• Table of contents
• Letter of transmittal
• About this report
• Message from the CEO
• Organisational overview
• Report on performance
• Management and accountability
• Financial information
• ASADA Advisory Group
• Anti-Doping Rule Violation Panel
• Australian Sports Drug Medical Advisory Committee
• Appendixes
• Abbreviations
• Glossary
• Compliance Index
• Tables
• Figures

Corporate governance

ASADA’s corporate governance arrangements continue to comply with statutory and other external requirements. We aim to achieve sound and accountable administration and financial management and the efficient, effective, economical and ethical use of resources.

The main areas of corporate governance practices are the following.

• Management structure – senior management responsibilities, organisational structure, and senior committees operating with suitable terms of reference, appropriate controls and appropriate monitoring of activity and performance.
• Management environment – a coherent corporate planning framework, aligning vision, strategies, planning processes and performance measures to meet clearly articulated goals. This is enhanced through leadership protocols, investing in people, a learning environment, and workforce planning.
• Consistency and compliance – management and staff adhere to the Australian Public Service (APS) Values and Code of Conduct when undertaking their duties and functions. This is underpinned by the ongoing development and maintenance of systems, including a financial management accreditation system, that provide guidance on policies, procedures and behaviours.
• Monitoring and reporting – a focus on efficient and effective business and financial performance, achieved through regular reporting against key performance indicators and the ongoing evaluation and review of programs and performance.

Corporate and operational planning

The ASADA Strategic Plan 2008–11 sets out the goals and strategies adopted to achieve our objectives and purpose of protecting Australia’s sporting integrity through the elimination of doping.

The strategic plan identifies six organisational goals, which are re-validated annually. The goals are to:

Goal 1 – be an influential leader in anti-doping in sport

Goal 2 – establish a level playing field for clean athletes

Goal 3 – build and maintain relationships that are based on principles of respect, openness, responsiveness and integrity

Goal 4 – make ethical and fair decisions under our legislation, and ensure prudent management of our budget, openness and accountability

Goal 5 – attract high-quality people and maximise their potential

Goal 6 – create a culture of shared leadership across the organisation.

Each goal has a series of associated strategies and expected performance outcomes.

During 2010–11, ASADA developed a new strategic plan to cover the period 2011–14.

An annual business plan articulates the key actions to be undertaken each year to implement the goals and strategies in the strategic plan. Annual operational plans for each business unit then describe how each unit will contribute to the key actions.

Our general business planning is augmented by functional strategic plans, such as the Education Plan, Test Distribution Plan and Strategic Communications Plan.

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Organisational structure and Senior Executive arrangements

Under the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 (the FMA Act) and the Public Service Act 1999, the ASADA CEO is accountable for ASADA’s management and strategic leadership.

In turn:

• each Senior Executive General Manager is accountable for their own group’s management and strategic leadership
• each business unit director is accountable for their workgroup management and strategic leadership.

During 2010–11, ASADA operated with two groups:

• The Anti-Doping Programs and Legal Services group is responsible for the design and delivery of a range of anti-doping programs and activities, liaison with athletes, support personnel and sporting organisations, management of cases of possible anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs) and the presentation of these cases to relevant tribunals.
• The Operations group is responsible for education, athlete services and stakeholder relationships, as well as providing the key support elements necessary to ensure the effective, efficient, ethical and accountable delivery of ASADA’s outcome.

ASADA’s structure at 30 June 2011 is set out in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Organisational structure at 30 June 2011

 

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Governance committees

Audit Committee

The Audit Committee is a central element of ASADA’s governance. It is established by the CEO in accordance with Section 46 of the FMA Act and Financial Management and Accountability Orders 2.1.1 and 2.1.2.

The role of the Audit Committee is to provide independent assurance and assistance to the CEO in meeting responsibilities under the FMA Act. The Audit Committee reviews risk, control and compliance frameworks and external accountability responsibilities.

The Audit Committee comprises three independent members: Ms Jennifer Clark (Chair), Mr David Lawler and Mr Peter Kennedy PSM.

Representatives from the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO), ASADA’s internal auditors (Deloitte), the Chief Operating Officer and the Chief Financial Officer attend all Audit Committee meetings. There were five meetings during 2010–11.

The Audit Committee operates a rolling annual program designed to cover its responsibilities under its charter in the areas of risk management, external accountability, the control framework, legislative compliance, external audit and internal audit.

Occupational Health and Safety Committee

The Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Committee is a formal structure that provides management and employees with a consultative forum to discuss and resolve OHS issues in the workplace. The committee comprises the Chief Operating Officer, the Director Human Resources and elected health and safety representatives.

