Title: The Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2 Webinar—Webinar Information Session

Good morning/afternoon.

I’d like to welcome you to today’s information session on the Grant Guidelines for the Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2.

Before we commence, I’d like to respectfully acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the land on which we meet today. I would also like to pay respect to the Elders, both past and present, and to any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who are in attendance.

Today we will provide you with information on the Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2, including outlining the Government’s broader expectations for the Youth Employment Strategy. We will also provide you with details on the grant process that was released on the 10 October.

The Department of Employment is committed to ensuring the Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2 grants process is conducted in a fair and transparent manner. The Department has appointed Maddocks Lawyers as the independent Probity Adviser to assist and monitor the Department’s compliance with probity principles.

We recognise that you will have questions and we will answer as many as possible today, but there may be some that we need to take on notice and come back to you with a response. Responses will be published on the Employment Services Procurement Information website. A list of Questions and Answers are already currently available on this website.

If you have further questions following today’s session, you may send them by email to the Employment Services Purchasing Hotline.

A slide at the end of today’s presentation has the contact details for both the Employment Services Procurement Information website and the Employment Services Purchasing Hotline. The addresses are also set out in the Grant Guidelines under “Contact Details”.

A copy of the PowerPoint slides used in this presentation will be available on the Department’s website after all the sessions have been delivered.

Title: Overview

I will start by providing a background, including:

An overview of the Empowering Youth Initiatives; The target population and priority groups for the second round of funding; Applicant eligibility for Round 2; Information on innovation; Funding arrangements; and How the initiatives will be evaluated.

Some of you may be familiar with Round 1 of the Empowering YOUth Initiatives. Whilst core objectives are the same, Round 2 is slightly different to Round 1: there are changes to some of the processes and target groups. Where this is the case, a green ‘Round 2’ triangle has been included in this presentation (which you can see in the top right hand corner of this slide).

We will then spend some time talking about probity and purchasing arrangements before moving onto the application and selection process.

This will include:

going through the selection process and criteria outlined in the Grant Guidelines; other things you need to consider with your application including, for example,

completing an Initiative Proposal; and the process for lodging an application.

Title: The Empowering YOUth Initiatives—Overview of the Initiative

We will start with an overview of the Empowering YOUth Initiatives.

Title: Growing Jobs and Small Business Package

The Empowering YOUth Initiatives is part of the Youth Employment Strategy announced in the Growing Jobs and Small Business Package of the 2015-16 Budget.

This package has three key areas of focus:

Measures to help disengaged young people become job ready; Measures to help employers take on unemployed young people; and Measures to encourage job seekers to look for work.

The Youth Employment Strategy includes $55 million to fund organisations to deliver the Empowering YOUth Initiatives to assist vulnerable young people into employment or onto the pathway to employment.

Title: What is the Empowering YOUth Initiatives?

So what is the Empowering YOUth Initiatives?

The department is interested in funding a range of organisations that have ideas to assist young people who are long-term unemployed or at risk of long-term unemployment into sustainable work.

Applications are sought from not-for-profit, non-government organisations with new or different approaches that may help young people at any stage in their transition to employment.

$55 million is available to conduct a range of innovative initiatives over four years.

Funding is provided for around 40 initiatives delivered across at least two funding rounds. Nineteen initiatives received funding in Round 1. The second round is seeking around 20 initiatives, to commence from late February 2017.

Initiatives are expected to be of various sizes and durations. However, each will operate for up to two years.

Learnings from the initiatives will inform future service delivery for young people.

In doing so, the department will collaborate with organisations to collect the evidence that will inform these changes.

Title: What is contributing to youth unemployment?

So, why are we focusing on young people?

Young people are over represented in the unemployment rate.

Young people will generally have less experience than the older, working community and can find it difficult to gain a foothold in the labour market.

They are double the national unemployment average with around 1 in 9 young people not in work and not attending full-time education.

Of particular concern, the burden of long-term unemployment is falling increasingly on young people. They now comprise nearly 26 per cent of all long-term unemployment.

Despite significant investment over a number of years, youth employment remains a challenge.

