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Gateway Review Process

The Australian Government has introduced the Gateway Review Process (Gateway) to strengthen the oversight and governance of major projects and assist Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (FMA Act) agencies to deliver agreed projects in accordance with the stated objectives, on-time and on-budget.

Gateway involves short, intensive reviews at critical points in the project's lifecycle by a team of reviewers not associated with the project. This provides an arm's length assessment of the project against its specified objectives, and an early identification of areas requiring corrective action.

What Projects Does Gateway Apply To?

Gateway applies to new projects undertaken by Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (FMA Act) agencies, which require Government approval and which satisfy certain financial and risk thresholds.

The financial thresholds are:

These thresholds relate to the total costs, excluding administered payments, but inclusive of all related departmental expenses over the forward estimates.

The risk threshold for entry to the Gateway Review Process is High Risk. Risk for the purposes of Gateway is determined using the Gateway Assessment Tool (GAT). Projects that meet the financial thresholds are required to complete the GAT prior to the proposal's consideration by Government to determine whether it meets the risk threshold.

If a project is assessed as High Risk and it is approved by Government, it must move sequentially through the full suite of Gateway reviews at times appropriate to the project's life cycle. (Please refer to the Gateway Guidance and Handbook for an explanation of the Gate reviews).

Once selected for inclusion in Gateway, a project will be assigned a review team by the Gateway Unit in consultation with the agency. The review team comprises experienced and qualified reviewers. The reviews consist of a half day planning meeting and the onsite review activity which will be completed in four to five days. On the last day of the review, the review team will provide a confidential report to the Senior Responsible Official (SRO) in the sponsoring agency and the Gateway Unit.

The report will summarise the status of the project and make recommendations to improve the implementation of the project. The SRO is responsible for determining and implementing any required actions to address recommendations of a Gateway Review Report.

Gateway and the Two Pass Review Processes

Gateway is designed to assist the Sponsoring Agency to deliver its project objectives and deliver projects on-time and within budget. It involves conducting a series of brief, independent reviews at critical stages in the development and implementation of a project.  It is therefore, a project assurance methodology.

The overall objectives of the Two Pass Processes are slightly different to Gateway in that they primarily focus on providing Government with better business cases and cost estimates to support the decision making process whereas Gateway focuses on the overall project delivery throughout the life of the project. There is a complementary overlap between Gateway and the Two Pass Processes during the initial phases of a project. For example the Gate 0 and Gate 1 reviews can best be scheduled shortly before the first and second pass respectively and can provide pragmatic and timely contributions to these.

Further information about the ICT Two Pass Process is available at http://www.finance.gov.au/budget/ [External Site]

Lessons Learned

The purpose of Lessons Learned Reports are to present the Lessons Learned arising from Australian Government Gateway reviews to assist agencies in improving their project management practices.  The reports are observations gained from Gateway reviews which highlight opportunities for project management improvements in Australian Government agencies.

Finance prepares lessons learned periodically and these are available from our website.

The Lessons Learned Reports also include references to Australian Government better practice and other well established better practice guidance.

Gateway Reviewers

Gateway Unit Contact Details

Gateway Unit, Financial Management Group
Department of Finance and Deregulation
John Gorton Building
King Edward Terrace
PARKES ACT 2600
Email: gateway@finance.gov.au

Contact for information on this page: gateway@finance.gov.au

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Last Modified: 7 May, 2010