Previous: Operating context
As a statutory agency within the Home Affairs portfolio, we deliver one outcome, as set out in the Portfolio Budget Statements: To protect Australia from criminal threats through coordinating a strategic response and the collection, assessment and dissemination of intelligence and policing information.
We assess our results in delivering our outcome, and achieving our purpose, through the measures set out in our performance framework.
Performance framework
The Corporate Plan is our primary planning document for our performance framework, presenting the complete suite of measures. We review our performance measures and their methodologies annually to ensure that they are robust and operationally relevant to our current practices, and they fulfil the requirements of section 16EA of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Rule 2014.
In this Corporate Plan we have further refined our suite of performance measures by removing last year’s measure 1: Percentage of stakeholders that requested an additional intelligence product disclosure. The intent of this measure, showing the usefulness of ACIC intelligence, is part of, and more effectively reported through, the intelligence survey measure, previously measure 2 and now measure 1 for 2026–27.
Regulator performance
We are accountable to the government for our performance as the regulator of National Police Checking Service accredited bodies. As part of our regulatory approach, we adhere to the 3 principles of regulator best practice outlined in the Department of Finance RMG128:
- Continuous improvement and building trust – Regulators adopt a whole-of-system perspective, continuously improving their performance, capability and culture to build trust and confidence in Australia’s regulatory settings.
- Risk-based and data-driven – Regulators manage risks proportionately and maintain essential safeguards while minimising regulatory burden, and leverage data and digital technology to support those they regulate to comply and grow.
- Collaboration and engagement – Regulators are transparent and responsive communicators, implementing regulations in a modern and collaborative way.
Consistent with these principles, we continuously strive to enhance service delivery and build public trust, working transparently and responsively with our stakeholders accessing the National Police Checking Service to ensure that our approach to regulation is intelligence-led and proportionate to risk.
Best practice principles include:
Our current Ministerial Statement of Expectations sets the Australian Government’s expectations for the National Police Checking Service and our alignment with the Government’s productivity-oriented regulatory reform agenda. The ACIC Regulator Statement of Intent outlines how we plan to meet these expectations.
Performance measure 5 is related to our regulatory function and aligns with the reporting requirements issued by the Department of Finance on Regulator Performance.
Our performance framework for 2026–27 establishes a clear line of sight between the Portfolio Budget Statements, the measures in our Corporate Plan, and results to be provided in our Annual Report.
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PURPOSE To protect Australia from serious criminal threats by collecting, assessing and disseminating intelligence and policing information. |
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PORTFOLIO BUDGET STATEMENTS |
OUTCOME 1 To protect Australia from criminal threats through coordinating a strategic response and the collections, assessment and dissemination of intelligence and policing information. |
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PROGRAM 1.1 The ACIC supports the protection of Australia from criminal threats through developing and coordinating innovative disruption strategies that disable or dismantle criminal groups. The ACIC, through Board-approved special investigations and special operations collects, assesses and disseminates criminal intelligence to improve the national ability to respond to crime affecting Australia. The ACIC provides high-quality national policing information systems and services to Commonwealth and law enforcements partners and keeps the community safe through delivery of background checking services to support employment or entitlement decisions. |
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CORPORATE PLAN (as outlined below) |
KEY ACTIVITY 1 |
KEY ACTIVITY 2 |
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INTENDED RESULT 1.1 |
INTENDED RESULT 2.1 |
INTENDED RESULT 2.2 |
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Performance |
Performance measure 2 |
Performance measure 3 |
Performance measure 4 |
Performance measure 5 |
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ANNUAL REPORT |
ANNUAL PERFORMANCE STATEMENTS |
RESULTS AGAINST |
ANALYSIS |
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Key activities and performance measures
In 2026–27, we will achieve our purpose and deliver our outcome through 2 key activities with 3 intended results. We will assess our achievement of the intended results through 5 measures, addressing targets as shown in the tables in this section.
Key activity 1
To collect, analyse and communicate intelligence relating to serious and organised crime impacting Australia, including where it has a transnational dimension.
Intended result 1.1
The ACIC coordinates, collects, analyses and shares valuable criminal intelligence on serious and organised crime threats to inform ACIC and partner operational and strategic policy responses, and regulatory and legislative reforms.
Our criminal intelligence efforts are supported by:
- ACIC Board determinations which authorise special ACIC operations or special ACIC investigations and national intelligence priorities
- partner relationships spanning the law enforcement and intelligence sectors
- ACIC tradecraft and collection capabilities, including coercive examinations and notices.
