Tenders

PURPOSE:

To replace Austroads publication no: AP-R175-00 ‘Guidelines for Conducting Air Quality Studies’ (2000) with Austroads guidance based on current good practice air quality impact assessment methodologies, for significant road projects by leveraging a collaboration with the Clean Air Society Australia and New Zealand (CASANZ) to build on the 2023 CASANZ Good Practice Guide and drive national harmonisation of best practice.

SCOPE:

The scope of this project is to develop a replacement Austroads air quality guideline that provides practical advice to transport agencies, air quality practitioners and approval authorities on assessing and managing air quality impacts from the construction and operation of road projects in Australia and New Zealand.

An external consultant will be commissioned to:

1. review the existing CASANZ Good Practice Guide ('CASANZ GPG) and work with Austroads members, CASANZ and other relevant stakeholders to identify any gaps or updates required to inform a fit for purpose, comprehensive air quality guideline. The review shall cover all chapters and topics within the CASANZ GPG, as well as emerging areas affecting air quality assessment and management. It should also consider how transport projects should utilise the document to demonstrate compliance/alignment with National Environment Protection Measures (NEPM) standards.
2. undertake a formal gap analysis of the CASANZ GPG with justifications provided for inclusions and exclusions. The gap analysis should be informed by a literature review, stakeholder engagement outcomes and implementation experience with the CASANZ GPG since publication.
3. conduct required research to develop the required new or updated content.
4. conduct required stakeholder engagement to develop the required new or updated content, including Austroads and CASANZ members, air quality practitioners and environmental regulators/approval authorities.
5. draft the research report and guideline to the expected level of quality. These must be in plain English, and provide clear, comprehensive advice.
6. work with the Austroads’ project manager and project control group to achieve the project outcomes and expected level of quality.
7. undertake the review and approvals required for publication, including addressing and responding to comments from the Austroads project control group and E&S task force.
8. Prepare and conduct a webinar on the guideline.

The guideline will be developed in collaboration with the Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand (CASANZ). It will use the 2023 CASANZ GPG as a foundation, while adapting and supplementing that material for Austroads members, practitioners and approval contexts.

CASANZ contribution will include:

1. Membership of the project control group.
2. Supporting the document review process through a technical review group (the chair of which will coordinate review comments and be on the project control group).
3. Development of supporting training course materials.
4. Ensuring appropriate acknowledgment of CASANZ’s contribution.
5. Supporting the release of the updated guideline, such as through the CASANZ website and engagement with CASANZ members.

The CASANZ GPG is the most current and relevant guidance for the assessment of air quality impacts from the construction and operation of road projects in Australia and New Zealand, providing an ideal foundation for the Austroads publication update. The Austroads Guideline would be reviewed by Austroads every two years in collaboration with CASANZ and updated as required.

DELIVERABLES:

This project will produce the following deliverables:

• Project Management Plan,
• Stakeholder Engagement Plan
• Research Synopsis for supplementatry Research Report and Guideline
• Draft literature review and stakeholder engagement chapters
• Gap analysis

• Supplementary research report (documenting the supporting research and rationale for the Guideline
• Guideline
• Project data with populated metadata spreadsheet
• Webinar.

Closing date: Thursday 3 September 2026, 3 pm AEST

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PURPOSE:

The purpose of this project is to develop a decision support framework and evidence-based recommendations to improve accuracy, transparency, comparability, and consistency of road asset valuation across jurisdictions. The framework will strengthen the link between asset valuation, asset consumption, renewal need, funding requirements, and long-term infrastructure sustainability, supporting both financial reporting and investment decision-making.

SCOPE:

This project will investigate how transport agencies financially value road infrastructure and transport assets.

The project will examine current valuation techniques, componentisation approaches, unit rates, useful lives, remaining useful life assessments, depreciation methods, and impairment practices. It will evaluate the extent to which these approaches align with accounting and asset management standards, and their effectiveness in supporting financial reporting, investment planning decisions, and long-term sustainability. The project will identify inconsistencies, challenges, and current practice.

This project will establish a clear, evidence-based framework that aligns road asset valuation practice with both accounting standards and asset management intent across Australia and New Zealand.

The project will systematically document current valuation practices, testing their consistency, assumptions, and decision-usefulness, and identifying where accounting compliance has drifted from asset performance reality. Through comparative analysis and case studies, it will define good practice for componentisation, unit rates, estimate useful life and remaining useful lives, impairment assessments and methodolgy for financial reporting and depreciation that better reflect how road assets are actually managed and consumed.

The outputs will be practical and reusable and may include:

• a common valuation principles and decision framework,
• good-practice guidance on componentisation, useful lives, remaining useful lives, depreciation and impairment
• comparative analysis, benchmarks and case studies
• advice on techniques, procudres and practices
• policy and implementation recommendations for agencies,
• supporting guidance material that agencies can adopt or adapt to improve valuation practice and decision-making
• an asset hierarchy definition.

If a maintained product is developed (e.g. guidance notes or a reference framework), it will be owned by the sponsoring body and periodically reviewed to reflect changes in standards, practice, and evidence, ensuring it remains current, credible, and operationally relevant.

