The federal government’s administration of the Future Fit Program was ‘ineffective’ with ‘poor governance’, despite plenty of warning signs that the wheels were falling off.
The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing has received a scathing assessment by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) over the handling of an $8.74 million Future Fit Program.
Designed to prepare Meals on Wheels Australia for the new Support at Home aged care reform, the administration of the project was labelled “ineffective” with “poor project governance” and “weak contract management”, according to the ANAO report.
The story first broke last year in the Saturday Paper with a follow-up in February. It raised serious concerns of government payments to an insolvent business and a hostile takeover. While these claims were not examined by the auditor, the newly released report was no less damning.
The report explained that in December 2021, [the federal Department of] Health contracted consultancy firm Miles Morgan Australia (MMA) to deliver a program on behalf of Meals on Wheels Australia (MoWA).
The original aim was “‘improved governance arrangements and back of house infrastructure by deploying new technology and providing training to MoWA to help collect data on the number and type of meals delivered, as well as capturing service delivery costs and social outcomes achieved”.
By 2022, the Future Fit Program was established, aimed at “putting in place more effective governance arrangements for MoWA; identifying and implementing operational efficiencies to reduce costs; and modernising technology to adapt to the changing aged care regulatory environment”.
This was particularly to prepare for the transition to the Support at Home reforms. MoW receive Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) grants, however the CHSP will transition to a fee-for-service model by 1 July 2027.
The original budget of the first procurement was $5 million, but by 2022, there was a contract variation, with the cost ballooning out to around $7 million.
In 2024, Health contracted MMA to “transition” meals operations in the Whitehorse LGA in Victoria, with a contract value of $1.69 million. The total cumulative value of the three Future Fit Program contracts ended up being $8.74 million.
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Despite paying out a pretty penny, the ANAO report found that the Department’s administration of the Future Fit Program was “ineffective”.
“Poor project governance, procurement practices that were not aligned to the Commonwealth Procurement Rules, and weak contract management impeded the achievement of the Future Fit Program’s objectives,” the report stated.
None of the planning and conduct of the three procurements in 2021, 2022 and 2024 were effective, except for meeting AusTender reporting requirements, the report found.
“Health did not appropriately plan for the Future Fit Program procurements and its consideration of procurement risk was limited. Approaches to market did not support a value for money outcome.
“Procurement effectiveness was further undermined by insufficient demonstration of value for money, failure to maintain complete records, limited achievement of procurement objectives, and weak probity management. Procurement processes fell short of ethical standards,” the report continued.
Evaluation was another glaring gap.
“Health has not evaluated the Future Fit Program to determine if the project has resulted in the Meals on Wheels network being in a better position to transition to the new Support at Home Program,” the report said.
Even when project status reports were received showing significant issues with project delivery, the Department failed to act.
“Health did not acknowledge the reports. Health did not enforce contractual requirements for Miles Morgan Australia to develop an evaluation plan. As at April 2025, the Future Fit Program had not been evaluated,” the report said.
In a letter to the ANAO, CEO of Meals on Wheels Newcastle Danielle Reitano wrote about concerns they had noticed, including reduced client numbers and increased complaints. She also highlighted how access to crucial technology to help them deliver to their clients was not delivered by the department.
“Newcastle MOW is deeply committed to supporting older Australians and could not do so without the support of the Commonwealth. We rely on this relationship, as do the vulnerable communities we serve. It is therefore destabilising when operational relationships break down and critical support is not forthcoming,” Ms Reitano wrote.
Eight recommendations were provided in the ANAO’s report, all of which the Department has agreed to.
In an April statement from Department Secretary Blair Comley:
“The department is committed to ensuring its management of public resources is efficient, effective, economical and ethical, consistent with Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 requirements through robust administrative control and assurance processes. The department is implementing measures to respond to all eight recommendations of this audit report,” he wrote.
Read the report on the ANAO website.
HSD has contacted the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing for further details about which measures it is implementing, but it had not responded by publication deadline.