Good Practices and Innovations in Public Governance 2003-2011

2010 Category 4: Australia
embedded within key business processes. These processes provide comprehensive
guidance on performing the most important organisational functions and are updated
as new knowledge is gained via the network.
Reliance on only a small number of knowledge sources was considered high risk, so
the network brings together multiple sources of information and uses robust validation
methods. Sharing knowledge is now the routine way in which the NBA does
business. The fortnightly Knowledge Management Forums for the staff feature both
internal and external experts speaking about different elements of the blood sector. In
addition, all blood product contracts require that suppliers make an annual presentation
to staff on the state of their industry and blood sector developments. Information
from these forums is an essential part of the network.
Awards for the NBA’s work (a silver prize in 2006 in the Prime Minister’s Awards for
Excellence in Australian Public Sector Management; highly commended in the
Comcover Awards for Excellence in Risk Management in 2007 and overall winner in
2009) have also provided opportunities to promote the knowledge network initiative.
A number of successful projects, such as the NBA’s business continuity plan, have
been used as examples of best practices across the Commonwealth Government, and
the NBA has regularly been approached to advise other agencies on the establishment
and overall governance challenges of a small agency.
Regarding replicability, the Collaboration of National Plasma Products Supply Planners
has been instrumental. As noted earlier, NPPSpa was formed to exchange information
internationally on plasma products and the plasma sector, so that countries
might benefit from one another’s knowledge. NPPSpa extends, in a more formal and
sustainable way, bilateral exchanges that the NBA had undertaken in previous years.
The collaboration has enhanced partnerships between countries with similar blood
sector arrangements, and the knowledge from NPPSPa interactions is incorporated
into the NBA’s knowledge network framework.
Lessons Learned
This knowledge networking initiative provided three main lessons in knowledge
sharing and knowledge management. First, key to knowledge sharing at the National
Blood Authority is the engagement of private-sector and civil-society stakeholders in
all the agency’s activities, from purchasing to policy. For example, the NBA’s blood
purchasing activity is informed by input from citizens, clinicians, suppliers and governments.
Representatives from these stakeholder groups participate further in the
evaluation of tenders.
Second, success in knowledge sharing depends on intersectoral respect in order to
mobilize the knowledge already available in the private sector and civil society. The
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