Many of the issues preventing youth employment are persistent and seemingly unmanageable in nature. It is imperative that we look at new ways of addressing these issues.

Title: Objectives of the Empowering YOUth Initiatives

The overarching objective of the Empowering YOUth Initiatives is to help young people get a job – this remains the same for Round 2. We are seeking new or different ways to meet this objective.

We are seeking initiatives that will identify new approaches, develop new partnerships and harness technology to meet the diverse needs of young people on their path to employment.

We have broken down the overarching objective into three parts. We will be going through these in more detail when discussing the selection criteria.

The first part is helping young people at risk of long-term unemployment to find and keep a job.

This includes:

preventing vulnerable young people from becoming unemployed; addressing barriers young people may have to getting a job; and if they do get work, assisting them to keep employment.

(Note: objectives parts 2 and 3 on next slide)

Title: Objectives of the Empowering YOUth Initiatives (cont.)

The second part is about identifying innovative approaches with the greatest potential to achieve an employment outcome for young people who are at risk of long-term unemployment, and to prevent long-term welfare dependency.

Many communities, including online communities, are already doing things or have great ideas to help young people.

We need ideas that offer new or different ways to help young people that explore innovative approaches to service delivery and are creative in engaging with young people on their path to employment.

The last part is about the learnings from these initiatives and how these will assist Government to enhance current and future service delivery to young people.

Learnings may be about what works and why, but there can also be value in learning from what didn’t work and why. The Department understands that innovation requires a tolerance for experimentation and for failure. Initiatives which do not necessarily meet their objectives can still provide valuable contributions to future policy design.

The Department and successful organisations will collaborate to identify the key information required to evaluate the initiatives. This will enable organisations to capture the relevant information to support these learnings.

Title: Who will the Empowering YOUth Initiatives target?

The broad focus of this initiative is on young people aged 15-24 who are either long-term unemployed or at risk of becoming long-term unemployed.

The risk factors for long-term unemployment are often complex and varied and can include young people who:

are homeless or at risk of homelessness; have a disability that reduces their capacity to participate in education or employment; are in, or leaving, out-of-home care; live in a jobless family; have a history of offending; or live in areas with high levels of social disadvantage or with poor labour markets.

The target group is any 15-24 year old who may face these risks, including young people who are on income support, for example Youth Allowance or Newstart Allowance, and receiving assistance in employment services, where their provider agrees that participation in Empowering YOUth Initiatives would suit their individual circumstances. This could include a job seeker already registered with:

jobactive; Transition to Work; Disability Employment Services; or the Community Development Programme.

Similar to Round 1, young people participating in Transition to Work are eligible to participate in Empowering YOUth Initiatives. However, they are expected to be receiving intensive assistance from their Transition to Work provider and may not be available to participate in more intensive Empowering Youth Initiatives measures.

Importantly, young people who are not on income support may also participate in initiative, and there is no requirement for a participant to register for any employment service.

As part of their application, an organisation will need to explain how they will identify and engage participants that they target for their initiative.

Title: The Empowering YOUth Initiatives – Round 2 Focus Areas

In this second funding round, preference will be given to innovative proposals that focus on one or more of the following priority groups:

young people in areas of Australia with high youth unemployment; young people who come from an Indigenous background ; apprenticeships and traineeships; and/or creating new pathways to employment, or major improvements to pathways for young

people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Like Round 1, the Department may consider applications that do not seek to address these priority groups, where their proposal identifies a demonstrated pressing local need, takes advantage of a time-limited opportunity or represents significant value for money.

Title: Organisations Eligible to Apply

In terms of organisation eligibility for Round 2, applications are welcomed from all types of not-for-profit, non-government organisations including:

Sole Traders; Single organisations; and Or Group applicants, including:

o A consortium;o Joint ventures;o Partnerships; oro Other alliances.

Not-for-profit organisations contracted to provide existing employment services are eligible to apply for the second round of the Empowering YOUth Initiatives, providing they meet all other eligibility requirements. This includes jobactive, Transition to Work, Disability Employment Services and Community Development Programme providers.

Expanding eligibility for Round 2 to allow employment service providers recognises the experience some of these providers have delivering services to young people.

