Conflict of Interest Disclosure

• The NDIA requires the completion of conflict-of-interest disclosures by all members of the panel (including Independent Members and Subject Matter Experts) as part of any recruitment processes.

• All apparent or perceived conflicts should be declared before the panel reviews applications, and as soon as a conflict is identified.

• All managers should consider the need to proactively mitigate the perceived conflict of interest associated with staff they are currently managing or have managed in the past.

• Completion of a conflict-of-interest disclosure reduces the risk of conflicts not being identified and/or appropriately mitigated.

• Documentation should be retained on the recruitment file for the selection process.

• Completed forms must be returned to the Recruitment Team via the People and Culture Service Desk, where the relevant Recruitment Officer will upload the form to the Job’s “recruiter files” in eRecruit.

• Panel Chairs are responsible for ensuring this disclosure is completed by all panel members prior to commencing assessments of candidate applications.

• Panel Chairs must advise the recruitment delegate of all disclosed Conflicts of Interest and agree the mitigations.

Panel configuration (Single panel)

Role	Name	Email Address	Classification	Office/Branch
Chairperson (required)			Choose an item.
Independent (required)			Choose an item.
Subject Matter Expert If none, please insert N/A			Choose an item.
JOB REFERENCE – TITLE (Direct copy from eRecruit)

Conflict Declaration

Section 1 — Details of Recruitment Process

Position/Reference Number: Group/Division:

Position title: Classification:

Date vacancy notified:

Section 2 - Selection panel member details

Name: Position title:

Classification: Role in selection process:

Section 3 - Type of conflict of interest

I declare an:

• actual
• apparent conflict of interest in the recruitment process. Apparent conflicts could include:

• family or friendship relationships with an applicant
• family or friendship relationships between panel members
• current or previous working relationship with a candidate, and
• financial interests (either in an applicant or the outcome).

Section 4 - Conflict of interest details

Please provide brief details regarding the conflict of interest:

Section 5 - Proposed management of the conflict of interest

Please provide brief details as to how you propose to mitigate the conflict of interest:

Guidance note There are a number of ways the conflict of interest can be managed. It may be decided that the person should not be part of the selection process, or that they may not take part in the assessment of the applicant that the conflict of interest refers to. Alternatively, the Chair or delegate may decide that the conflict of interest, once documented, will not impact on the selection process.

Section 6 - Selection panel chair’s recommendation

Please provide a recommendation on management of the conflict of interest:

Guidance note In this section the chair should document their recommendation and the reasoning. For example, the chair may note: After considering the information I recommend that Staff member X will remain on the selection panel but will not take part in the assessment of Applicant Y. If the chair is making the declaration, it considered directly by the delegate and this section is not applicable.

• Conflict has been declared to the selection panel.

Reason for the recommendation:

Name: Signature:

Date:

Section 7 - Delegate’s Approval

I have reviewed the attached information regarding the above conflict of interest and endorse the recommendation of the Selection Chair.

Name:	Signature:
Date:

*Conflict of Interest – Risk Mitigation. The Recruitment Team will receive notification of any panel conflicts that have been recorded on this Interview Request Form. A Recruitment Officer will consider the information provided and measure this against potential risks including but not limited to — perceived bias, integrity of process, the collection, sharing and storage of sensitive candidate information and reputational risk associated with panel configuration.

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Conflict of Interest Declaration Process for Recruitment Panel Members

This Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) outlines the steps to take in managing the Conflict of Interest (COI) process for Recruitment Panel members. It should support the Recruitment team to understand their roles and responsibilities and actions to take where a member of a Recruitment panel has reported a potential conflict.

Recent updates

Date	What’s changed
October 2024	Creation of SOP and resources to reflect processes aligned to the Agency’s revised COI policy and meet requirements for capturing and actioning COI declarations during recruitment activities.

