Awaiting Assent P.B. 07-001 | Government Delivery and Project Reporting Act

[Nim]

A
BILL
TO
Amend the Government Organization Act
To establish a public register and regular reporting for government projects

1 - About this Act

(1) This Act

(a) may be cited as the ‘Government Delivery and Project Reporting Act’.

(b) may be numbered as P.B.07-###.

(c) shall be enacted immediately upon receiving Royal Assent.

(d) has been authored by Deputy Prime Minister Nim Nom.

(e) has been co-sponsored by Minister of Internal Affairs Hello1341.

2 - Reasons

(1) The Government Organization Act gives the Ministry of Development responsibility for government infrastructure, public transportation, plot regulations, and city upkeep, while the Ministry of Trade and Finance is responsible for monitoring government spending.

(2) Public materials show recurring demand for completed roads, infrastructure, cleared plots, public buildings, and other tangible development rather than plans that cannot be tracked to completion.

(3) The existing public materials reviewed do not establish one cross-government register showing who owns a project, what completion means, when it is due, what has been spent, or what evidence demonstrates completion.

(4) A reporting register would improve continuity across governments and allow Parliament and the public to distinguish an announced project from an active project and a completed project.

(5) This Act creates a reporting duty only. It does not appropriate money, transfer ministerial powers, require disclosure of protected information, or permit spending outside an appropriation.

3 - Definitions

For the purposes of this Act:

(1) “Covered project” means a discrete government undertaking that is expected to require government personnel, government funds, government property, or a public-facing deliverable and that has a defined objective or completion condition.

(2) “Delivery Register” means the public register established by §11a of the Government Organization Act as inserted by this Act.

(3) “Material change” means a change to the responsible Ministry, objective, scope, expected completion date, funding, status, dependency, or completion evidence of a Covered project.

(4) “Restricted project” means a Covered project whose details cannot lawfully be published because disclosure would violate a statute, a court order, a lawful classification, or a specific public-safety requirement.

4 - Amendments to §11 of the Government Organization Act

(1) The following paragraph shall be inserted into §11(4)(a) of the Government Organization Act immediately after paragraph (v):

“(vi) Maintaining the Delivery Register and coordinating the receipt and publication of project updates required by §11a.”

(2) The following subsection shall be inserted into §11 of the Government Organization Act immediately after subsection (8):

“(9) The duties in §11a are administrative reporting duties and do not authorize the Chief of Staff to direct a Ministry’s substantive policy, incur an expense, alter an appropriation, or disclose information protected by law.”

5 - Government Delivery Register

(1) The following section shall be inserted into the Government Organization Act immediately after §11:

“11a - Government Delivery Register

(1) The Chief of Staff shall maintain a Delivery Register for Covered projects undertaken by the Executive.

(2) A Minister responsible for a Covered project shall submit a project record to the Chief of Staff within seven days after the project is approved, publicly announced, or begun, whichever occurs first.

(3) Each project record shall contain, to the greatest extent applicable:

(a) the project title and responsible Ministry;

(b) the project owner or responsible office;

(c) the public objective and measurable deliverables;

(d) the commencement date and expected completion date;

(e) the current status, selected from “proposed”, “active”, “blocked”, “complete”, or “cancelled”;

(f) any approved or expected government expenditure and the appropriation or other legal authority for that expenditure;

(g) material dependencies, risks, or blockers;

(h) the date of the most recent update; and

(i) for a project marked complete, a concise description of the completion evidence.

(4) The responsible Minister shall update the project record at least once every fourteen days while the project is active and within seventy-two hours after a material change.

(5) The Chief of Staff shall publish a public version of each project record within seventy-two hours after receiving it.

(a) If a project is a Restricted project, the Chief of Staff shall publish the project’s title, responsible Ministry, status, date of last review, and a statement that further details are restricted, unless even that information is protected by law.

(b) A public version shall not include private account credentials, private tokens, personal information not necessary to describe the project, or information whose disclosure is prohibited by law.

(6) Within three days after the end of each thirty-day period, the Chief of Staff shall provide Parliament with a summary identifying:

(a) Covered projects begun during the period;

(b) projects completed, cancelled, or blocked during the period;

(c) projects with overdue updates; and

(d) material changes in expected cost or completion date.

(7) A project may be marked “complete” only when the responsible Minister or designated project owner has identified evidence reasonably showing that the stated deliverables were completed.