However, the Empowering YOUth Initiatives must not duplicate existing employment services or propose enhancements that would be expected as part of continual improvement for existing employment providers.

Not-for-profit organisations who applied for Round 1 can apply for Round 2, provided they meet all eligibility requirements.

Title: What is considered an innovative idea in the Empowering YOUth Initiatives?

So what does the Department mean by innovation?

Innovation broadly is the process of turning new ideas into something of value.

Social innovation is defined by the Stanford Graduate School of Business as “a novel solution to a social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable, or just, than present solutions and for which the value created accrues primarily to society as a whole rather than private individuals.“

Social innovation usually involves the generation of new ideas and ways of doing things, or the adaption of old ideas and practices, to provide a better solution to a social problem.

Without seeking to limit ideas, social innovation could involve:

meeting an identified social need within a community in a new way; creating a new relationship or collaboration; and/or getting greater community involvement to address a social problem.

Title: What is considered an innovative idea in the Empowering YOUth Initiatives? (cont.)

The aim of the Empowering YOUth Initiatives is to support a diverse range of approaches to improve employment outcomes for young people.

Organisations can propose any initiative within the scope set out in the Grant Guidelines as long as proposals do not replicate the Government’s current employment services. Applications can offer innovative activities that complement existing employment services, but must not replicate them. For example, case management is a core part of existing employment services, so we would expect that if case management forms part of an applicant’s initiative idea, the applicant would consider if this is essential to their proposed initiative, or whether they could achieve similar outcomes through a new method.

It’s not easy to describe the types of innovative initiatives we seek – there is no list and we don’t want to limit creativity. Innovative approaches could include:

Product innovation, which is the creation and subsequent introduction of a good or service that is either new, or is an improved version of previous goods or services.

Process innovation, which is the application or introduction of a new technology or method for doing something that helps an organisation remain competitive and meet customer demands.

Organisational innovation, this is the implementation of a new organisational method in the organisation’s business practices, workplace organisation or external relations.

Marketing innovation, which is the incorporation of advances in marketing science, technology or engineering to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of marketing (e.g. improving an organisation’s strategy, research, communications, operations, and analysis), to gain a competitive advantage and increase shareholder value. This could, for example, involve improving a young person’s engagement through a marketing technique.

And finally, collaboration in innovation, which is the process of two or more people or organisations working together to realise or achieve something successfully. The Department encourages applicants to show how and with who they are collaborating to innovate and is especially interested in how they are collaborating with clients and youth.

What we do want is for a strong case to be made as to why your idea is innovative and how it will help young people on their path to employment. This may include:

Evidence or studies supporting the proposed idea Existing overseas models that are similar or support the proposal An organisation’s experience or history working with young people or delivering similar

initiatives.

However, we realise every application is likely to be different in how they support their approach.

Title: Where can an initiative operate?

There are no formal limits or boundaries as to where an initiative can operate.

Initiatives can be conducted across multiple locations, including online, to meet the needs of the targeted young people.

However, young people in areas of Australia with high youth unemployment are a priority for Round 2.

Each initiative must have at least 100 participants over the course of the initiative. This will support the collection of meaningful data to assist with future service delivery and policy design.

Title: How will the Empowering YOUth Initiatives interact with other employment services?

jobactive: The Empowering YOUth Initiatives will operate as a separate, yet complementary, service to jobactive and other employment services.

Young people who are receiving assistance from jobactive providers may participate in the Empowering YOUth Initiatives and this may, under certain circumstances, contribute toward meeting their mutual obligation requirements.

Participation in an initiative could be considered an activity similar to other approved activities in employment services.

As a participant will remain in jobactive, providers are still required to support these young people to meet their mutual obligation requirements, for example, their ongoing job search requirements.

Providers will continue to claim Administration Fees and outcome payments for jobactive eligible participants on their caseload in the Empowering YOUth Initiatives.

Transition to Work: Job seekers participating in Transition to Work will generally not be available to participate concurrently in the Empowering YOUth Initiatives. This is because the young person would be expected to be receiving intensive assistance through Transition to Work.

