Types of Output Expense Appropriations

Departmental or non-departmental:  Authorises a department or an Office of Parliament to incur expenses in supplying a specified class of outputs (goods and services), or the Crown (excluding departments) to incur expenses to purchase a specified class of outputs.

Annual or multi-year:  The authority lapses at the end of the financial year or multi-year period specified.

Single output class only:  The scope is limited to a single class of outputs (defined as a grouping of similar outputs).

Amount limited by Appropriation Act:  The amount of a standard output expense appropriation is limited to a set amount of New Zealand dollars specified in an Appropriation Act.

Typical application:  The normal or default form for an output expense appropriation, used for a wide range of outputs for which the flexibility offered by the other types of output expense appropriation is not required.

Departmental or non-departmental:  Authorises a department or an Office of Parliament to incur expenses in supplying more than one specified class of outputs (goods and services), or the Crown (excluding departments) to incur expenses to purchase more than one specified class of outputs.

A proposed MCOA must be approved by the Minister of Finance before it is presented in the Estimates.  The information supporting the Estimates must explain why the Minister has allowed those classes of outputs to be grouped in one appropriation.

Annual or multi-year:  The authority lapses at the end of the financial year or multi-year period specified.

Multiple output classes:  The scope of an MCOA is determined by the combined scope of each of the output classes included in that appropriation.

Amount limited by Appropriation Act:  The amount of an MCOA is limited to a set amount of New Zealand dollars specified in an Appropriation Act. The amount of expense that can be incurred in relation to each component output class is flexible within the total amount of the MCOA, although expenses must be separately forecast and reported for each individual class in the Estimates, Information Supporting the Estimates, Supplementary Estimates and the department's annual report.

Typical application:  An MCOA is used where it is appropriate to give the responsible Minister or department ongoing discretion over the output mix across two or more classes of outputs. Such discretion will most commonly be sought where the output classes contribute to a common outcome, or use a common or closely related set of inputs or processes, and the circumstances that determine the appropriate output choice or mix are likely to vary during the appropriation period.

Departmental only:  Authorises a department or an Office of Parliament to incur expenses in supplying a specified class of outputs (goods and services) that are not paid for directly by the Crown.

A proposed RDA must be approved by the Minister of Finance before it is presented in the Estimates.  Each class of outputs for which an RDA is approved is listed in an Appropriation Act for the relevant financial year.

Annual only:  The authority lapses at the end of the financial year specified.

Single output class only:  The scope of an RDA is limited to a single class of outputs (defined as a grouping of similar outputs).

Amount limited by amount of revenue earned:  The amount of an RDA is limited to the amount of revenue earned by a department or an Office of Parliament from other departments or from parties other than the Crown during a financial year.  The Minister of Finance can further direct a department to incur expenses to a level lower than the amount of revenue earned, though such directions have been rare.

Typical application:  An RDA provides flexibility to respond to unanticipated changes in the level of external demand for a class of outputs, where the full cost of the outputs is met by external parties and not the Crown.

Departmental only:  Authorises a department or an Office of Parliament to incur expenses in supplying specified outputs (goods and services) paid for by another department.

Creation of a DDA requires an agreement between two departments. Implicitly, it also requires the approval of the Minister who will become responsible for the appropriation - namely, the Minister responsible for the supplying department - as the agreement has implications for the scope and risk of that department's operations.

Annual or multi-year:  The period of a DDA will depend on the negotiated terms of the agreement.

Single or multiple output class(es):  The scope of a DDA (and hence whether it covers one or more classes of outputs) will depend on the way in which the agreement defines what is to be delivered. In most cases, an agreement that provides for a range of different outputs is better treated as creating several single-class DDAs.

Amount limited by departmental agreement:  The amount of a DDA is limited to either the amount of revenue earned from the commissioning department, or the cost incurred by the supplying department in providing those outputs (if that cost is less than the amount of revenue earned under the agreement).

Typical application:  DDAs are intended to make collaboration between departments easier by reducing the time and effort otherwise required to obtain or adjust the relevant appropriations, while also allowing a commissioning department to retain full control over the resources it provides.

The use of a DDA is not confined to bilateral agreements. A set of related DDAs could be used to enable one department to co-ordinate and manage the work of several departments that must together contribute to providing an integrated service to third parties, or to pool contributions from several departments to enable another department to provide a specific service to or on behalf of those departments.