Why is this important?
Too often funding contracts are based on delivering a suite of standardised services and activities to everyone. Outcomes Based Contracting (OBC) will shift this to focus on delivering whatever services and activities are required to achieve agreed upon outcomes.
This will ensure that reporting and evaluation tasks actually help workers understand what’s working well (or what’s not) for clients, and not wasting time on meaningless admin.
What is this?
A new ‘lighter touch’ flexible approach to NGO contracting that seeks to mandate those things that are known to drive better outcomes for people, families and the community.
FACS in partnership with funded service providers, is streamlining contracting and service agreements to align with the FACS/Human Services Client Outcomes Framework.
Outcome Measures will be used to help measure whether the services being funded and delivered are having a real and lasting impact on people’s lives. Traditionally FACS have measured inputs, such as the amount of funding provided, and outputs, such as the number of services delivered.
What is this not?
Bean counting and more bureaucracy.
HOW TO GET STARTED
At the time of writing, the TEI Reform team at FACS are finalising some in-depth work on how best to enable and support Outcomes Based Contracts and Results Based Accountability.
The Linker Network project team will remain in close contact with the TEI Reform team as they continue their work, and will seek to contribute to the ongoing learning progress.
If you are a FACS funded service provider in the TEI service system you should speak with your CPO about how you can best input into, and ultimately meet the requirements of this evolving reform process.
NOTE: We would encourage you to remember that while change is hard and sometimes unsettling, a move to outcomes based contracts and results based accountability is undeniably a very good thing.