Intelligence is often an input to inform the actions of other agencies, for this reason this measure emphasises the value delivered for our partners and stakeholders.
| Measure | ||||
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| ACIC intelligence insights and advice are impactful, informed and influential on partner operational or policy activities | ||||
| Target | 2026–27 | 2027–28 | 2028–29 | 2029–30 |
| Stakeholder survey respondents deliver ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ ratings | Equal to or greater than 80% | Equal to or greater than 80% | Equal to or greater than 80% | Equal to or greater than 80% |
Rationale
Intelligence can be applied to and may inform law, regulation and policy as well as operational strategies adopted by partners. Obtaining feedback from users allows us to better understand the usefulness of intelligence insights and advice.
Methodology
An annual survey is used to seek stakeholder views about the impact and value of ACIC products, analysis and advice on informing operational activity and policy.
The survey is sent to stakeholders who have dealt with the ACIC in a substantial way in the previous 12 months. The survey is conducted by an external consultant and the process is managed to ensure that responses are representative and that results are objective, independent and unbiased. The percentage of stakeholder satisfaction is determined by comparing the number of positive responses against the total number of responses.
Changes to measure
Measure 1 2025–26 was removed from the 2026–27 suite as this stakeholder survey measure includes an assessment of the usefulness of ACIC intelligence.
Key activity 2
To ensure that there are systems and services that enable criminal intelligence and policing information to be shared across jurisdictions, including the provision of nationally coordinated criminal history checks.
Intended result 2.1
To ensure that there are systems and services that enable criminal intelligence and policing information to be shared across jurisdictions.
National policing information systems allow users to search holdings on diverse topics such as general policing information, vehicles of interest, DNA profiles and unidentified human remains. They provide relevant and timely information to support frontline 24/7 policing responses as well as specialist investigations. The information can help keep police officers and the community safe, and progress investigations supporting criminal justice outcomes.
National policing information systems must be available and reliable and meet the specific needs of users. These factors are the focus of our measures.
| Measure | ||||
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| National system availability | ||||
| Target | 2026–27 | 2027–28 | 2028–29 | 2029–30 |
| Collective attainment of board benchmarks across all systems | A rating equal to or greater than ‘substantially met’ |
A rating equal to or greater than ‘substantially met’ |
A rating equal to or greater than ‘substantially met’ |
A rating equal to or greater than ‘substantially met’ |
Rationale
The ACIC’s national policing information systems provide frontline policing and intelligence information services fundamental to police and community safety. Availability and reliability are core features that ensure that an IT system delivers its services. We measure national availability to ensure that national policing information systems provide reliable access to data.
Methodology
This measure uses an internal dashboard which reports on the availability of each system, predominantly based on information from unscheduled national IT outage incident management processes. Unscheduled outages are identified through system monitoring and may also be reported to the ACIC by users. The dashboard automatically calculates national availability, defined as the percentage of time when the system is operating in all jurisdictions.
Availability benchmarks for each individual system are set by the ACIC Board and updated every 3 years. The next updates are scheduled for 2026–27. Current benchmarks are:
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System |
Benchmark (%) |
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Australian Ballistic Information Network |
95.00 |
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Australian Firearms Information Network |
98.50 |
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Australian Law Enforcement Intelligence Network / Australian Criminal Intelligence Database: Desk |
98.50 |
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National Automated Fingerprint Identification System |
99.50 |
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National Child Offender System |
99.50 |
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National Criminal Intelligence System |
99.90 |
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National Criminal Investigation DNA Database |
99.00 |
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National Firearms Identification Database |
96.00 |
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National Missing Persons and Victim System |
96.00 |
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National Police Checking System Support System |
99.00 |
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National Police Reference System |
99.50 |
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National Vehicles of Interest System |
99.00 |
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Working With Children Checks National Reference System |
98.70 |
Each system’s individual result is calculated against its benchmark using the following matrix:
- met – the benchmark figure is reached or exceeded
- substantially met – 75%–99% of the benchmark figure is met
- partially met – 25%–74% of the benchmark figure is met
- not met – less than 25% of the benchmark figure is met.
The sum of all the individual system results is then calculated and assessed against the collective target of ‘substantially met’.
Changes to measure
Nil.
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Measure |
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Stakeholders agree or strongly agree that ACIC national policing information systems are of value to their work |
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Target |
2026–27 |
2027–28 |
2028–29 |
2029–30 |
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Stakeholder survey respondents deliver ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ ratings |
Equal to or greater than 80% |
Equal to or greater than 80% |
Equal to or greater than 80% |
Equal to or greater than 80% |
Rationale
The national policing information systems are a key deliverable and joint initiative with partners, serving Australian law enforcement and government agencies. Systems such as NCIS are major investments and government priorities. All systems play a crucial role in supporting partners’ operations. The ACIC needs to know that its systems are relevant and deliver value to partners.
