Our purpose is: DPS supports the functions of the APH and the work of parliamentarians through the provision of professional services, advice and facilities and the ongoing maintenance of APH; and makes the building and the important activity that takes place within it accessible.

The 2017–18 Corporate Plan reflected our purpose in four strategic themes, outlined how we sought to achieve that purpose and mapped this to the Programs and Outcome in our Portfolio Budget Statement. Each strategic theme was linked to our performance criteria, which allows us to track our performance against our purpose. See Figure 3.

Outcome 1—Program 1: Parliamentary Services

DPS has three strategic themes related to Program 1.

• Respond to the changing needs of the Parliament
• Enhance the Parliament’s engagement with the community
• Effective stewardship of Australian Parliament House

In 2017–18 we continued to provide high quality connected services to parliamentarians, building occupants and visitors to Parliament House. The areas in which DPS performed well over the 2017–18 reporting period include visitor interactions, visitor satisfaction, building occupant satisfaction, Parliamentary Library services, ICT services, Design Integrity, Building Condition Rating and Hansard services. In particular the Building Occupant Satisfaction Survey continues to achieve results well above the target. DPS has raised the Building Occupant Satisfaction Survey target for 2018–19.

While there have been a number of positive achievements in 2017–18, further work is required to strengthen our accountability at all levels and to improve the quality of service we provide to achieve our purpose. We met 14 out of the 22 performance measures against Program 1, a result of 64 per cent. This is a 10 per cent decrease in results from 2016–17. The three main changes from 2016–17 driving this are:

• the Engineering System Condition rating has been split into two performance measures to implement more effective transparent reporting. Neither measure has been met this year. Ongoing multi-year capital works will improve the results of this measure
• the Landscape Condition Rating has not been met due to the effect of construction works, and
• the targets for the new security performance measures have not been met. The 100 per cent targets are aspirational, to reflect the importance of good security practice. See performance criterion 11 for an explanation of this result.

As outlined in the analysis for each performance criterion, a range of different factors have contributed to the eight performance measures that were not met, noting some were very close to the target. In each area, work is under way, and ongoing, to improve results against these criteria in 2018–19.

Outcome 1—Program 2: Parliament House Works Program

DPS has one strategic theme related to Program 2.

• Effective delivery of the Australian Parliament House works program

DPS follows an annual cycle of programming capital works to address key infrastructure risks and accommodate the evolving requirements of building occupants. DPS made good progress on capital works in 2017–18. Accommodating the requirements of parliamentary sittings and a wide range of stakeholders continues to put pressure on timeframes. DPS is focused on being flexible while driving towards the required outcomes.

We met three out of the four performance measures against Program 2, a result of 75 per cent. This result is considered in more detail in the analysis of performance criterion 12.