To achieve better value in infrastructure investment it is imperative that governments work more effectively with industry during the initiation and delivery of major infrastructure projects.

As part of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) endorsed Better Value Infrastructure Plan [1], the NSW Government hosted the first National Infrastructure Delivery Forum at Parliament House on 4 and 5 October 2012.

The Forum brought together 200 of Australia’s leading infrastructure practitioners from both the public and private sector to discuss best practice in:

• Project initiation – how government can work more interactively with industry during project definition to achieve innovative and commercial solutions; and 
• Infrastructure delivery – how government can work better with the private sector to improve the efficiency and quality of infrastructure delivery

The outcomes from Workshop 1 [2] and Workshop 2 [3] from the Forum have helped to inform the development of the Good Practice Guidelines for Practitioners [4].

The Guidelines [4] propose a series of actions to support closer working arrangements between the public and private sectors to increase innovation and reduce costs and timeframes for infrastructure design and delivery. 

The Guidelines will be updated after each National Infrastructure Delivery Forum.