Methodology
An annual survey is used to seek stakeholder views about the value gained from using the national policing information systems.
The survey is sent to stakeholders who have dealt with the ACIC in a substantial way in the previous 12 months. The survey is conducted by an external consultant and the process is managed to ensure that responses are representative and that results are objective, independent and unbiased. The percentage of stakeholder satisfaction is determined by comparing the number of positive responses against the total number of responses.
Changes to measure
Nil.
Intended result 2.2
The ACIC coordinates the delivery of a risk-based, reliable and timely National Police Checking Service that adheres to regulatory requirements.
The ACIC works with Australian police agencies and accredited bodies to deliver the National Police Checking Service, and has a regulatory role for accredited bodies. The National Police Checking Service allows people to apply for a nationally coordinated criminal history check, or ‘police check’, which is a point-in-time check often required when applying for employment, Australian citizenship, appointment to positions of trust, or a variety of licensing and registration schemes.
For the National Police Checking Service to be effective, police checks must be delivered on time, and accredited bodies must comply with the agreement that controls their access to the National Police Checking Service Support System. These factors are the focus of our measures.
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Measure |
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Percentages of ACIC components for urgent checks and standard checks that are delivered on time |
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Target |
2026–27 |
2027–28 |
2028–29 |
2029–30 |
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Urgent checks completed in 5 business days |
Equal to or greater than 95% |
Equal to or greater than 95% |
Equal to or greater than 95% |
Equal to or greater than 95% |
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Standard checks completed in 10 business days |
Equal to or greater than 95% |
Equal to or greater than 95% |
Equal to or greater than 95% |
Equal to or greater than 95% |
Rationale
National Police Checking Service requests require prioritisation and triage, including time frames for completion. Having requests processed based on timeliness requirements supports quick decision-making for employment and community safety where it is needed, especially in sectors involving vulnerable people or national security. Measuring check completion ensures that the ACIC is aware of, and fulfils, timeliness requirements.
Methodology
The ACIC Board has set the timeliness targets for the completion of urgent and standard checks. The measure calculates the percentage of urgent checks completed in 5 business days and the percentage of standard checks completed in 10 business days during the financial year. The categorisation of the request as either ‘urgent’ or ‘standard’ is applied by the organisation requesting the check upon submission to the ACIC. The results are compared against the target of 95% to assess performance.
Changes to measure
Nil.
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Measure |
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The ACIC undertakes audits of accredited entities to strengthen and monitor their compliance with the NPCS access agreement |
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Target |
2026–27 |
2027–28 |
2028–29 |
2029–30 |
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Accredited bodies subject to an audit or compliance check per year |
Equal to or greater than 10% |
Equal to or greater than 10% |
Equal to or greater than 10% |
Equal to or greater than 10% |
Rationale
The ACIC, the Australian Government and members of the community need to be able to have trust in the National Police Checking Service. Trust is supported by the accreditation system and compliance checks. Should the National Police Checking Service operate without integrity, it would potentially have significant security and corruption impacts for the community and economy, and dangerous impacts for children and other vulnerable people.
This performance measure also addresses the ACIC’s reporting obligations as the regulator of accredited bodies, as outlined in the Statement of Expectation and Intent and Australian Government Resource Management Guide 128 – Regulator Performance.
Methodology
The percentage is calculated as the number of active accredited bodies subject to audit or compliance checks, divided by the total number of active accredited bodies at 30 June. This is compared against the target of 10% or more accredited bodies being subject to audits or compliance checks each year. An ‘active’ accredited body is an accredited body that has undertaken a specified minimum number of checks during the financial year.
The 10% or more target adopts a risk-based approach in selecting entities and elements of the Agreement to audit. This allows the ACIC, as a regulator, to properly assess the risks of non-compliance and respond in a proportionate way to the harm being managed. It also supports the efficiency of the ACIC by directing audits or checks to entities of highest concerns. The measure supports the regulatory principle 2: being risk-based and data-driven.
The audit process also involves consultation and engagement with the accredited body during the audit, including meetings, and correspondence outlining the process, initial and final findings, and education to address issues through remedial action. Given this, this measure also supports principle 3: collaboration and engagement.
Changes to measure
Minor adjustment to wording from “the ACIC undertakes audits of accredited bodies and ensures their compliance with established timeframes”.