There may be exceptions where the initiative is complementary and does not compete with or otherwise interrupt the job seeker’s participation in Transition to Work. For example, a Transition to Work job seeker may be available to take part in an initiative using technology to link young people to employers.

Disability Employment Services: Young people who are receiving assistance through Disability Employment Services may participate in an initiative where their provider agrees their participation would suit the young person’s individual circumstances.

Community Development Programme: Young people who are receiving assistance through the Community Development Programme may be able to participate in an initiative, determined on a case-by-case basis by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

As I have already mentioned, not-for-profit employment service providers are now eligible for Round 2 of the Empowering YOUth Initiatives. However, providers must submit an initiative idea which does not duplicate existing employment services or propose enhancements that would be expected as part of continual improvement for existing employment providers.

(Note: participation in the Empowering YOUth Initiatives is voluntary and, as such, job seekers might go directly to an organisation to participate and may not disclose participation to their provider.)

Title: Funding

In Round 2, applicants may submit a proposal worth up to the funding limit of $5 million. This has changed from the three separate funding categories of Round 1.

Applicants can only submit one application as a sole trader or single organisation. They may also submit an additional application as a member of a group, so long as each application proposes a different initiative idea.

This will simplify the assessment process and will encourage organisations to submit their best proposal.

The funding level nominated by the organisation is the total amount of funding that can be received over the duration of the initiative.

All applications should be GST inclusive.

Title: Funding Arrangements

A Funding Agreement will be developed with each organisation selected to deliver an initiative.

To help with start-up costs, a payment of 40% of total funding will generally be payable at the time the Funding Agreement is executed.

The Funding Agreement between the Department and the organisation will link additional payments with key deliverables.

Due to the unique nature of each initiative, appropriate payment milestones will be developed on an case-by-case basis and may include:

submitting progress reports; collecting data and information required for evaluation; and initiative specific milestones.

This will be detailed in the Funding Agreement developed with each organisation.

Title: How will we learn from the initiatives?

The Department will conduct an evaluation of each initiative at the end of the initiative.

To assist with this evaluation, successful organisations are required to capture data and information including, but not necessarily limited to:

participant information (such as demographics); data and information specific to each initiative; and where practical, data on comparable young people who do not participate in the

initiative.

Comparable people could mean young people who are considered eligible for your program but do not participate in it. This is very possible where referrals come from existing programs such as Transition to Work, jobactive or an organisation’s own existing programs.

This data will be set out in a successful organisation’s Funding Agreement and is the bare minimum to meet the requirements of evaluation.

Title: Assessing an organisation’s ‘ability to be evaluated’

We can work with you to improve your ability to be evaluated. Applicants shortlisted during the Expression of Interest stage (which will be discussed later in this presentation) will receive feedback from the Department to strengthen their Initiative Proposal application.

When providing feedback to shortlisted applicants for Round 2, we will refer to a standard of evidence to provide suggestions to improve the applicant’s ability to be evaluated.

The framework which will be used is the NESTA standard of evidence framework.

Title: Empowering YOUth Initiatives—Probity and Purchasing Arrangements

Title: Grant Application Process - Overview

In this part of the session I will cover:

o the objectives of the grant application process, including factors that will be taken into account when assessing applications;

probity principles; some aspects of electronic lodgement; eligibility to submit an application; financial viability and other checks; and some aspects of entering into a Funding Agreement with the Department.

You can find detailed explanations and further information on these topics in Chapters 3 to 7 of the Grant Guidelines.

You are strongly encouraged to read the Grant Guidelines as they set out the definitive requirements for Round 2.

Title: Grant Process Objectives

The Department will offer grants to eligible applicants with innovative, new or different approaches to support vulnerable young people at any stage in their transition from education to employment.

Grant processes are governed by the Commonwealth Grant Rules and Guidelines, which establish the overarching Commonwealth grants policy framework.

There are seven key principles for grants administration, including achieving value with relevant money, robust planning and design, and probity and transparency.

When approving a grant, the key consideration for the Department will be achieving value with relevant money.

