This page relates to the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme.
This is the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) policy on National Land Transport Fund claims and obligations.
Date of issue: May 2021│Last updated August 2023│NZTA may review and amend investment policies at any time, including in response to any changes in the Government Policy Statement on land transport.
To ensure that approved organisations and NZTA (for its own activities) understand the claiming process and fulfil their obligations in relation to investment funding from the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF).
When approved organisations and NZTA (for its own activities) receive funding from us (NZTA as investor), they are obliged to follow the processes outlined in this policy.
We may reduce, refuse or withhold payment for any approved activity if we consider that (in relation to an approved activity) an approved organisation, NZTA (for its own activities) or person:
All information provided to us must be accurate. If we make any payment for an approved activity that is based on information that is subsequently found to be erroneous or inaccurate, the payment is recoverable as a debt due to us.
Funding from the NLTF must be:
Government Policy Statement on land transport(external link)
Where NLTF funds have been approved for an activity or combination of activities, all approved organisations and NZTA (for its own activities) will deliver to their annual cash-flow plan, which will have been agreed as part of the funding approval. If approved organisations and NZTA (for its own activities) require a variation to that plan, they must request it as soon as they become aware of the need for a change.
When we fund the development of systems, standards, guidelines and processes to deliver national benefits, and these are applicable to investment proposals, all approved organisations and NZTA (for its own activities) requesting and/or receiving funding from the NLTF must use these systems, standards, guidelines and processes unless specifically agreed otherwise with us.
Activities are only approved for funding when they are ready to start, except in exceptional circumstances. We consider the type of activity (or combination of activities) when assessing readiness for funding approval:
Payment will only be made when the completed portions of approved activities have been delivered as specified in the funding approval. Any exceptions must be individually agreed between us and the approved organisation or NZTA (for its own activities).
All payment claims must be made promptly and regularly so that:
We acknowledge that the seasonal pattern of some work will impact on the timing of some claims.
Claims should be made on an accrual basis as work is completed. Claims can also be based on certified work done, progress reports, or invoices received.
Claims on an accrual basis means that approved organisations or NZTA (for its own activities) can claim on the basis of the costs they expect to pay for the period to which the claim relates ahead of having received invoices and ahead of payment to the relevant suppliers. The claim should be supported by evidence of the cost and the claim should not be significantly ahead of payment to suppliers. While it is not necessary to hold a supporting invoice at the time of the claim, all amounts claimed must be supported by appropriate evidence, such as certificates of the value of work done or certified progress reports. Supporting evidence is to be held within the approved organisation’s and NZTA (for its own activities) records. The certification of the claim will confirm that the works were undertaken to a standard fit for their intended purpose.
The accrual claims process during the year should be routinely validated against actuals by the approved organisation and NZTA (for its own activities). Both the approved organisation, NZTA (for its own activities) and our approving officer should regularly validate the claim and progress against the forecast expenditure and cash flow in the Transport Investment Online (TIO) programme monitor to ensure they both reflect a fair interpretation of actual spend incurred or expected to be incurred. The expenditure must be reconciled to actuals in the final claim for each financial year.
Approved organisations and NZTA (for its own activities) must not make substantially higher, 'catch-up' claims at the end of the financial year. We reserve the right to defer payment of end of year claims (that is, made after 5 June until financial close on the 10th working day of July) where these exceed 15% of the approved organisation's and NZTA (for its own business activities) total claim for the year.
For programmes (such as maintenance, public transport services, road safety promotion and low-cost, low-risk programmes) and particular activity types (activity management planning improvement and regional land transport planning management), unspent allocation at the end of an NLTP will be surplused. Therefore approved organisations and NZTA (for its own activities) should monitor spend and if necessary surplus funds as soon as they are no longer required, rather than allowing large amounts of funds to remain unclaimed at the end of an NLTP.
End-of-year and end-of-NLTP processing
Where funds have to be repaid to the NLTP, either due to overclaiming or property settlements, these should always be set up in TIO and added to the next claim. The NZTA investment advisor can provide guidance on how to do this for the particular scenario.
