We have been successful in discussing the issues a number of local government authorities and other organisations have raised with us about the Cycle Path Fund, part of the Jobs Fund administered by the Department of Education, Employment and Work Place Relations (DEEWR). Please also refer to;

• CPF: Information Bulletin 21 April 2009 - Government announces details of $40m Cycle Path Fund
• Click here for Cycling Promotion Funds Introductory Guide (PDF, 38kb)
  

In a conversation today with a DEEWR Director responsible for the Jobs Fund, we asked about the key areas of:

• Fund email
• Areas of Need
• Co-funding requirements
• Financial Reporting Requirements
• Application deadline

Email responses

Their advice about the recent difficulties applicants have had in getting answers to questions via the advertised Jobs Fund email are due to the fact that they have received more than one thousand emails with queries, and this is taking some time to respond to them all.

Areas of Need

• While some ‘Areas of Need’ have been clearly defined in the funding applications, funding applications will be assessed on their individual merits in terms of the job creation for each project and region in which the jobs will be created.

• The assessment process is iterative; applications that conform to the required format, fulfil a demonstrated need and supply all relevant information will be assessed immediately while other applications for projects that display good ideas but are be lacking in some aspect of the application may be sent back to the applicants for more work.

Co-funding Requirements

• The co-funding requirement is based on the fact that bicycle infrastructure is normally funded by local and state jurisdictions and would likely be on a capital works budget at some stage in the future. The governments Cycle Path Fund therefore is targeted at bringing this expenditure forward to have an immediate impact on creating jobs

• In-kind funding will be considered as co-funding

• Other government funding will be considered. Whether it is accepted depends whether what will be achieved by the Jobs Fund funding would not have been achieved by any other grants or funding. Applicants will need to ensure that any other funding is clearly outlined in their applications.

Financial Reporting Requirements

• All paper work is required to be completed for each application. All forms are standard forms for the Department.

• Local governments who already have funding agreements in place with the Commonwealth must complete it for the Jobs Fund again as due to privacy legislation government departments are unfortunately not allowed to share previously acquired details.

Application Deadline

• It is unlikely that further calls for applications will be advertised for the Cycle Paths Fund once the application deadline has passed.

We hope this helps as you prepare your funding applications.

Kind regards,

Stephen Hodge
Government Relations Representative For the Cycling Promotion Fund
www.cyclingpromotion.com.au