Checklist

Topic	Checklist
Pre-requisites	Before continuing with this SOP, a Recruitment Officer should be familiar with:

• the NDIA Conflict of Interest Policy
• the APSC Managing Conflict of Interest in Recruitment factsheet
• the Recruitment Panel COI Disclosure form | | Actions | - 3.2. COI declaration process for External recruitment
• 3.3 COI declaration process for ERS recruitment |

Standard Operating Procedure

Procedure

Recruitment Panel members complete COI disclosure form

Background and Purpose

The NDIA requires the completion of COI disclosures, as part of our recruitment processes. Conflicts should be declared before any assessments are completed, or otherwise as soon as a conflict is identified. COI disclosure forms should be completed by any person who is part of a selection panel. Completion of these forms reduces the risk that conflicts aren’t identified and mitigated.

COI declaration process for External recruitment

When a panel member discloses a potential COI

1. Once advertising of a role has closed, the Panel Chair will receive a copy of the Recruitment Panel COI Disclosure form, and access to the full list of candidate names, from their assigned Recruitment Officer.
2. The Panel Chair.
3. If a panel member discloses a potential COI, the Panel Chair needs to provide details (on the form) as to how they propose to mitigate the COI.
4. The Panel Chair provides a recommendation, and their reasoning, on how to manage the COI.

Note: The Panel Chair may seek support from their assigned Recruitment Officer on how to manage the COI. The APSC have a Managing Conflict of Interest in Recruitment factsheet that can support these conversations. 5. The Delegate then reviews the recommendation of the chair and approves the mitigation strategy or works with the chair until an appropriate approach is identified. 6. The Panel Chair must return the completed form to the Recruitment Team via the People and Culture Service Desk. 7. The assigned Recruitment Officer will review the Recruitment Panel COI Disclosure form. If they have any concerns about the proposed mitigation strategy, they should discuss this with their line manager. 8. The Recruitment Officer uploads the form to the Job’s recruiter files in eRecruit, and progresses the job to the next stage.

COI declaration process for ERS recruitment

When a panel member discloses a potential COI

1. The external recruitment partner (i.e., DFP or Hoban) completes a sweep of the ERS and compiles a list of candidates.

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Standard Operating Procedure

For Internal Use Only

2. The external recruitment partner will forward the list of candidates to the Panel Chair, along with Recruitment Panel COI Panel Disclosure form.
3. The Panel Chair ensures that each member of the Recruitment Panel reviews the full list of candidates and completes COI Disclosure form.
4. If a panel member discloses a potential COI, they need to provide details (on the form) as to how they propose to mitigate the COI.
5. The Panel Chair provides a recommendation, and their reasoning, on how to manage the COI.

Note: The Panel Chair may seek support from their assigned Recruitment Officer on how to manage the COI. The APSC have a Managing Conflict of Interest in Recruitment factsheet that can support these conversations. 6. The Delegate then reviews the recommendation of the chair and approves the mitigation strategy or works with the chair until an appropriate approach is identified. 7. The Panel Chair must return the completed form to the Recruitment Team via the People and Culture Service Desk. 8. The assigned Recruitment Officer will review the Recruitment Panel COI Disclosure form. If they have any concerns about the proposed mitigation strategy, they should discuss this with their line manager. 9. The Recruitment Officer uploads the form to the Job’s recruiter files in eRecruit, and progresses the job to the next stage.

Related resources

• the NDIA Conflict of Interest Policy
• the APSC Managing Conflict of Interest in Recruitment factsheet
• the Recruitment Panel COI Disclosure form

Feedback

If you have any feedback about this Standard Operating Procedure, please complete this online form: https://forms.office.com/r/LiE6ahtMFx In your feedback remember to include the title of the product you are referring to and describe your suggestion or issue concisely.

Version control

Version	Amended by	Brief Description of Change	Status	Date
0.1	P51314	Initial Version	DRAFT	2024-10-25

Standard Operating Procedure

For Internal Use Only

Version	Amended by	Brief Description of Change	Status	Date
1.0	P51314	Initial version approved	APPROVED	2024-12-09

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