Western Sydney Infrastructure Grants - FAQs

The Smarty Grants User will receive an email prompting them to log in and complete the Funding Deed.

GST is not payable on grant payments to local Councils or Organisations not registered for GST, all invoices should be GST exclusive.

If you are a community organisation, and registered for GST, please provide a valid Tax invoice including GST.

Co-contributions are not reflected when calculating instalment payments. Instalment payment amounts are detailed in the Funding Deed. 

Yes, to request changes to the dates originally submitted, or provided within the Funding Deed, a written request will need to be issued via email to the GMO (gmo@regional.nsw.gov.au).

As part of that written request, you will need to provide details outlining the reason for the request and/or any documentation explain the change - updated project Gantt chart or Project Management Plan.

The request will be reviewed by GMO and updates made as appropriate, or further information requested. 

An authorised officer from your organisation, usually the CEO, General Manager or Director. A written delegation may be given to another member of the organisation.

Yes, as per the Funding Deed (Clause 29.12), each party agrees that the other may execute the Funding Deed electronically as provided for in the Electronic Transactions Act 2000.

The GMO will review and execute the Funding Deed once:

• The Funding Deed has been signed and uploaded in Smarty Grants;
• All supporting documentation has been provided; and
• An invoice for the first instalment has been uploaded in Smarty Grants

The GMO will contact you if further information is required. The execution of the Funding Deed will take between 4 -6 weeks. 

An authorised officer from the organisation, usually the CEO, General Manager or Director. A written delegation may be given to another member of the organisation.

The first instalment payment coincides with the execution of the Funding Deed, and can take 1-2 weeks following the execution of the Funding Deed. The value of the payment is listed in the Funding Deed.

Delays in processing claims may occur if:

• the evidence of project expenditure is not sufficient.
• the invoice amount claimed is less than allocated instalment amount.
• the evidence of invoices provided by contractors are not addressed correctly to your organisation.
• the invoice that you provided includes GST where it should not.
• the invoice provided is not correctly addressed to the Department of Regional NSW.
• the evidence demonstrating project costs have been spent is not sufficiently substantiated.

If this occurs, the organisation will be notified by GMO as to the reason why and the process for rectifying and resubmitting.

NOTE: As per the Funding Deed, funds will need to be fully expended within the prior instalment before the next payment can be made.

It is important to ensure that expenditure aligns with the deliverables, project description and budget items in the Funding Deed.

You must provide evidence of expenditure for the total amount of the instalment payment received.

Evidence of Expenditure may include, but is not limited to:

• Invoices with receipts, remittance advice, bank transfer details, bank statements or other payment evidence;
• A Statutory Declaration for your total expenditure including a transaction listing;
• A payments report or ledger from a financial system (such as MYOB) which has been signed and dated by an authorised officer of your organisation.

The evidence will need to be endorsed by a delegated officer within the organisation.

NOTE: If you have previously provided evidence in your quarterly reporting, you do not need to upload this again, we can access this as evidence towards your claim

Each activity in your Funding Deed has a list of deliverables and the evidence required to demonstrate the completion of works. This may include a list of options you can select from.

You must provide evidence of works completed for all deliverables.

The evidence may need to be endorsed by a delegated officer within the organisation.

NOTE: If you have previously provided evidence in your quarterly reporting, you do not need to upload this again. This information will be accessed as evidence towards your claim.

If you are a Local Council or a community organisation registered for GST, please list all WSIG expenditure excluding GST.

If you are a community organisation that is NOT registered for GST, please list all WSIG expenditure including GST.

Administrative costs must not exceed 20% of the total WSIG Funding and must directly relate to project delivery. Administrative costs can include:

• Project management costs, including any contracted staff to oversee project activities
• Operational or overhead costs related to project delivery
• Costs of preparing material to meet planning approvals and regulatory requirements
• Cost of preparing reports and project documentation
• Management costs for partnership arrangements.