Decisions made by the Department are not appealable. Unsuccessful applicants can lodge a complaint about the process, but not that their application should have been considered more favourably against the published assessment criteria.

Title: Probity Principles

The Department of Employment is committed to ensuring that the Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2 grants process is conducted in a fair and transparent manner. In light of this, the key probity principles for purchasing are:

Fairness and impartiality; Consistency and transparency; Encouraging competition and participation; Identifying and managing conflicts of interest; Security and confidentiality; Compliance with relevant legislative obligations and the Commonwealth Grant Rules

Guidelines; and Establishing and maintaining a clear audit trail.

As mentioned previously, the Department has appointed Maddocks Lawyers as the independent external Probity Adviser. The role of the probity adviser is to advise the Delegate on the probity and integrity of the grants process, conduct appropriate probity training and advise on relevant security arrangements.

In addition to the external probity adviser, there is a Complaints Handling process in place. Any issues relating to the integrity of the grants process can be raised directly with the Department’s legal adviser. Details on the Complaints Handling process are provided in the Grant Guidelines.

Title: The Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2—

This part of the session will provide a short overview of the application and selection process for Round 2 of the Empowering YOUth Initiatives.

Title: Application and Selection Process

The grants process will take a two-stage approach.

Stage 1 will involve the receipt and shortlisting of applications based on responses to the two selection criteria. The focus here is on the “idea”, how it meets the objectives of the Empowering YOUth Initiatives and how innovative it is.

Applicants shortlisted from Stage 1 will progress to Stage 2. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to engage with the Department to submit an Initiative Proposal. Stage 2 will be more detailed and will require applicants to respond to four selection criteria. This proposal will include initiative implementation details, such as a detailed budget and information on governance arrangements.

Applicants can only submit one application as a sole trader or single organisation. They may also submit an additional application as a member of a group, so long as each application proposes a different initiative idea.

In this part of the presentation, we will also be looking at other considerations for applicants such as Referee contacts, Declarations of Funding and details regarding the process for lodging an application.

Title: Stage 1 - Expression of Interest

Stage 1

Expression of Interest Selection Criterion 1 requires an applicant to describe the proposed initiative.

In preparing a response to this criterion, you should describe what your idea is and how it will improve the employment outcomes of young people within the targeted cohort.

This criterion is about describing your initiative, the challenges you aim to address for young people aged 15-24 and the opportunity to improve their employment outcomes. This should include how your initiative will contribute to the overarching objective of helping young people into work, such as:

Preventing a young person from becoming long-term unemployedo For example, this could include early interventions that will assist young people to

enter into and maintain employment.

Addressing barriers, including very complex and multiple barriers, to young people getting a job in the first placeo For example, these could be barriers that the young person may have or the negative

perceptions of young people by employers.

and,

assisting young people in sustaining employment once they do get a jobo For example, this could include working with employers, families or the community

as well as the young person themselves.

An initiative may cover one, two or all three of the objectives described above. For example, it might focus on working with young people who drift in and out of casual employment without securing the skills that can lead to more permanent employment.

This criterion carries a weighting of 40 per cent and is limited to 8,000 characters.

Title: Stage 1 - Expression of Interest (cont.)

Expression of Interest Selection Criterion 2, under Stage 1, focusses on how the proposed idea is innovative, new or different to current services.

As described earlier, we are looking for ideas that do not replicate current employment service and that demonstrate innovation. This could include innovation in products, processes, organisational practices, marketing and collaboration.

This criterion carries a weighting of 60 per cent and is limited to 4,000 characters.

Title: Shortlisted Applicants: Feedback and Meetings

Once Expression of Interest applications are shortlisted, these applicants will receive feedback and be invited to attend a meeting with the Department to discuss their proposed initiative.

The feedback may focus on opportunities to strengthen innovation and evaluation, for example:

Identifying areas considered highly innovative; Identifying areas potentially already available in other services; Identifying potential areas of collaboration; and/or Identifying opportunities to create comparable groups for evaluation, or test aspects of

the initiative services.

The meeting will run for approximately an hour and will provide an opportunity for the Department to share its views on what may increase the level of innovation and strengthen the initiative design. This meeting is optional and applicants can choose to incorporate the Department’s feedback into their Initiative Proposal.