DELIVERABLES:

This project will produce the following final deliverables:

• Research report, covering an executive summary, case studies, a proposed valuation and decision-making framework
• Webinar
• Project data with populated metadata spreadsheet
• Recommendations.

Closing date: Monday 7 September 2026, 3 pm AEST

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PURPOSE:

The purpose of this project is to improve the evidence base, monitoring practices and estimation methods used to understand, forecast and evaluate demand responses to active transport infrastructure and behavioural interventions.

SCOPE:

This project will strengthen the evidence base for active transport planning, investment and evaluation by improving how agencies monitor active travel and estimate demand responses to infrastructure and behavioural interventions.

Stage 1 will deliver a comprehensive evidence review of Australian and international practice, examine active transport data collection and monitoring approaches, and assess methods for estimating latent and induced demand for walking and cycling. The research will identify the strengths, limitations, data requirements and applicability of different approaches for planning, forecasting, modelling and evaluation.

Stage 2 will translate this evidence into a practical Austroads Guideline that helps practitioners determine what data should be collected, how it should be collected and analysed, and the level of effort required for different use cases. It will provide fit-for-purpose monitoring frameworks, recommended methodologies and guidance on applying data to improve active transport investment decisions.

Subject to member approval, Stage 3 will explore opportunities for Austroads member agencies to better apply, compare and share evaluation findings and lessons learned. The focus is on improving consistency in evaluation methods and reporting, maximising the value of collected data across multiple use cases, and enabling agencies to learn from active transport projects undertaken in other jurisdictions.

Out of scope

The project excludes raw count-data sharing, data specifications and standards, reference architecture, exchange formats, data platforms/warehouses, and the governance/privacy of combining datasets.

DELIVERABLES:

This project will produce the following deliverables:

1. Research report
2. Austroads Guideline
3. Internal technical note summarising recommended changes to Austroads guides
4. Recommendations report on applying and sharing active transport insights (subject to Hold Point)

Closing date: Tuesday 15 September 2026, 3 pm AEST

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PURPOSE:

Austroads seeks responses from appropriately experienced service providers to develop a nationally

harmonised, risk‑based framework and practical tools to support state and territory road agencies in making consistent, defensible decisions on automated vehicle trials.

SCOPE:

This project will develop internal operational guidance for road agencies that support structured risk assessment and decision-making for the approval of applications for AV trials. For the purposes of this project, “road agencies” refers to state and territory road authorities responsible for the assessment of automated vehicle trial applications under existing state and territory arrangements. The term does not include non-road regulators or the proposed national in-service regulator (ISR), to be established under a future Automated Vehicle Safety Law.

The project will create a research-based, nationally harmonised framework that:

• Provides a structured set of assessment considerations, possible reference points or benchmarks, and key documentation or evidence required from trial proponents, to support agency decision-making when reviewing risk assessments. This should align with existing national guidance and safe system principles, along with relevant state and territory trial guidelines.
• Aligns with international best practice and emerging regulation for commercial automated vehicle deployment
• Provides tools and templates (such as checklists and risks assessment templates) to support transport agencies to apply the guidance consistently
• Includes guidance materials to support capability uplift for agency staff, where needed.

Design principles for the framework and tools include:

• Applicable across a range of trial types (including different scale, complexity, proponent maturity/capability, vehicle types and applications/ use cases)
• Usable by agencies with varying capability and resources
• Governance-agnostic (supports different decision-making structures/ legislative frameworks for trials)
• Supports both technical assessment and executive decision-making, including approving trials, moving trials between phases, and managing issues that arise over the course of trials
• Focused on transparency and auditability of decisions by establishing a consistent, repeatable and evidence-based assessment framework.

This project aims to align assessment approach, process and logic, not outcomes. It does not harmonise jurisdictional requirements placed on proponents or constrain jurisdiction-specific risk tolerances.

DELIVERABLES:

This project will produce the following deliverables:

• Internal report outlining:
  • Current practice in assessing AV trial safety cases in Australia and New Zealand, including key concerns and issues identified by agencies
  • Emerging best practice in the assessment, verification and validation of AV trial safety cases/ safety management plans
  • The risk-based assessment framework to ensure key areas are considered; key risk categories and key risks are addressed; and decision workflows and processes are in place
  • Recommended updates to the NTC/Austroads Automated Vehicle Trial Guidelines
• Practical tool(s), template(s) and decision-support aid(s) (e.g. document and process checklists, decision making workflows and assessment logic, risk framing approaches, indicative risks registers or standard forms for proponents) to support the approval and ongoing management of AV trials. This could also include guidance on data and reporting requirements throughout the course of a trial, aligned with emerging international standards and the proposed AVSL.

The exact form of these tools will be developed as part of the project but may include a risk assessment framework to support transport agencies in assessing the effectiveness and comprehensiveness of trial applications.

A simplified version of key tools/ template will be required for jurisdictions to share with industry to set expectations with trial proponents. This may include optional template structures for use by applicants to support more consistent and complete submissions, while remaining flexible to jurisdiction-specific requirements.

• Supporting material to assist agency staff in reviewing and validating proponent risk claims. This is likely in the form of guidance notes to accompany the tool/template(s)
• Project data with populated metadata spreadsheet
• A webinar to Austroads members to present outcomes of the project.

Closing date: Friday 18 September 2026, 3 pm AEST

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