Chief Operating Officer Committee Terms of reference

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Purpose

The Chief Operating Officers (COO) Committee (the Committee) will function as a sub-committee of the Secretaries Board (the Board) and as the operational management committee of the Australian Public Service (APS). The Committee will also play an advisory role to the Board, alerting it to emerging and future strategic issues in relation to the operations of the APS.

The Committee will have two primary roles:

  • Managing whole-of-government operational and implementation matters.
  • Driving delivery of agreed initiatives that reflect the priorities of the government, in line with the direction set by the Board.

The Committee will be responsible for both responding to issues at direction of, and raising issues to, the Board.

Issues concerning the operations of the APS enterprise and which require a whole of APS response, will go to the Committee.

The Committee will be responsible for:

  • Bringing forward proposals to the Board to improve the operational effectiveness of the APS as an enterprise.
  • Managing operational issues reassigned from Secretary and Deputy Secretary-level committees and forums.
  • Driving delivery of APS reforms within their respective departments and agencies and addressing roadblocks to reform across the APS.
  • Responding quickly and flexibly to emerging issues to ensure a common and coordinated APS-wide approach.

Membership

The Committee will comprise relevant Deputy Secretaries/COOs from all Departments of State, the Australian Public Service Commission, Services Australia, the Australian Taxation Office, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Digital Transformation Agency, the Office of National Intelligence, the Department of Parliamentary Services, the National Indigenous Australians Agency, the National Disability Insurance Agency, and the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service. Proxies are permitted to attend as agreed on a case-by-case basis by the Chair.

The Committee Chair (the Chair) will rotate at least bi-annually, or at the discretion of the Board. The Chair will be supported by the Deputy Australian Public Service Commissioner, as Deputy Chair.

The Committee may invite a Small Agency representative to attend Committee meetings on a rotational basis.

First Nations Systems Lead will attend all meetings as a co-opted attendee.

Senior officials from other government agencies may be invited to attend Committee meetings, as agreed by the Chair.

All members must declare any potential, apparent or actual conflicts of interest as they arise.

Operation

The Committee will meet every six weeks or at a suitable date within two months as agreed by the Chair to progress regular business. The Chair may call extraordinary meetings of the Committee as required.

In response to an emerging issue, the Committee will be expected to convene quickly and may elect to identify an appropriate COO to lead a sub-group of the Committee. A sub-group will be accountable for a specific work stream and will be responsible for proposing recommendations for agreement to the Committee. Members of sub-groups may meet more frequently to progress specific work streams for which they are responsible.

In accordance with the Board Terms of Reference, the Chair will provide a six-monthly report to the Board at a minimum. The report will inform the Board of each sub-group’s strategic priorities and key deliverables. The Committee meeting minutes will be listed on all agendas for noting by all Board members.

The Committee will make and implement decisions within the remits of COOs and advise Secretaries of outcomes as necessary, either individually or to the Board. The Committee will exercise judgement on which issues are escalated to the Board for decision, noting the expectation that issues will be resolved at the lowest appropriate level.

Committee members will be responsible for disseminating messaging and meeting outcomes across portfolio agencies and within their departments and agencies. Members act as conduits and represent interests of portfolio agencies and departments where agencies are not separately represented on the Committee.

Sub-committees of the COO Committee

The COO Committee may establish sub-committees to assist the Committee in performing its functions.

The role of sub-committees includes:

  • Developing targeted forward working plans to address current and future Committee priorities.
  • Delivering government priorities including undertaking focussed pieces of work on specific emerging issues, as well as proactively identifying emerging risks for longer-term issues, and proposing a path forward for the Committee.

In establishing sub-committees, the Committee may consider:

  • Whether the sub-committee is to be a standing sub-committee or a time-limited working group to deliver a specific task identified by the Committee.
  • Membership of the sub-committee, including participation by relevant agencies beyond portfolio departments.

The Committee will be supported by two sub-committees:

  • Collaboration Circle.
  • Commonwealth Risk Committee.

Chairs of the Committee’s sub-committees are responsible for providing six-monthly reports, at a minimum, to inform the Committee of each sub-committee’s strategic priorities and key deliverables.

Secretariat

The Committee will be supported by a secretariat in the Australian Public Service Commission. The Secretariat will support the Chair, convene the Committee, coordinate the meeting agenda and papers, prepare and distribute the meeting minutes and ensure connectivity to the Board.

The secretariat can be contacted via email COO.COMMITTEE@apsc.gov.au.

Review

The Terms of Reference may be reviewed at the discretion of the Chair in consultation with members of the Committee.

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