Title: Stage 2 – Initiative Proposal

Applicants who are shortlisted at the end of Stage 1 will be invited to submit an Initiative Proposal as part of Stage 2.

In developing and submitting their Initiative Proposal in Stage 2, shortlisted applicants should respond to the Initiative Proposal Selection Criteria in Section 5.2 of the Grant Guidelines, which ask for greater detail about the proposed idea.

The Initiative Proposal is an opportunity to refine your idea based on feedback received from the Department. Your Stage 2 application cannot be fundamentally different from the idea proposed during the Expression of Interest stage.

Applicants will be asked to address four selection criterion during this stage.

Title: Stage 2 – Initiative Proposal (cont. 2)

This criterion asks you to explain and refine the ‘how, when, where and who’ of your idea. This may involve describing the problem your initiative will address and the opportunity you have identified to improve employment outcomes for your target group.

This criterion should include information from your initial Expression of Interest application at Stage 1 and any refinements to your initiative developed during Stage 2.

This criterion carries a weighting of 25 per cent and is limited to 8,000 characters.

Title: Stage 2 – Initiative Proposal (cont. 3)

Initiative Proposal Selection Criterion 2 asks you to describe the innovative aspects of your idea.

We are keen to understand how your initiative is new or different to services currently provided to the target group.

Like the first criterion, include information from the initial Expression of Interest submitted at Stage 1 and any refinements to your initiative developed during Stage 2.

This criterion carries a weight of 25 per cent and is limited to 4,000 characters.

Title: Stage 2 – Initiative Proposal (cont. 4)

Selection Criterion 3 for the Initiative Proposal is seeking the detail of how you will deliver the initiative.

In this criterion, we’re trying to understand how you will deliver the initiative and asking you to demonstrate your capacity to deliver it.

We are interested to know:

the steps you will take to implement the initiative, including an indicative timeline; the stakeholder relationships that will help deliver the initiative; the roles, qualifications and experience of your staff (including recruitment strategies

and any subcontracting arrangements); how you will recruit participants, the services or activities that will be provided and the

expected outcomes for participants; your risk mitigation strategies; and any additional information that supports your application.

This criterion carries a weight of 40 per cent. This criteria is in a form template and is limited to 22,400 characters, but this character limit is broken down into sections.

Title: Stage 2 – Initiative Proposal (cont. 5)

Selection Criterion 4 seeks to understand your Governance structure, information management strategy and evaluation capability that will enable the monitoring of the initiative and informing the department’s evaluation.

You should:

describe your organisation’s governance structure, including risk management and reporting frameworks.

describe your organisation’s management and governance arrangements to drive performance and quality service delivery. For example does your organisation intend to have:

a good set of measurement tools across all areas of operation effective planning effective process for identifying issues and mitigating risks that may affect delivery describe your organisation’s evaluation capability and describe any past experience in

implementing or undertaking similar evaluations. provide details of an existing data management system that you have that can capture

information on each Participant as required by the Department. Alternatively, provide strategies to capture this information.

This criterion carries a weighting of 10 per cent and is limited to 8,000 characters.

Title: Other Considerations

In addition to the selection criteria, there are a number of other things worth noting in submitting your application, including:

As part of your application, you are required to declare any other funding you are currently receiving for this initiative, or expect to receive, during the funding period.

This includes funding from Federal, State, Territories or Local Governments and other sources.

The purpose of this is not to exclude applicants but will assist in ensuring appropriate level of funding.

It will also assist in the evaluation process. For example, if evaluating an initiative worth $2 million with 50% contributed by Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2 funding, then the evaluation would reflect this.

You must provide contact details of up to two referees when submitting the Expression of Interest who are able to verify your claims.

This includes claims made in response to selection criteria particularly in relation to the services you have provided for young people and how they relate to the initiative.

The Department may contact your nominated referees during either assessment stage.

Applicants must not make false or misleading statements in their application and must answer all questions honestly and completely.

Title: Application Lodgement

Expression of Interest Applications for round two of Empowering YOUth Initiatives will close at 5:00 PM (Canberra time) on Friday the 28th of October 2016.