The OHS Committee operates according to the defined OHS legislative requirements.

Workplace Consultative Committee

The Workplace Consultative Committee is the formal consultative body established under the ASADA Collective Agreement 2009–12. ASADA is committed to consulting with our employees about workplace matters affecting them. The Workplace Consultative Committee is responsible for promoting cooperative workplace relations within ASADA, providing advice and assistance to employees, representing employees in the development and implementation of people-related policies, procedures and initiatives, and resolving workplace issues in accordance with dispute resolution procedures.

The Workplace Consultative Committee comprises the Chief Operating Officer, the Director Human Resources, four elected staff representatives and a Community and Public Sector Union representative.

Senior Management Group

Our Senior Management Group comprises the CEO, Chief Operating Officer and General Manager Anti-Doping Programs and Legal Services, as well as ASADA’s business unit directors – the Chief Financial Officer, Director Legal Services and Results Management, Director Investigations and Intelligence, Director Stakeholder Management and Education, Director Testing and Sport Operations, Director Marketing and Communications, Director Human Resources, and Director Information and Security.

The Senior Management Group is responsible for:

• developing strategic directions, priorities and policies
• monitoring the achievement of objectives
• ensuring the efficient, effective and ethical use of resources
• monitoring accountability and compliance obligations.

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Risk management

We are committed to a comprehensive, coordinated and systematic approach to the management of risk, directing efforts towards helping managers anticipate uncertain events, exploit opportunities and respond appropriately to potential weaknesses.

Our Corporate Policy and Framework for Managing Risk and associated guidelines were first developed in 2007, and are consistent with the Australian/New Zealand Standard for Risk Management (AS/NZS 4360:2004) then in operation. Our Risk Management Framework was reviewed during 2010–11 and a new Risk Management Plan developed. This process closely followed the International Standard for Risk Management (AS/NZS ISO 31000:2009).

Operational and financial risks

Operational and financial risk identification in ASADA occurs at several levels.

• The Senior Management Group identifies the key strategic risks that apply across all operations and these risks are taken into account in the annual business plan.
• General managers and business unit directors identify the main pressures, challenges, and risks that may affect the objectives in annual operational plans for each business unit. This includes consideration of the strategic risks identified by the Senior Management Group.

Risk-mitigation plans have been developed for all risks identified as high or significant.

Financial risk is managed through a range of specific initiatives including the following.

• Chief Executive Instructions and associated procedural rules are available to all staff and give effect to FMA Act requirements. These instructions and rules set out responsibilities and procedures that provide an overarching framework for transparent and accountable financial management. They also contain topics relating specifically to risk management and internal accountability.
• A system of financial delegations ensures that commitment and spending authorities rest with appropriate staff who are informed of their responsibilities.
• The Internal Audit Plan identifies services and functions for auditing. This plan incorporates issues raised by the ANAO in its financial audits of ASADA, policy evaluations, previous internal audits and strategic risk management issues and, where appropriate, recent ANAO reports on cross-agency matters.

Insurable risks are covered by Comcover and Comcare.

Monitoring of risk occurs through:

• weekly monitoring of significant operational risks by the CEO and Senior Executives
• regular monitoring of workgroup operational risks by business unit directors
• monthly monitoring of strategic risks by the Senior Management Group
• quarterly reports to the Audit Committee on risk management.

Business continuity management

During 2010–11, the Business Continuity Management Plan was revised in accordance with guidance contained in ANAO’s Better Practice Guide on Business Continuity Management: June 2009.

The Business Continuity Management Plan covers:

• a business impact analysis identifying critical business processes for achieving our business objectives
• the Business Disruption Framework that will provide processes and guidance to manage a business disruption
• guidance on incident management
• contingency plans for individual workgroups and specific functions.

Fraud risk

The Fraud Control Plan 2009–11, and the associated Fraud Risk Assessment, comply with the Commonwealth Fraud Control Guidelines. The fraud control plan puts appropriate strategies in place to manage our fraud risks. The plan addresses the key elements of:

• preparedness – governance arrangements that support an anti-fraud culture within ASADA
• prevention – understanding the sources and potential impacts of fraud by identifying and assessing risks based on the application of existing controls that prevent, detect and deter the threat of fraud
• response – through the establishment of appropriate channels for reporting fraud and detection mechanisms
• recovery – through administrative, civil or criminal processes and an examination of the lessons learnt to further refine fraud control strategies and enhance internal and other controls.

Our Fraud Control Plan also ensures we have appropriate fraud prevention, detection, investigation and reporting procedures and processes in place. We provide annual fraud data to the Australian Institute of Criminology.

