Managing Transitions Approaches

One of the most crucial factors in an effective transition is effective communication between government and non-government organisations. This will also extend to frontline and operational staff as well as to clients, across the non-government sector and potentially more broadly to include other stakeholders (such as other funders).

Effective communication that supports effective transitions includes:

• clear and transparent advice on transition risks, interdependencies, timings, planning, and implementation expectations
• collaboration between providers and with commissioners to enable informed plans and timeframes
• regular documented interactions between the commissioner and service providers, both existing and potential
• considered practical advice for staff and clients that supports transition awareness, process knowledge, and expected actions, and which drives achievement of shared outcomes.

Effective transition communication applies to:

• The transition plan: providing clarity about transition plans as they are settled can support appropriate scoping, mitigation, and management of risks for non-government organisations and provide confidence for workforce skills retention, and management of clients, other assets, and operating systems. Existing service providers are usually contractually bound to develop transition plans for implementation as the expiry date of their agreement approaches. Transition plans can be drafted early in the commissioning cycle and be refined as more evidence on community need or more clarity on a type of transition required becomes apparent. Potential service providers, looking to enter the market or to tender for a service or program, can also develop a transition plan that supports their tender response. Transitions at system and program level will require collaborative plans to be developed.
• Notice about transitions: commissioners should provide notice well before agreements are due to expire, with the timeframes required depending on client needs and the operating environment for service delivery, including the scale and longevity of service arrangements. This approach promotes identification of collaborative planning opportunities for the sector and service providers to ensure service quality, continuity, responsiveness, and effective client management.
• Provision of transition advice in pre-procurement briefings: providing an opportunity to hear about and ask questions on specific transition requirements lets service providers plan for potential transitions. During any pre-procurement briefings, commissioners should provide advice about what content related to transitions is being sought as part of tender responses.
• Providing feedback to providers on plans: commissioners should actively provide feedback opportunities to service providers preparing transition plans. This aims to enhance the quality and effectiveness of each plan. The ability of service providers to successfully prepare transitions plans may be improved by suitable and timely feedback from the commissioner.

Ensuring adequate time to plan and implement a transition is essential. The commissioner is responsible for determining the type and mix of transitions and how the transitions will be approached.  These decisions should be informed by circumstances of impacted service providers and the nature of the service being transitions. Guidance on the timings for transition types and approaches is summarised in the table below.

*Planning and transition periods may overlap.

Effective transitions rely on the development of timely, relevant, and actionable plans. The purpose of transition plans developed and provided by existing and potential service providers is to establish how each organisation will support effective transitions and minimise disruption.

• Contractual expectations: funded service providers are expected to articulate their early thinking about transition plans during the life of their agreement with the government. These plans will be brief and general in nature until the specific nature of the transition is known, but they provide the opportunity to canvass the factors that will need to be considered in plans and the capability that will need to be in place to effectively implement a transition plan. The commissioner will advise service providers of any deadlines for development, refinement, and provision of documentation to demonstrate preparation to implement transition plans.
• Commissioning: transition planning will be a topic considered and articulated during commissioning cycles.
• Procurement decision-making: will be informed by whether plans already exist that enable transition into new services or new models of services.
• Early planning: transition planning should begin early in the commissioning cycle and well before the expiry of an existing arrangement. The transition plan requires the service provider to provide, as part of the existing contract terms or as part of their response to an invitation to bid for service provision, information on how their organisation will manage the transition.  Government is responsible for ensuring its communication can inform timely iterations of transition plans.  Service providers are responsible for incorporating into their plan, consideration of to what extent the change impacts organisational sustainability and implications for other programs or services the organisation provides.
• Staffing impacts: staff are the key to delivering high quality valued services and during transitions may be the biggest, least controllable variable.  Neither the funder nor employer can control how individual workers respond to a transition, but the planning process can and should prioritise addressing wellbeing, entitlements, continuity, and engagement of the workforce.  Supporting staff during transitions and identifying opportunities to support retention of sector staff within the NGO sector should be a priority of transition plans.
• Collaboration: planningtransitions at a system and program level will require collaboration between the commissioner and funded providers to be effective. The principles of commissioning guide how this collaboration can occur.  Where one provider is transitioning out, and another is transitioning in, good collaboration between these organisations can facilitate a smooth transition for clients and staff.  Once such an investment outcome is known, affected organisations will ideally collaborate in the best interests of affected service users, to jointly plan as required.

Funding issues will not arise in all transition types. The focus of this section is on circumstances of transitioning out of service provision.

The funding required will depend on the type of service provided, the length of funding contract that is being transitioned, and the legislative and regulatory obligations relevant to the organisation structure. This policy recognises that:

• funders are responsible for timely decision making (and communication) to enable effective transitions. This policy should inform timeframes built into commissioning planning and contract extensions.
• transitions ideally occur during the final months of a contract or directly thereafter
• funded organisations comply with legislative and regulatory expectations through maintaining reserves to enable them to meet expenses as and when they are due
• consideration may be necessary regarding the extent to which past funding levels may have impacted the capacity of funded organisations to generate reserves
• consideration may also be necessary of additional costs associated with the transition which may be outside those anticipated when reserves are budgeted
• if a further period of normal service delivery is required, a contract extension will be necessary.

Across all types of transitions the roles and responsibilities of the funding body, program managers and service providers should be well articulated.

The funding body is responsible for:

• providing leadership in the planning and implementation of transitions at the system and program level, recognising that this will involve a transition that is more than multiple service level transitions.
• determining the length of transition that is needed for each commissioned system, program or service, taking into consideration client needs and the operating environment for service delivery. Consideration of and decisions about the timeframe will be included in the relevant phases of the commissioning cycle and articulated in the funding agreement with the service provider.
• providing timely advice about the outcome of investment decision making processes
• taking a flexible approach to transitions that responds to the circumstances for funded organisations, their staff and clients as required.

The service provider is responsible for:

• complying with legislation and regulations, and operating in a way that ensures they can meet expenses as and when they are due, including if funding of a program or service ceases
• foreseeing risks and issues that may need to be addressed and responding to them
• maintaining appropriate financial reserves to meet legal obligations
• managing an effective transition process once procurement decisions are advised

working with the commissioner to share responsibility for effective transitions.

• engaging effectively with each other to ensure optimal transition experience of service users and workers.

Transitions can have a significant impact on the relationships between government and the non-government sector, both service providers and peak advocacy groups. Reform of the human service system will generate many transitions across the system, programs, and services through to 2030.

Monitoring the transition experience and transition effectiveness are important to maintain strong partnerships and to identify improvements which can be made swifty to minimise service disruption impacts. The principles outlined above will inform the monitoring approach and methods.

The commissioner is responsible for ensuring that monitoring occurs across transition periods and informs improvements to procedure, resources, and capability. Service provider partners and clients will participate in formal monitoring during the transition period.

The key themes for monitoring are:

• effectiveness of communication
• service quality
• service continuity
• service access and responsiveness
• voice and needs of service users during transition