NOTE: Where project management and administrative staff are employed to support other projects or have unrelated responsibilities, the cost to WSIG will need to be pro-rated for the time spent working on the specific WSIG project. This information will need to be provided as part of each instalment claim.

The following operating and ongoing maintenance costs of infrastructure will not be funded:

• Financing, including debt financing;
• Insurance or rental costs;
• Plant and equipment beyond the life of the project. You may use WSIG funding to lease or contribute towards the purchase of plant and equipment, so long as the contribution is solely attributable to the project;
• Depreciation of plant equipment beyond the life of the project;
• Non-project related staff training and development costs;
• Ongoing staff or operational costs beyond the scope and timeframe of the funded project;
• Business as usual operational expenditure, including but not limited to regular repairs;
• Administrative cost over 20% of the total funding request; or
• Incentives or prizes e.g, prizes to support a fundraising activity.

Local Government Allocation:

You will be able to include project costs incurred prior to the execution of your Funding Deed in the first project milestone activities and instalment payment, provided:

• The activities/costs were incurred after the opening date of the Community Projects Program - 2 May 2022
• The costs are included in their approved project plan and budget.
• The payment of the costs does not require accessing contingency funds.
• Claimed costs are not recoverable from another source.
• Parties enter into a Funding Deed.

Community Competitive Round:

You will be able to include project costs incurred prior to the execution of your Funding Deed in the first project milestone activities and instalment payment, provided:

• The activities/costs were incurred after the date that successful grantees were notified in writing.
• The costs are included in their approved project plan and budget.
• The payment of the costs does not require accessing contingency funds.
• Claimed costs are not recoverable from another source.
• Parties enter into a Funding Deed.

If an activity is delayed by more than 2 months from the date listed in the Funding Deed, a variation will need to be requested.

You will need to email the GMO (gmo@regional.nsw.gov.au) requesting a variation form be added to the project’s SmartyGrants account. 

If an activity is ahead of time, a variation is not required.

To claim the next instalment payment, a grantee must provide evidence which confirms total value expended to date is equal to or greater than the agreed value in the activity schedule.

If you have expended more than the agreed instalment amount, they will need to lodge the next instalment claim through SmartyGrants.

To access your next instalment, you must have expended all of your previous instalment.

You can commence work on Deliverables from future activities to expend any remaining funds, without requesting a variation.

Please enter details of this expenditure in the Evidence of Activity Expenditure table. Expenditure needs to align with items in your project budget.

You do not have to report on Deliverables you have commenced from future activities, however, the submitted Instalment Claim Form must show evidence of meeting each Deliverable for this Activity.

As per the Funding Deed (Clause 9.6), the grantee will need to return all unspent funds.

As per the Funding Deed (Clause 9.6), the grantee is responsible for any costs that exceed the WSIG funding allocation.

Public Works NSW undertook an assessment of all project budgets to assess whether sufficient funds were allocated to accommodate for market escalation. Where a project was found to require additional funding, this was added to the project budget.

Contingency funding can be requested to cover cost escalation

Yes, you may use project funds to accrue interest. 

Interest earned will need to go back into the project. You are encouraged to use interest to cover escalation costs. 

There are two conditions on accruing interest:

• Any surplus interest is to be returned at the end of the project alongside any surplus funding.
• Any banking arrangements and interest generating activities should not delay delivery of the project. 

Contingency funding can be used for:

• Unforeseen costs that are outside the Grantee’s control, resulting to increases in project expenditure, and/or
• The cost of managing unforeseen circumstances.

You will need to email the WSIGPO (wsig@premiersdepartment.nsw.gov.au) requesting a Contingency Form be added to the project’s SmartyGrants account. 

All requests for contingency funds will be assessed against the following criteria:

• Eligible Items – Contingency funding must be for items listed as eligible under the Funding Guidelines and align with your approved project deliverables and intended outcomes.
• Alternatives – other opportunities for savings to offset the cost impacts that have been explored prior to requesting WSIG Contingency.
• Value – The requested funds are of an appropriate amount to the intended use.
• Risk – Demonstrated risk management is in place for the project, including clear ownership of risks, risk costs responsibility, and risk treatments have been undertaken to date, where possible.

