Strategic Issues in Approaching Public Sector Agencies as Research Partners
Jeannine Jacobson | FEBRUARY 2022
With continued focus on impactful and collaborative research and the growing need to diversify funding sources, researchers are increasingly involving end users as research partners. OO’s Senior Associate Jeannine Jacobson outlines key areas for consideration when approaching public sector agencies:
Alignment of priorities for research is critical; do the research to make sure that what you want to do is aligned with the real priorities/focus of the agency/people you are targeting as partners. Is it squarely within the priorities of the party in government as expressed through election commitments, policy statements or budget papers?
Department/agency corporate plans are another good source of intelligence about priorities;
Annual reports provide details about organizational structure and the names of people in key positions. This information can generally be found on organizational websites as well;
Check key speeches made by Minister/s and senior people in the organization (often published on the departmental website);
Attend conferences where key people are speaking to establish what their interests are and to meet relevant people; establish a connection with them.
Timeframes and funding cycles are different in government organizations from timeframes in universities and has a bearing on both timing of research outputs and availability of funds. There is an established budgetary cycle with which a lot of external organizations (your competitors) are familiar.
From January to about April, program managers in departments are besieged by not for profits and savvy researchers looking for unspent funds that can be used for their favourite research or development project. It’s unlikely that the extent of under-spend (if any) will be known before then;
Generally, executive program managers have some discretion about how unspent funds are allocated. This is contingent on the amount they are authorized to spend;
Funds usually need to be committed by May of that financial year so as not to draw negative attention from the Auditor General or the Department of Finance;
At the end of the calendar year, agencies start developing their budgets for the following financial year. Any major new expenditure for new projects of scale or programs has to be sponsored by the relevant Minister and agreed to by the government’s budget setting process and decision making;
The budget process is public and a way for governments to state their priorities for the following financial year and beyond.
In terms of research output, generally public sector organizations are working a maximum of 18 months to two years ahead. Early in a government’s term (particularly if it is a second term government) is a good time to start developing a partnership with an organization around an issue that is a government priority. This provides the best possible outcome for aligning public sector time frames with ARC grant or academic institution time frames.
Understanding the environment in which public servants operate, such as:
Span of control
Pressure of day to day business
Hierarchy of decision making/authority
Mobility of key people
Resource constraints both in terms of funds and people’s time.
Public servants work in a highly hierarchical environment that allows them a fair amount of latitude within their scope of authority. However, they are accountable to their immediate manager/executive up a chain of authority to, ultimately, the Secretary or Chief Executive of the agency and the responsible Minister. Many public servants are so pressed themselves and so short of resources in their area of functional responsibility that they don’t have time to engage with anyone who is not directly relevant to their operations. Those that have the capacity to engage may struggle to follow through with getting projects/partnerships authorized and funded.
It may be difficult for the person you are working with to get authorization within the timeline you are working to, and this needs to be factored into planning. Public servants move around within organizations - build relationships with key people who will be able to secure organizational support, line up resources and follow through with engagement.
Establish a personal rapport with the person you are relying on to prosecute the partnership project in the organisation. You will be relying on that person to invest a high level of discretionary effort into shepherding the partnership through the organization’s approval processes, depending on how they operate. You need to cross your fingers that they stay in situ for the life of your project.
Understanding the difference between working with the Commonwealth and working with the State governments: The Commonwealth is attractive to university researchers because of the magnitude of funding available and the potential for national impact. However, people in Commonwealth agencies can be very difficult to engage. If you are successful in engaging and eliciting enthusiasm for your proposal, it may languish for months, if not longer, somewhere inaccessible and you will not be able to find out what happened to it.
Bureaucrats in line agencies in State capitals have very little authority to commit the organization to anything. This is not true of statutory authorities headquartered outside Canberra (e.g. Productivity Commission and ACCC). The remoteness of Canberra both physically and psychically makes getting anything done from another location difficult.
State government interests are more operational and concrete, aligned with State constitutional responsibilities. While there is less money available, it is generally more accessible and the processes are more easily navigated and managed than those involving the Commonwealth. In addition, the people you need to work with are more accessible.
