ASES Quality Assessors Panel

The Australian Service Excellence Standard (ASES) is a quality improvement program that aims to assist non−government organisations to improve their business systems, management practices and program service delivery. The set of standards are internationally accredited by the International Society in Quality in Health and Social Care External Evaluation Association (ISQuaEEA) and comprises of a range of supports to enable funding recipients to meet their quality assurance requirements.

Funding recipients undertake these self−assessments and supporting evidence which is then verified through the mechanism of an independent quality assessor who then validates organisations performance against ASES criteria. As these standards are the intellectual property of DHS, organisations can only choose those assessors who have been approved by DHS as having the required experience, skillset and knowledge.

There are currently 388 South Australian organisations participating in the ASES program. Of these 388 organisations, 118 were accredited as at 1 December, 2023. It is likely that through the lifetime of the Panel that organisations will undertake multiple assessments to maintain their continuous accreditation.

Where the Department of Human Services (DHS) funds agencies to provide services to disadvantaged individuals, families and communities, DHS has a need to ensure the ongoing quality of those services meets the expected standard and is maintained. This procurement process is to tender for a new panel agreement. The current Panel arrangement is due to expire 30 June 2024.

The role of the Panel Members is to provide a Quality Assurance (QA) auditing service against the Australian Service Excellence Standards (ASES). Auditors will be required to have extensive auditing experience and understand the sensitivities surrounding agencies’ service recipients.

DHS will not directly fund recipients to engage any specific Panel Member but will rather provide details of all Panel Members to funding recipients, for them to select the Panel Member of their choice Panel members will be entitled to invoice the fund recipient for assessment services.. In return for this service, the selected Panel Member will be required to remit 12% of the invoiced service fee to DHS.

ASES has a national reach and requires Panel representation to all States and Territories. Greater presence is required in New South Wales (NSW) as their funded providers of Specialist Homelessness and Domestic Violence Services are now expected to be accredited in ASES. Existing panel members are predominately in South Australia with a need for assessors residing in NSW to meet the increasing demand and the rising need for Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation to undertake culturally safe assessments and cultural advice.

ASES accreditation is not limited to South Australia; it is available for organisations in other Australian States and New Zealand.

For more information please visit Australian Service Excellence Standards (ASES) | DHS