Australian Trusted Trader 10-year monitoring and evaluation strategy

The September 11 terrorist attacks in the USA put a global spotlight on supply chain security. Trade facilitation has always been an important driver of economic growth. Now with the recognition of climate change as a national security issue the World Customs Organisation (WCO) Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) program that started as response to September 11 is a major initiative in global trade.  

The Australian Trusted Trader Programme (ATT) is Australia’s AEO program. The ATT is designed to advance trade by creating a low-risk trade flow to shift the focus of enforcement resources to higher-risk entities. Developing a major new policy proposal and introducing a culture of trust into a traditionally highly risk averse sector is no easy task.  

ARTD Chief Evaluator Andrew Hawkins is proud to have provided support for the development of the ATT since its inception as a pilot with four traders in 2015. He provided mentoring services staff for the Stage 1 Pilot Evaluation in 2015. Andrew then led the development of the ATT Monitoring and Evaluation framework in March 2016. Andrew and the ARTD team completed a Stage 2 Evaluation of the pilot in June 2016. The ATT transitioned to a fully-fledged program accepting applications from all eligible business on 1 July 2016. The Stage 3 Evaluation was completed in December 2017 and an End of Establishment Evaluation completed in June 2020 as the program transitioned to business-as-usual status. Andrew and his team have also worked on some smaller projects associated with ATT training on supply chain security and is currently leading the Sustainment Phase Evaluation. 

Evaluation reports are not always easy to deliver – nobody likes negative findings. The early reports highlighted a gap between policy design and operational implementation. The client at the time found this hard to accept – but years later was heard a t conference championing the role of independent evaluation because of how it holds up a mirror and challenges you to do better.

Each ARTD evaluation has drawn on a range of methods and evidence sources. In every evaluation the views of the ATTs have been a key consideration – as have those of policy and operational staff in the ABF and other government agencies. The evaluation reports have all provided recommendations that have been implemented up by the ABF to improve aspects of the design and delivery of the program to enhance outcomes for traders and for Australia.  

The ATT has evolved Australia’s’ position as a late starter to flagship AEO program. Our longitudinal surveys of business satisfaction show strong growth in value proposition of the ATT to business. While the program offers numerous benefits for increasing supply chain security and making it quicker and cheaper to move good across the border a core feature that drives satisfaction is the work of the ATT Account Manager. 

OECD rankings rate the ATT as exceeding best practice in all 11 categories of trade facilitation and the ATT program has perfect score in seven of nine categories of performance tracked by the OECD. The ATT program is now being asked by the WCO to lead discussions around the development of AEO 2.0 that aims among other things to increase the focus on green trade. We are privileged to have been asked to evaluate the ATT and hope to be of service to continue to ask the ATT some difficult questions, generate actionable insights and support the continuous improvement we have observed since 2015. 

Australian Border Force and ARTD Consultants won the 2024 Australian Evaluation Society’s Evaluation System Award for the Australian Trusted Trader 10-year monitoring and evaluation strategy.