(8) Nothing in this section:

(a) creates an appropriation or authorizes an expenditure;

(b) limits the Prime Minister’s authority over Ministers;

(c) limits Parliament’s power of oversight or appropriation;

(d) changes the Ministry of Development’s substantive responsibilities; or

(e) requires disclosure prohibited by law or court order.”

6 - Amendments to §§15 and 16 of the Government Organization Act

(1) The following paragraph shall be inserted into §16(1) of the Government Organization Act immediately after paragraph (f):

“(g) provide project records and status updates for Covered projects under §11a.”

(2) The following paragraph shall be inserted into §15(1) of the Government Organization Act immediately after paragraph (g):

“(h) provide spending information required for a Covered project under §11a, consistent with appropriations and applicable confidentiality rules.”

7 - Implementation and Review

(1) The Chief of Staff shall publish the first Delivery Register within fourteen days after this Act enters into force.

(2) Parliament may review the operation of this Act after one Parliamentary term and may amend or repeal it as appropriate.

8 - Severability

(1) The provisions of this Act are severable. If a provision is declared invalid, the remaining provisions shall continue in force to the greatest extent permitted by law.

 

[Nim]

The ANP
Through Their Deputy Prime Minister Nim Nom
Moves to Pass
The Government Delivery and Project Reporting Act

Parliament notes:

(1) Government project information can be scattered across announcements and Ministry records, making progress and completion difficult to track.

(2) Changes in officeholders can disrupt continuity where responsibilities and outstanding work are not clearly recorded.

(3) Reporting requires staff time and should remain proportionate to the work being tracked.

Based on this, Parliament decides:

(1) To establish a public register identifying government projects, responsible officials, deliverables, expected completion dates, expenditure, and progress.

(2) To require regular updates and evidence of completion while preserving ministerial authority and protecting confidential information.

To fulfil this, Parliament projects the following expenses:

(1) The bill creates no new appropriation or paid position. Implementation is intended to use existing government tools and staff, subject to available appropriations.

(2) Staff time will be required; no separate monetary estimate has been established.

Further, Parliament projects the following administrative efforts:

(1) The Chief of Staff will establish and maintain the register, publish project records, and provide summaries to Parliament.

(2) Responsible Ministers will submit project records and updates within the deadlines established by the bill.

(3) Officials will review records before publication to protect information whose disclosure is prohibited by law.

To implement the above, Parliament passes:

The Government Delivery and Project Reporting Act, as set out in the parent post.

 

[Nim]

AMENDMENT 01

1 - Replace §3(1)​

Strike §3(1) of the Bill and replace it with:

(1) “Covered project” means a discrete undertaking within a Ministry's existing functions which has a defined deliverable and satisfies paragraphs (a) to (c), subject to paragraphs (d) and (e):

(a) It falls within one of these categories:

(i) Ministry of Development: construction, reconstruction or expansion of public buildings, roads, transport facilities or other public infrastructure;

(ii) Ministry of Internal Affairs: a separately organised public event or event series, or the introduction or replacement of an election-administration system;

(iii) Ministry of Trade and Finance: the establishment or substantial redesign of a government grant, lending, financial-market or economic-development programme, or its supporting administrative system;

(iv) Ministry of Welfare: the establishment or substantial redesign of a public education, healthcare or welfare programme, a gameplay system, or a supporting administrative or service-delivery system;

(v) Ministry of Foreign Affairs: the establishment or substantial redesign of an immigration, passport, foreign-worker or diplomatic-exchange programme, its supporting service system, or a specific implementation project under an international agreement; or

(vi) Ministry of Justice: the establishment or substantial redesign of a public justice service, or a departmental training or case-administration system.

(b) Either:

(i) its total planned government expenditure, excluding ordinary remuneration for existing staff, is at least £1,000; or

(ii) the Prime Minister or responsible Minister has publicly announced it as a project to deliver a specified facility, service, event, programme or system.

(c) It is not routine maintenance, recurring operational work, or an individual administrative matter. Excluded work includes ordinary repairs and cleaning; edits to existing examination questions, forms or guidance; individual applications, licences, permits, passports, grants and payments; individual custom-item patent applications, item fulfilment, renewals and ordinary expiry; individual investigations, prosecutions and court cases; ordinary election operations; and routine diplomatic correspondence or negotiations. This exclusion does not exempt a project to introduce or substantially redesign a programme or system described in paragraph (a), but the individual matters processed through that programme or system shall not require separate project records.

(d) For paragraph (b), related phases or work packages serving the same deliverable shall be assessed together, including expenditure by different Ministries.

