Major Projects Performance Reporting 2024

We plan to determine whether the information that public entities provide Parliament and the community can be used to assess their major projects’ performance against expected cost, time, scope and benefits, and the impact of any changes to these parameters. 

Why this is important

The Victorian public sector’s major projects and other capital investments are a significant share (43.55 per cent) of the state’s average budget outlays over the forward estimates to 2026–27. Across the last decade, capital expenditure has grown, on average, by 15.79 per cent each year.

Overall government infrastructure investment is projected to average $19.6 billion a year over the current and budget forward estimates, with total estimated investment (TEI) of $200.63 billion in public sector capital projects.

Our previous audits and reviews of capital projects have found that public entities do not consistently and transparently report on their major projects’ performance. A major project is defined as a capital investment worth $100 million or more in TEI.

Parliament and the community need sufficient and meaningful information about the effectiveness of public investment in capital projects and whether original project expectations are being met. Better information would give a better understanding of outcomes and allow them to ask the responsible public entities about any variances to originally stated project goals.

This assurance review engagement is the fourth year of focus on the accountability and transparency gaps we have observed. This focus is likely to continue each year until public entities provide more meaningful public information about how their major projects are performing.

What we plan to examine

This is a limited assurance review.

We will assess whether Victoria's public sector transparently reports the performance of major projects against cost, time, scope and benefits.

We will specifically examine whether:

• the Department of Treasury and Finance (DTF) and responsible public entities consistently and transparently report major projects performance information to Parliament and the community
• major project performance is meaningfully reported against expected cost, time, scope and benefits, including the impact of any major changes to these parameters.

Who we plan to examine

DTF and responsible public entities allocated by budget papers or involved in delivering major projects.

Timeframe

2024‒25

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