VPRS 7977 Expenditure Authorities

This series comprises bound schedules that were submitted by the Public Works Department (PWD) initially to the Board of Lands and Works and from 1964 to the Minister for Public Works in order to gain the necessary approval to carry out works. The type of work ranges from very minor tasks to major capital works. The series consist of bound volumes to August 1968 and folders after that date.Each schedule details all items submitted to the Board/Minister on a given date (identified at the top of each schedule). There were two types of schedules: Schedules of Tenders and Schedules of Business. Both types of schedules were intermingled and numbered into a singled sequence and subsequently bound into volumes.Schedules of Tenders: Public Works Department contracts for works were advertised in the Government Gazette, jobs listed under the date by which the tenders were to be received by the PWD. The Schedule of Tenders (for work as advertised in the Gazette) then appeared in the same order as in the Gazette in the Board of Land and Word Schedules under the date of the following day.Schedules of Business: Each item details the Board Number (also known as Ea, Expenditure Authority Number); Office or file number; a description of the task (comprising the physical location, nature of service, building or institution and name of contractor); amount; and a column headed "financial reference". The amounts shown were those agreed to in the tender contracts. The schedules were annotated to indicate if there were no contract (NC), and if the actual cost were outside the contract figure (OC). Other annotations refer to the source of the funds to pay to the works. They were budget votes for departments (e.g., 63-10-1), specific loan acts (e.g., LA 4722) and other special funds. On each schedule, the figures were aggregated according to these categories, the totals to be conveyed to Treasury (probably).(Office Number: An example of an Office Number is N.40-41/499. N = North. E = East, W = West, M = Metropolitan Melbourne, and LG = Local Government. Financial year 1940-1941 is represented by the numbers '40-41', and 449 was a file number in that sequence.)The Schedules, both for Tenders and for Business, show those that were approved and those cancelled. It would appear (to judge by the green pencil marks on the pages) that the Schedules were audited.This series ended in 1974 when a new approval system was implemented.Related Records: It is uncertain whether the contract files to are extant. A copy of the schedule was placed on the relevant file, this series (VPRS 7977) being retained as the master record.