(e) A project shall not be exempt merely because one official performs the work. Once a project becomes covered, it shall remain covered until recorded as complete or cancelled.

2 - Replace §3(3)​

Strike §3(3) of the Bill and replace it with:

(3) “Material change” means:

(a) a change to the responsible Ministry or project owner;

(b) the addition, removal or replacement of a principal deliverable;

(c) a change in the expected completion date of seven days or more compared with the date last reported in the Delivery Register;

(d) a change in total expected government expenditure of at least £1,000 compared with the amount last reported in the Delivery Register;

(e) a change in project status between proposed, active, blocked, complete or cancelled; or

(f) a change in a dependency or in completion evidence which prevents delivery of a principal deliverable or shows that a project recorded as complete is not complete.

Changes under paragraphs (c) and (d) shall be assessed cumulatively against the last reported date or amount. Routine expenditure within an unchanged project estimate does not by itself constitute a material change. Smaller changes shall be included in the next regular update.

3 - Replace the proposed §11a(2) in §5(1)​

Within the section to be inserted by §5(1) of the Bill, strike proposed §11a(2) and replace it with:

(2) Within seven days after an undertaking first becomes a Covered project, the responsible Minister shall provide the Chief of Staff with the information required by subsection (3), so far as it is then known.

(a) The Chief of Staff shall designate one reporting channel or submission route, provide a concise common template after consulting the Ministers, and compile project records from the information supplied. Existing clerks may assist.

(b) A Minister may satisfy this subsection by supplying or linking existing Ministry reports or records through that route, confirming their accuracy and supplying any missing information. No separate narrative report or duplication of information already supplied shall be required. Providing information in this manner constitutes submission of a project record for subsection (5).

(c) Information not yet known shall be identified as such and supplied when available. The Chief of Staff may seek clarification but shall not be required to search unrelated Ministry channels or conversations.

(d) A project involving more than one Ministry shall have one record. The Prime Minister shall designate a lead Ministry to coordinate the information, without transferring another Ministry's substantive powers.

4 - Replace the proposed §11a(4) in §5(1)​

Within the section to be inserted by §5(1) of the Bill, strike proposed §11a(4) and replace it with:

(4) While a Covered project is active or blocked, its responsible Minister shall supply an update through the route designated under subsection (2) at least once every fourteen days, and shall report a material change within seventy-two hours after becoming aware of it. A material change shall also be reported for a project recorded as proposed, complete or cancelled.

(a) An update may consist of an existing Ministry report or record, a short statement of changes, or confirmation that the existing record remains accurate. It need not repeat unchanged information.

(b) The Chief of Staff shall incorporate the information supplied into the project record and publish the updated public version within the period and subject to the protections in subsection (5).

(c) The Minister remains responsible for the accuracy of the information supplied and for identifying omissions or necessary restrictions on publication.

5 - Replace §7(1)​

Strike §7(1) of the Bill and replace it with:

(1) The Chief of Staff shall publish the first Delivery Register within fourteen days after this Act enters into force. A project already underway which meets the definition of Covered project when this Act enters into force shall be treated as first becoming covered on that date. No reconstruction of updates for periods before that date shall be required.

6 - Clarify §7(2)​

In §7(2) of the Bill, insert the following sentence after the existing sentence:

Any such review should consider the usefulness of the register, the administrative workload it creates, and whether its scope or reporting requirements should be retained, amended or repealed.

All other provisions remain unchanged.

Explanation​

This amendment defines the projects covered within each Ministry and removes routine operations and individual cases from the register. A project must fall within a listed category and either involve at least £1,000 in planned expenditure or have been publicly announced by the Prime Minister or responsible Minister as a specified deliverable.

For Welfare, this includes introducing or substantially redesigning systems such as magic or the custom-item patent programme. Processing a player's patent application, supplying the item, or administering its renewal or expiry would not require a project entry.

Ministers would provide the facts through one reporting route. The Chief of Staff would compile the record, using existing reports wherever possible. An unchanged project would need only a brief confirmation, and a shared project would have one entry.

The amendment also distinguishes significant changes from everyday activity. Routine spending within a project estimate would not generate a separate urgent update. A £1,000 change in expected cost, a delay of at least seven days, a principal deliverable change or a change in status would still be reported promptly.

The existing publication protections and evidence-of-completion requirements remain. Review after one parliamentary term stays optional, with workload and usefulness expressly included as matters to consider.