting the Australian Government Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts through the provision of assurance and technical advice on the development of private and government proposals sponsored under the Australian Government’s $44 million Inland Rail Interface Improvement Program (IIP). The objective of this program is to enable local communities, industry and government to identify and assess projects that could potentially increase and maximise the long-term benefit of Inland Rail’s connections to the national freight rail network. 

Our role

NineSquared is the lead advisor for the program and is responsible for coordinating assurance and technical advice for 38 proposals being developed by the private sector and government Projects across three states have been reviewed across pre-feasibility, feasibility and strategic business case stages of the project development process. In all, this has involved over 120 reviews. 

Our responsibilities include: 

• Designing a “Gateway” assessment framework used to evaluate proposals, based on Gateway frameworks currently used by several Australian states and also incorporating aspects of Infrastructure Australia’s Assessment Framework 
• Developing an evaluation framework, tools and templates for reports 
• Evaluation assessments across two EOI Calls for proposals 
• Assessing and progressing pre-feasibility, feasibility, and strategic business case submissions through assurance gateways 
• Prepare guidance material for successful proponents when conducting regulatory and environmental/heritage assessments, freight and demand analysis, and rapid economic assessments for IIP Gate Submissions 
• Preparing information and undertaking feedback sessions with unsuccessful proponents 
• Providing independent advice on the quality of IIP proposals 
• Providing advice on the application of assessment criteria used to evaluate proposals covered by the IIP 
• Providing other technical advice required during the delivery of the program 
• Developing a program management/scheduling framework to track the progress of all proposals under development. 

Our work with the IIP has ensure a consistent governance and assurance framework is in place to assist IIP Proponents with the best chance of success when developing their proposals. Also, our advisory role to the Department has been aimed at ensuring the practical infrastructure, assurance and program management support is provided to the project team responsible for managing the IIP. 

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