There were no instances of fraud during 2010–11.

Information technology risks

During 2010–11 we continued to develop and implement a contingency plan to deal with any risks to the efficient operation of our Information Technology (IT) application. This plan sets out alternative methods and processes to use so that work can continue while the Information and Communications Technology environment is being restored.

IT instructions for ASADA personnel address requirements to protect IT information holdings and secure operation. The IT Framework provides IT personnel with relevant information to maintain and rectify issues associated with the ASADA network. These instructions are based on the protective security policies and standards in the Australian Protective Security Manual and the Australian Government Information and Communications Technology Security Manual.

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Ethical standards

We are committed to promoting and supporting the APS Values and Code of Conduct, as set out in the Public Service Act 1999. Our Performance Management System includes adherence to the APS Values and Code of Conduct as a key performance requirement for all staff.

In addition, Goal 4 of our strategic plan commits us to ‘make ethical and fair decisions under our legislation, and ensure prudent management of our budget, openness and accountability’. The strategies under this goal include:

• ensuring staff (at all levels) are aware of, and comply with, our accountability framework
• ensuring that quality obligations underpin our work, systems and processes
• adopting a disciplined financial management approach
• ensuring that reporting obligations provide an accurate assessment of our work and the results achieved.

Our Chief Executive Instructions include guidance on ethical issues, such as conflicts of interest and receiving gifts and benefits.

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Social justice and equity impacts

The importance of clients having equitable access to the full range of our services is well recognised and our Customer Service Charter commits to making sure this occurs. We work with clients to match services to individual circumstances, explaining decisions and advising clients of their rights and responsibilities.

We have mechanisms in place for people to make complaints, and procedures to ensure complaints are dealt with promptly. Complainants are advised of the action taken in response to their complaint and of the further avenues of recourse available to them if they are still dissatisfied.

We adhere to the principles of natural justice and procedural fairness enshrined in our governing legislation. These are carried through in the operating procedures for doping control and results-management processes.

Internally, we have developed a Diversity Plan; for more information, see ‘Workplace diversity’ on page 74.

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Internal audits

Our internal audit services are provided by Deloitte and monitored by the Audit Committee.

Our Internal Audit Plan for 2009–12 takes into account:

• identified strategic risks
• the Fraud Control Plan
• the results of the Certificate of Compliance processes
• feedback from the executive team and the Senior Management Group.

The following internal audits were conducted during 2010–11:

• credit card processes
• financial controls – accounts payable processing
• quality management system review
• Eugene project quality assurance review
• Systems Under Development (SUD) – review of the implementation of the upgraded Eugene system which is ongoing
• review and update of the risk management framework.

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Recordkeeping

Our recordkeeping practices comply with the Archives Act 1983. They are reviewed regularly to maintain compliance.

We are updating our training and education packages to ensure correct recordkeeping practices and procedures are disseminated to all staff.

We are also appraising software to help us with the preservation of digital records and to ensure that our valued electronic business documents are maintained and kept for as long as the business needs them.

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Quality management

Compliance with ISO 9001

As part of our annual certification audit program, a surveillance audit of the quality management system was conducted in April 2011 based on the ISO 9001 Standard. The successful completion of this audit resulted in ASADA being re-certified as meeting the requirements of ISO 9001. The three-year period of certification is due to expire in April 2012, subject to ongoing satisfactory surveillance audits.

The ISO 9001 certification covers the quality management system associated with the planning and provision of a doping control program and related activities in accordance with the:

• World Anti-Doping Code
• International Standard for Testing
• International Standard for Therapeutic Use Exemptions
• Guidelines for Bodies Operating Certification of Quality Systems for Doping Control Programs.

The services and related activities are:

• collection of athletes’ urine and/or blood samples
• management of Therapeutic Use Exemptions
• procurement of secure transport and phlebotomy services
• procurement of contract analyses for detection of prohibited substances or methods
• reporting results of sample analysis in accordance with relevant legislation, standards and user-pays agreements
• investigation of potential ADRVs
• presentation of cases to anti-doping tribunals
• anti-doping education of athletes and support personnel.

We are committed to the continuous improvement of the quality management system and to maintaining ISO 9001 certification.

Customer Service Charter

We are committed to understanding the needs of our clients and meeting those needs to a consistent standard of excellence.

Our Customer Service Charter sets out the standard of service that people who deal with us can expect, as well as ways in which customers can help us improve our service.

The charter explains how we make it easy for clients to access our services. It also gives assurances that we will treat clients with respect and courtesy, and that we will explain their options to them, including their rights and responsibilities.

The charter also indicates that feedback is welcome, and explains how clients can comment on our services.

 

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