For shortlisted applicants, Initiative Proposals will close at 5:00 PM (Canberra time) as follows:

Group 1 (Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia) –Monday 5 December 2016

Group 2 (New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory) –Monday 12 December 2016

Group 3 (Queensland, Northern Territory and Tasmania)–Monday 19 December 2016

If a shortlisted initiative has national coverage, and covers multiple locations, the organisation’s Group will be based on their registered business address.

Applications for both stages of the process are being processed through 360Pro: the Department’s online grant application tool. A link to 360Pro is provided on the Department’s website.

The Department will only accept responses on the correct forms that have been downloaded from 360Pro and will not accept any attachments with the exception of documents requested by the Department.

Once an Applicant has lodged its response on 360Pro it can re-open the application and make changes prior to the closing date and time. Applicants should note that when re-opening an application it will no longer be considered as submitted. If an Applicant re-opens an application it must click on the Submit button again to re-submit the amended application.

To assist with submitting an application, applicants should read the 360Pro Reference Guide that can be downloaded as part of the documents that make up the grants process pack.

Title: Non-conforming responses

As stated earlier, applications must be lodged via 360Pro on the forms provided before the closing date and time.

Once the application is lodged, an email will be generated and sent to your registered email address confirming receipt of the application. It is highly recommended that you save this as proof of lodgement.

Applications received after the closing date and time will be deemed to be late and will not be accepted unless the delay was due solely to mishandling by the Department.

Where an applicant commences electronic lodgement of an application but does not submit the application before the closing date and time, the application will not be considered by the Department.

Importantly, applicants should make sure that they allow sufficient time to load the response and receive the official receipt of lodgement well before Closing Date and Time.

To help make sure that Applicants don’t miss the lodgement deadline, the Department intends to issue reminders through addenda on 360Pro, 10 and five working days before the Closing Date and Time.

Title: Contracting with the Department

Successful Applicants will be required to enter into a Funding Agreement substantially in the form of the Draft Funding Agreement, which will shortly be published on the Department’s website.

Applicants should note that the content of their responses to the Initiative Proposal Selection Criteria will form part of their obligations under the Funding Agreement and Project Plan.

The Department reserves the right to make changes to the Draft Funding Agreement in the period between its publication and the execution of final Funding Agreements.

Successful applicants must have a current and valid Australian Business Number (ABN).

Title: Timeline

Key dates for Round 2 of the initiatives are:

10 October 2016: Grant Guidelines for EYI Round 2 released on 360Pro 28 October 2016: Application period for Expressions of Interest closes – 5.00 pm 5 December 2016: Group 1 Initiative Proposal closes at 5.00 pm 12 December 2016: Group 2 Initiative Proposal closes at 5.00 pm 19 December 2016: Group 3 Initiative Proposal closes at 5.00 pm Late February 2017: Announcement of successful applicants By 30 June 2017: Commencement of all Round 2 initiatives

Note: All times are Canberra time.

Following the closure of the application period for round two of Empowering YOUth Initiatives, we expect assessment of the applications to continue in early 2017. Successful applicants will be contacted from February 2017 with Funding Agreements to be signed shortly before the commencement of initiatives.

It is expected that initiatives will have commenced by 30 June 2017.

Title: Sources of Information

Further information regarding Empowering YOUth Initiatives Round 2 can be obtained from the Grant Guidelines published on 360Pro and the Questions and Answers published on the Department’s website (http://www.employment.gov.au/procurement).

You can also contact the Employment Services Purchasing Hotline by email (espurchasing@employment.gov.au) or by phoning 1300 733 514 (Monday to Friday excluding ACT and national public holidays).

The Hotline can only provide information that is publicly available, and cannot provide interpretation or advice.

.

Title: Questions

I am now happy to take any questions you may have.

If a question cannot be answered, we will take it on notice and publish the answer at a later date.

If you have questions outside of this Information Session, please submit these through the Employment Services Purchasing Hotline.

The response to questions received through the Hotline may be published under the Questions and Answers on the Department’s website.