At the start of each financial year all organisations should make the following updates to their programme:
All approved organisations and NZTA (for its own activities) must forecast the timing and size of their claims or funding requirements, so that:
In the first three quarters of the financial year (September, December and March) approved organisations and NZTA (for its own activities) are required to provide forecasts through the TIO programme monitor of when they expect to make claims and the size of those claims. We as investor are required to provide monthly forecasts on expected activity class expenditure and property revenue. At the start of each financial year all approved organisations and NZTA (for its own activities) must update their programmes to reflect their latest transport plans.
Continuous improvement at policy, process and operational levels is a fundamental concept in achieving value for money. Achieving this requires feedback on the performance of the investments made in land transport activities, through monitoring and reporting of their outcomes.
Approved organisations, NZTA (for its own activities), KiwiRail and NZ Police are accountable for monitoring the outcomes of their transport investments. A monitoring programme must be agreed with us as part of the implementation funding application.
Monitoring and reporting of investments must:
Monitoring and reporting will be undertaken at a level commensurate with the type of activity (plan, programme, package or project) and the scale and risk of investment in individual activities.
All approved organisations, NZTA (for its own activities), NZ Police and we (as investor) will:
All approved organisations and NZTA (for its own activities) must monitor progress and forecasting of their claims. They will need to apply for approval for an adjustment of scope and/or costs for the phase of their activity or programme.
Approved organisations and NZTA (for its own activities) must inform our representative as soon as they are aware of the need for any cost scope or cash flow adjustment. This includes the release of any surplus funds that are not required to deliver the planned activity or activities.
Any funding that remains after the purchase of the activity or activities to approved scope must be declared surplus. Surplus funds are returned to the NLTF and are not available for the approved organisation or NZTA (for its own activities) to use on other activities, except by agreement with us.
Approved organisations and NZTA (for its own activities) may be reluctant to forecast or declare surplus funds as they may need them later, should the cost of the approved activity be higher than their latest forecast. We commit that, where an approved organisation or NZTA (for its own activities) declares surplus funds and later finds that it requires some or all of those funds to deliver its approved activity or activities, the approved organisation or NZTA (for its own activities) will have first call on available NLTF funds to enable it to complete delivery.
We do not provide funding assistance retrospectively, unless by prior agreement. Any approved organisation or NZTA (for its own activities) that commits to or commences a new activity or phase of an activity prior to our funding approval or specific agreement, or commits expenditure on an activity in excess of the funding approved, will be liable to fund that portion of an activity’s cost without assistance from the NLTF. Exceptions to this are:
We may choose to cap the level of funding approved for a programme, package or activity. The effect of a cap is that the NLTF contribution to the programme or activity may not exceed the cap, except by approval of the NZTA Board.
The rationale for imposing a cap is generally to limit the risk of cost exposure to the NLTF. We may decide to take such action in a cash-constrained environment for high-risk activities or where there is the potential for costs to exceed an amount that we are prepared to fund. We may decide to set a cap in accordance with a multi-party funding agreement or cost-share agreement.
We must be offered compensation for property and infrastructure funded from the NLTF if the purpose or ownership changes.
The compensation that we receive must be in the same proportion of the current value of the property and infrastructure as its contribution was to the total funding of the property and infrastructure when procured.
We may waive our right to compensation if the ownership changes but the purpose and use of the property and infrastructure remain intact. We expect that the provision of service through use of the facility would continue to be delivered at a similar cost to that of before the change in ownership.
Those making decisions under delegation should ensure that they meet our expectations for exercising delegations, detailed in the Funding Delegations Policy.
Property and infrastructure for which funding has been provided from the NLTF will be in public ownership and available to land transport network users who have paid for its access and use through their contributions to NLTF revenue.
We will consider funding infrastructure not in public ownership for transport purposes, but will do so only on condition that the use of the facility for transport purposes will endure and that our right to compensation, should the purpose or ownership of the facility change, is protected.
We will share ownership of intellectual property rights created by co-investment in approved organisation activities. We may, at our discretion, make these rights available to other parties that we fund, unless specifically agreed otherwise.
When funding is provided to create intellectual property, we will consider the ownership and use of rights of the intellectual property on a case-by-case basis. We will take into consideration the Public Service Commission’s Guidelines for treatment of intellectual property rights in ICT contracts.
Guidelines for treatment of intellectual property rights in ICT contracts(external link)
