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The CCIF aims to improve broadband infrastructure across regional areas of Australia and support the wide distribution of best practice in broadband development and procurement.

The primary focus of the CCIF is to improve the delivery of broadband health, education and government services in regional communities by supporting projects that involve establishing new network infrastructure and/or enhancing the capabilities of existing network infrastructure.

The minimum amount of funding available per proposal is $500 000, with the maximum being $2 million unless exceptional circumstances can be demonstrated. CCIF funding must be at least matched by funding sources other than the Australian Government.

The CCIF builds on the Australian Government's $50 million National Communications Fund (NCF) which supports significant communications projects in the education and health sectors in regional Australia. It also complements other Government broadband initiatives including the Demand Aggregation Broker Program and the Higher Bandwidth Incentive Scheme.

Eligibility

CCIF applicants were encouraged to form collaborative partnerships between State and Territory governments, telecommunications carriers, service providers or other companies, other government agencies including local government, health and education service providers and not for profit organisations .

State and Territory governments or other stakeholders were eligible to bring proposals forward in their own right or as members of a consortium. Individuals and Australian Government departments were not able to apply for funding in their own right as lead proposers but were eligible to join collaborative partnerships.

Selection process

The CCIF is administered by the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts and the funding is allocated through a competitive selection process.

During all stages of the process, the Department will retain independent advisers to provide advice in relation to probity, legal, financial and technical matters.

The basic principles underlying the selection process are to ensure that:

• the selection process results in CCIF projects which achieve the best outcome for regional Australia; and
• all applicants are treated in a fair and equitable manner consistent with natural justice and procedural fairness.

Applicants were required to address all elements of each of the following equally weighted selection criteria.

Selection Criterion 1: The nature, range and quality of the services to be delivered by the project:

(a) the nature, range and quality of the services which will be delivered by the project

(b) the nature and level of demand for the services to be delivered by the project.

Selection Criterion 2: The benefits and outcomes of the project in terms of improvements it will make to the delivery of services to regional communities

Selection Criterion 3: The extent to which the services delivered by the project are new and additional:

(a) the degree to which the project complements, rather than duplicates, other broadband and regional telecommunications initiatives

(b) an explanation as to why the project would not proceed without CCIF assistance.

Selection Criterion 4: The nature and range of organisations involved in the project and the effectiveness of the corporate structure

Selection Criterion 5: The viability of the financial plan for the project, and the level of funding from sources other than the Australian Government:

(a) the viability of the financial plan for the project

(b) the proportion of project funding derived from sources other than the Australian Government.

Selection Criterion 6: The degree to which the project is sustainable after the CCIF ceases.

Selection Criterion 7: The quality of the project plan and risk management plan.

Selection Criterion 8: The level of management expertise available to implement and manage the project.

• Document ID: 23486 |
• Last modified: 6 February 2008, 11:08am