Participation

The II Program is based on a best practice gateway assessment approach to building proposals from ideas to strategic business cases. The II Program is based on an assessment process consisting of four gateways. To get started, applicants were required to address the criteria for Gate 1.

Find out more about the 4 step gateway process.

Participation in the II Program involves the following steps:

Step 1: Submit an Expression of Interest (EOI)

Applicants provide sufficient information to be assessed against the Gate 1 criteria (see Sections 1 to 4 in the II Program Gateway Road Map.) Project proposals that meet the objectives and eligibility requirements of the II Program are then assigned a business advisor to help develop the proposal through the relevant gates.

Joint submissions from multiple stakeholders are welcome.

Step 2: EOI Submission Assessment

After the close of an EOI submission window, the Department and an independent Assurance and Technical Advisor (NineSquared) assess each submission.

To be eligible for the II Program the submission must address the Gate 1 criteria as a minimum. However, some prospective proponents may already have detailed information and analysis to support their ideas and it is possible that at the Gate 1 assessment some ideas may be considered sufficiently developed to jump to future Gates.

Step 3: Project Planning

The proponents of eligible proposals are matched with a business advisor and proceed to the next stage. The business advisor initially works with proponents to develop a project plan that will refine the information provided in an EOI submission. This typically takes 20 business days.

The proponent provides input and guidance to the business advisors on the scope of the proposal, work done to date, stakeholders and other aspects of the proposal to address the information requirements appropriate to the II Program gateway process.

The business advisors will draft the project plans and proponents will review the project plans prior to submission.

The project plan is then submitted to the department and the Assurance and Technical Advisor for review. The project plan must be approved by the department’s II Program Oversight, Assurance and Governance committee before further work on the proposal can proceed.

Step 4: Proposal Development

The business advisor works with proponents to undertake the research and analysis required to progress a proposal through the appropriate gateway.

Most proposals will need to progress as a pre-feasibility study to be assessed at Gate 2. This stage typically takes three to four months, with a mid-project review of progress that may further refine a proposal.

Regardless of the Gate, a proposal is assessed against the appropriate information requirements to determine whether or not it will be further developed. While certain information is mandatory at a given gateway, the department will consider all relevant information made available by the proponent and its allocated business advisor.

The business advisor will assist in all aspects of the pre-feasibility, feasibility and strategic business case development as relevant to the proposal. The studies will become more detailed and complex as an idea progresses through the gateways; however, the gateway road map is designed to build on the work previously undertaken.

Also, across all Gates, the “economy of effort principle” applies. That is, the detail and robustness of the information required by the department will reflect the complexity of the proposal.

Depending on the complexity of the proposal, it is likely to take up to 12 months to progress through to Gate 4 and a final assessment of the strategic business case. Please note that passing Gate 1 and Gate 2 does not guarantee that the proposal will ultimately be developed into a strategic business case. While participation in the program will be at no financial cost to the proponent, they, must be able to dedicate in-kind support while working with the consultant.