By the Complex Project Management Profession
The APS Program and Project Management Framework: A Key Resource for Effective Delivery
Project delivery within the Australian Public Service (APS) often requires balancing complex and competing demands. These include coordinating diverse stakeholders, meeting tight delivery timeframes, complying with governance and legislative requirements, managing risk, and demonstrating clear public value.
To support APS staff in navigating these challenging environments, the APS provides a dedicated resource, the Program and Project Management Framework. This framework forms part of Services Australia’s broader Program Practice Frameworks and is designed to strengthen consistency, capability and confidence in program and project delivery across the APS.
Overview of the Framework
The Program and Project Management Framework offers a practical and principlebased approach to managing projects and programs across the APS. It provides structured guidance across the full delivery cycle, including planning, execution, monitoring, and closure, helping teams establish clarity, consistency and discipline in their work.
The key features of the framework include structured processes that support effective decision-making throughout the lifecycle, practical tools, templates, and checklists that can be tailored to diverse project environments. Reflection activities that prompt consideration of risks, dependencies and governance at critical points, and alignment with Commonwealth governance requirements, risk management practices, and expectations for benefits realisation.
While structured, the framework remains deliberately flexible and can be applied across a range of delivery methodologies and it well suited to environments requiring crossagency collaboration, strong public accountability and transparency.
The framework forms part of a suite of 3 interconnected resources, designed to be used together to support high-quality public sector delivery.
- The Program and Project Management Framework serves as a practical guide and a point of reference for evidencebased program and project management practices. It contains a range of guidelines, tools, reflection activities, and supporting resources that encourage consistent application of best practice and continuous improvement.
- The Customer Focus and Stakeholder Engagement Framework supports staff to embed a continuous customer focus across their work. It provides evidencebased approaches to strengthen engagement, influence and collaborate across internal and external stakeholders.
- The Program Data, Analysis and Intelligence Framework promotes the effective use of data, analytical capability, and business program intelligence. It supports endtoend program managers to make informed, evidence-based decisions that improve delivery performance and outcomes.
Relevance Across APS Levels
The framework is designed to support staff from APS 3 through to EL 2 staff with guidance that scales from foundational coordination activities to more advanced project and program oversight. It addresses common delivery challenges such as scope control, stakeholder alignment, risk mitigation, and tracking intended benefits. Importantly, the framework supports compliance with APS legislative and policy requirements, helping to ensure delivery is consistent, transparent, and accountable across the APS.
Practical Application
The framework provides a consistent and reliable starting point for APS projects and programs of all sizes. By using a common approach, it helps reduce duplication, strengthens governance and assurance processes, and improves evidencebased decisionmaking and supports the priorities that underpin effective public sector delivery. The latest version of the framework and additional supporting tools can be found on the APS Academy website Program Practice Frameworks for Program Management