- Grants Register8
- Ministerial and Correspondence Tracker8
- Contracts and Procurement Register8
- Compliance and Investigations Register8
Public value, delivered
The Department of Community Programs is a state government department that funds, regulates and supports community services across Victoria.
CAQA Department of Community Programs, public sector agency
The Department of Community Programs is a state government department that funds, regulates and supports community services across Victoria. It administers community grants programs worth about ninety million dollars a year, contracts not-for-profit organisations to deliver youth, seniors, multicultural and neighbourhood house services, and regulates the standards those funded providers must meet. The department advises the Minister for Community Programs, answers to Parliament through the annual report and budget estimates, and serves the public through its front counters, phone line and online portal. Its work touches thousands of volunteers, community organisations and local councils every year.
The department is led by a Deputy Secretary and organised into six branches: Grants and Programs, Policy and Strategy, Procurement and Contract Management, Regulation and Compliance, Community Engagement and Client Services, and Corporate Services. Head office in Melbourne holds the executive, policy, procurement and corporate functions. The Ballarat and Shepparton regional offices run the grants assessment teams, the front counters and the compliance officers who visit funded providers in western and northern Victoria. Standard hours are 8:30 am to 5:00 pm on business days, with the front counters open from 9:00 am and the after-hours line for provider incidents staffed by a rostered duty officer.
Integrity
Staff act honestly, declare conflicts of interest and use public resources only for public purposes. Decisions are made on the merits and recorded.
Impartiality
Advice is frank and evidence based, grants are assessed against published criteria, and every applicant, provider and member of the public is treated the same way.
Accountability
Every decision has a delegate, a record and a reason. Staff welcome scrutiny from Parliament, auditors and integrity bodies.
Respect
Communities, providers and colleagues are heard, kept informed and treated with courtesy, including when the answer is no.
Services and operations
To strengthen Victorian communities by funding, regulating and supporting community services with integrity, fairness and care for public money.
Community grants administration
Designing, advertising, assessing and acquitting grants programs for neighbourhood houses, youth services, seniors groups and multicultural organisations, with published criteria and probity at every stage.
Service agreements and contract management
Procuring and managing agreements with not-for-profit providers for funded community services, including performance monitoring, payment schedules, variations and contract close-out.
Provider regulation and compliance
Registering funded providers, inspecting services against the funded service standards, investigating complaints and incidents and taking proportionate action on non-compliance.
Policy advice and ministerial support
Preparing briefs, ministerial correspondence, cabinet submissions and evidence-based policy options for the Minister and the executive within agreed timeframes.
Community engagement and client services
Running front counters, the public phone line and consultations so that communities can access programs, lodge applications and raise concerns in plain language.
Corporate governance and records
Managing finance, delegations, procurement approvals, records, freedom of information, privacy, security, risk and internal audit so the department meets its legal and reporting obligations.
Six departments, one workplace
Each department has a purpose, a lead, responsibilities, performance measures and the systems it works in. Students are placed in a department by their scenario.
Grants and Programs Branch
Designs and runs the department's four grants programs from guidelines and advertising through assessment, recommendation, funding...
Visit departmentPolicy and Strategy Branch
Provides evidence-based policy advice to the Minister and the executive, prepares ministerial briefs, correspondence and cabinet m...
Visit departmentProcurement and Contract Management Branch
Plans and runs procurements for goods, services and funded service agreements under the Victorian Government Purchasing Board poli...
Visit departmentRegulation and Compliance Branch
Registers funded providers, monitors and inspects services against the funded service standards, receives and assesses complaints ...
Visit departmentCommunity Engagement and Client Services Branch
Runs the front counters, the public phone line and the online enquiry channel, handles first-contact complaints and applications, ...
Visit departmentCorporate Services Branch
Provides finance, delegations, records and information management, freedom of information, privacy, security, human resources, wor...
Visit departmentWorking systems with real records
Every system is live in your browser: create, update, search, move cards on a board and export what you did. Reset returns the seed data at any time.
Grants Register
Records every grant application from receipt through assessment, decision, funding agreement, payment and acquittal across the four programs.
8 recordsMinisterial and Correspondence Tracker
Registers ministerial briefs, correspondence, complaints, freedom of information requests and public enquiries with due dates, owners and clearance status.
8 recordsContracts and Procurement Register
Lists every procurement and contract with supplier, value, market approach, delegate, contract manager, term and performance status.
8 recordsCompliance and Investigations Register
Tracks inspections, complaints about providers, incident reports and investigations with risk rating, officer and compliance action.
8 recordsRisk, Incident and Security Register
Holds enterprise and program risks, fraud risks, security and privacy incidents and WHS incidents with ratings, treatments, owners and due dates.
8 recordsInbox
8 work requests from managers and colleagues, each linked to a scenario or a document.
Open inboxEight workplace scenarios
Sign in as a role, read the brief, work through the tasks using the documents and systems, then print an evidence summary for your assessor.
Assess two Community Connect grant applications
You are a Grants Officer in the Ballarat office.
Open scenario Advanced 4 to 5 hoursDraft a briefing note on grants budget options
You are a Senior Policy Officer in the Policy and Strategy Branch.
Open scenario Advanced 5 to 6 hoursPlan and run a limited tender for interpreting services
You are a Procurement Officer in the Procurement and Contract Management Branch.
Open scenario Intermediate 4 to 5 hoursInspect a funded youth service and assess compliance
You are a Compliance Officer in the Shepparton office.
Open scenario Entry 2 to 3 hoursAcknowledge and resolve a complaint about a grant delay
You are a Client Services Officer at the Melbourne front counter.
Open scenario Entry 2 to 3 hoursRegister correspondence and prepare a freedom of information file
You are a Records and Information Officer in Corporate Services.
Open scenario Advanced 4 to 6 hoursConduct a fraud risk assessment of the grants acquittal process
You are the Risk and Integrity Adviser in Corporate Services.
Open scenario Intermediate 3 to 4 hoursReview contract performance and recommend a variation
You are a Contract Management Officer in the Procurement and Contract Management Branch.
Open scenarioNotice board All notices
- Compliance Round-by-round conflict of interest declarations now mandatory
2 September 2026 - Safety Front counter duress alarm test and debrief
5 September 2026 - Quality Records capture: save grant decision emails to the file
7 September 2026
Coming up Calendar
- 15/09Duress alarm test and front counter debrief
8:45 am, All offices - 17/09Audit and risk committee meeting
10:00 am, Boardroom, Level 12, Melbourne - 30/09Neighbourhood Facilities Fund decisions due
5:00 pm, Grants and Programs Branch - 02/10Community Connect round 2 moderation panel
9:30 am, Meeting room 3, Ballarat office
Mapped to the Public Sector Training Package
Every scenario lists the current units of competency and qualifications it supports, with assessor notes and a printable evidence summary. Use it with your own assessment tools or ask CAQA for a matched kit.