Contingency requests will take approximately 2 - 3 weeks to be approved.

Contingency funds are paid either:

• As part of the next scheduled instalment payment;
• A future instalment payment; or
• An immediate/ad-hoc payment

You will need to provide a separate invoice for all contingency claims. 

Yes. You will need to email the WSIGPO (wsig@premiersdepartment.nsw.gov.au) requesting a Contingency Form be added to the project’s SmartyGrants account

There is no minimum dollar or percentage amount required to submit a contingency request. 

Co-contribution can be used anytime during the project, so long as it is expended for an approved purpose, as per the project budget.

Grantees are encouraged to utilise their own contingency before submitting an application for WSIG contingency. 

A project variation is required if you wish to vary the Project, including any Activity or other matter set out in Schedule A – Project Details and Instalment form

Refer to Funding Deed (Clause 5) for further detail. 

To submit a variation, you will need to email the GMO (gmo@regional.nsw.gov.au) requesting a Project Variation Request Form be added to the project’s SmartyGrants account.

The information and evidence required for a variation request will depend on the specific type of variation. It may include:

• Clear justification or reasons for the variation request
• Progress update on the project
• Revised activity/milestone dates and/or activity deliverables documented in project files such as project plans, Gantt charts, or revised activity schedules
• Revised project budget
• Landowner consent
• Evidence of community consultation 

A variation request will be assessed by GMO, who will refer the request for consideration by WSIGPO when the variation is ‘significant’. Significant variations include requests to change scope.

If a variation request is successful, you will be notified by the GMO. 

Once a variation request has been submitted it will go through the following process:

           Initial review > Potential request for additional information > Internal process of approval

All variation requests will be assessed by considering factors such as:

• Information and evidence provided
• Impact of the requested variation on project outcomes and community benefit
• Consistency with the Program Guidelines and relevant policies
• Changes to payment schedule and project completion timeline
• Project risks and strategies for mitigating them
• Past project performance and the number of variations that have been approved to date

The GMO may request additional information to facilitate the assessment process.

The outcome of the variation assessment will be communicated to you via email

Time extension

This type of variation can be used to request an extension of time for completion of deliverables, an activity and project completion dates. Circumstances where this may apply include:

• Delays in contracting and approvals;
• Delays caused by supply chain issues;
• Delays caused by disasters.

Grantees will be required to provide appropriate justification for all time variation requests.

NOTE:  a variation is not required if the extension required is less than two months.

Changes to the grant activity

This type of variation can be used to change the grant activities outlined in the Funding Deed. Circumstances where this may apply include:

• Changes in project scope or deliverables;
• Changes to the materials used to deliver a project;
• Changes to an element of a project that was not part of the original suitability assessment;
• Changes to the information you are required to provide during the project evaluation or final reporting process.

Changes to location

This type of variation can be used to request a change in location for the infrastructure project site, as outlined in the Funding Deed. Circumstances where this may apply include:

• Unsuitability of the approved location due to weather impacts or disasters;
• Infeasibility of the approved location due to higher lease or purchase costs;
• Identification of an alternative location through community consultation that offers greater community benefit.

Change to expenditure

This type of variation can be used to request a significant change to the approved budget, including expenditure items and payment instalments as outlined in the Funding Deed. Circumstances where this may apply include:

• Completing a project under budget and wanting to expand the project's scope by including additional deliverables aligned with the agreed project outcomes.

You can submit a request to change the project name by emailing the GMO (gmo@regional.nsw.gov.au).

You will be required to submit quarterly progress reports for each project through SmartyGrants. The quarterly report will include an update on all ongoing and completed activities. It is required to be submitted using the template supplied on each project’s SmartyGrants account.

You will also be required to submit data, plans and reports for monitoring and evaluating your project. These requirements are described in the next section.

In the M&E Plan, Grantees will select the outcomes and liveability benefits they will monitor and measure to evaluate the impact of their project.  

