Stakeholder Engagement Plan

Purpose of this section of the Business Case

The purpose of this section is to ensure that there are established processes and tools for engaging with the community and key stakeholders. This section outlines the Stakeholder Engagement Plan developed for the project and identifies stakeholders that may affect or be affected by the project, the Project Team’s analysis of how the project impacts on these stakeholders and a communication strategy for consulting with them.

This section should also outline the key messages that Government will communicate about the project if it moves to announcement, procurement and delivery; and how engagement will occur across these project phases.

The Project Team must answer the following key questions in this section:

• Who are the stakeholders for this project?
• What is the nature or extent of the potential impacts or benefits of the project on these stakeholders?
• What level of engagement has the Project Team undertaken with stakeholders, particularly during the Business Case stage in the development of the recommended solution?
• What is the outcome of stakeholder engagement as at the date of the Business Case?
• What is the Stakeholder Engagement Plan and ongoing Communication Strategy for the later stages of the project?

In certain cases, it will be appropriate for the Project Team to engage government communications and engagement officers. It may also be appropriate for the Project Team to seek the advice of stakeholder management organisations and independent facilitators to support the development and implementation of the Stakeholder Engagement Plan. Refer to the Advisor Engagement Plan Guidelines for further information.

Content required for the Business Case

Stakeholder identification

A stakeholder is an individual or group with an interest in the project and can either affect or be affected by the project. Within this section, the Project Team should identify key stakeholder groups for the project. This may include groups that the project affects directly, those with influence over aspects of the project and those potentially experiencing the project’s wider implications. Stakeholders may be internal or external to Government.

Stakeholders may include:

• Businesses, employees and industry stakeholders
• Community councils, residents’ associations and local residents individually
• Regulatory and approval authorities
• Commonwealth Government entities
• Special interest groups
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
• Staff.

Outcome of stakeholder engagement to date

Stakeholder assessment and engagement should be an ongoing process across the Infrastructure Investment Lifecycle, supporting the development of any major project. Within this section, the Project Team should present an outline of the involvement, concerns and interests of key stakeholder groups in the project.

In developing this section, the Project Team should undertake preliminary consultations with representatives from each of the key stakeholder groups identified above.  It is essential that the Project Team allows enough time and resources to consult effectively with stakeholders during Stage 2 – Prove.

It is important for the Project Team to obtain preliminary support from key stakeholders, particularly for projects that will affect diverse sections of the community or that involve the delivery of bundled services requiring cross-government or broader collaboration. The Project Team should seek preliminary support from key stakeholders early, to avoid projects being derailed or abandoned due to the revelation of stakeholder objections or issues after Government has expended substantial resources on developing the project. However, the Project Team should plan stakeholder engagement carefully, as there are reasons why the Sponsoring Agency may prefer to engage stakeholders later in the process (e.g. to maintain confidentiality or to avoid creating expectations before Government has committed to the project).

In this section, the Project Team should describe:

• The process already undertaken (by the Project Team or Sponsoring Agency) to identify and engage with stakeholders to clarify their needs and responses to the project
• The nature and extent of potential impacts of the project (both negative and positive) on the different stakeholders, including the critical success factors for the project from the perspective of each of the key stakeholders
• Stakeholder benefits and costs
• The level of support, influence or concerns stakeholders have with respect to the project
• Consideration of how certain stakeholder issues or views have contributed to shaping the project
• How the Project Team will capture the input from stakeholders throughout the development of the project
• Strategies to capitalise on opportunities and manage negative issues
• Any unresolved issues that the Project Team needs to address before the investment could proceed in its recommended form and to the recommended timeline.

Communication Strategy

The Stakeholder Engagement Plan requires the Project Team to develop a Communication Strategy outlining the critical path for engaging with project stakeholders and the resources available for stakeholder consultation. The Project Team should detail this strategy to a high level in this section and present it in full as an appendix to the Business Case.

One of the key benefits of having a Communication Strategy is the formation of agreed messages that can underpin stakeholder consultations relating to the project to ensure clarity and consistency in project communications.

The Project Team should include the following elements within the Communication Strategy:

• Objectives of the Communication Strategy (these may differ between stakeholder groups)
• Methods of consultation (see Figure below) and the priority order of consultations
• The need for a formal stakeholder management structure to provide guidance to the Project Team (for example, a Stakeholder Reference Group)
• Key messages to stakeholders as part of consultation (these may differ between stakeholder groups)
• Reporting requirements and planning framework for resolution of identified issues.

The Project Team should consider a range of methods for engaging stakeholders, including those represented below.

Stakeholder engagement methods

The Project Team’s selection of the most appropriate approach to stakeholder engagement will depend on several considerations, including:

• The stakeholder or stakeholder group that the Project Team will consult (for example, consultation with residents may take a different form to consultation with other Agencies)
• The purpose of the engagement (for example, to distribute information about the project or to gather feedback on a proposed aspect of the project)
• The number of stakeholders that the Project Team will consult, their interest in the project and the structure of their organisation (for example, if the Project Team must engage with many stakeholders in a short time period, surveys may be the most appropriate approach)
• The influence of the stakeholders over the project (for example, for stakeholders with a great influence over the success of the project, the Project Team may need to take a more detailed and structured engagement approach)
• The extent to which stakeholders are familiar with the project and its objectives
• Whether the project team has an existing relationship with the stakeholder or group of stakeholders
• The timeframe over which the Project Team plans consultation to take place
• Any sensitivities surrounding the project and stakeholder views on the project.

The Project Team should select an approach (or multiple approaches) that best allows stakeholders to understand the project and contribute their views in a meaningful and considered way. To achieve this, the Project Team may wish to consult stakeholders using more than one method.

Appendices required for the Business Case

The Project Team is required to attach the following document as an appendix to the Business Case:

• Stakeholder Engagement Plan and Communication Strategy (Tier 1 and Tier 2).