Grantees are required to submit their Monitoring and Evaluation Plan within six months of Funding Deed execution, or in a timeframe negotiated with WSIG PO.

For all projects, grantees are required to collect and submit outcomes and benefits data for:

• baseline measurements (before construction) and
• impact measurements (6 months, 12 months and up to 2 years after your project is operational).  

Grantees will nominate the timing of impact measurements in the Monitoring and Evaluation Plan, which will be reviewed by WISG and once accepted by WISG, will be approved.   

At project completion, grantees will also submit a Project Completion Form – M&E to answer questions about the final project and include final measurements about the project (the output measurements).

Projects with a value over $1 million and up to $10 million, will also complete and submit a Process evaluation report, an Outcome evaluation report and data and assumptions for an Economic evaluation (CBA).

Projects with a value over $10 million, will also complete and submit a Process evaluation report, an Outcome evaluation report and an Economic evaluation (CBA) report. 

The Monitoring and Evaluation Plan is due within six months of Funding Deed execution, or in a timeframe negotiated with WSIG PO.

Outcomes are the impact or changes that result from the project’s outputs after the project has been completed. Changes may be in economic, social, environmental or cultural conditions and occur in the short, medium or long term.

The changes from the project are focussed on the target communities and the local environment that will benefit from the project.

• short-term outcomes are usually measured within the first 6 months once a project is operational, but may vary with each project.
• medium term outcomes are usually measured between 6 and 18 months after a project is completed, with long term outcomes measured anywhere from 2 years to multiple years later.

Benefits are an increase in wellbeing that results from the project’s outcomes (including economic, social, environmental or cultural outcomes).

Information on projects shared publicly must acknowledge the NSW Government in accordance with the NSW Funding Acknowledgement Guidelines. 

Send through your draft Communications Plan to the WSIGPO (wsig@premiersdepartment.nsw.gov.au) who will work with you to develop key messages, media guidelines and effective methods and ways to keep the community informed and engaged throughout the project. 

Private sector partners (for example, construction companies, delivery and management partners, architectural and design firms etc) are not to be acknowledged on NSW Government hoarding.

The signage requirements for each project will differ. Where projects are in one location the signage requirement will remain. For projects over multiple locations please contact the WSIG PO (wsig@premiersdepartment.nsw.gov.au) to discuss possible options. 

Council and safety regulations will determine if hoarding is required for your site. 

If hoarding is required, it must be NSW Government branded and approved by the WSIG PO. The hoarding should be erected along areas that are publicly visible, but is not required to extend around the whole site.

Please contact the WSIG PO if you have further questions around hoarding.

Yes, you can shorten the project name.

Please contact the WSIG Communications team for approval of signage

Yes, grantees can use WSIG funding to cover expenditure on signage and hoarding required to meet the NSW Funding Acknowledgement Guidelines.

Where eligible, grantees may submit a contingency request for unforeseen costs associated with meeting these requirements. 

Please refer to the key messages and media statements outlined in your approved Communications Plan when responding to media requests.

If you are unsure or need further advice, contact the WSIG Communications team (wsig@premiersdepartment.nsw.gov.au). 

The WSIG PO does not have specific requirements on the manner in which you conduct your procurement, unless outlined in Schedule A. The Funding Deed requires:

• the grant to be expended in an efficient manner and that you must ‘at all times endeavour to obtain value for money including seeking an appropriate number of written quotes when procuring goods and services in connection with the Project’ (Special Clause 9).
• Schedule A outlines any specific procurement requirements for your project in the Activities.

Yes, grantees can create a SmartyFile account.

Click here for instructions on how to set up a SmartyFile.

Please contact the SmartyGrants service desk on:

• Phone: (03) 0320 6888
• Email: service@smartygrants.com.au

Send an email to GMO (gmo@regional.nsw.gov.au) outlining the requested changes.

Please demonstrate that you have appropriate reasons/authority to request the changes.

Please contact the GMO on:

• Phone 1300 107 754   
• Email: gmo@regional.nsw.gov.au