2birds·Services · II
ATO Setup Advisory

Start your training academy.
Run it well.

Becoming an SWDA-registered training provider takes months of paperwork, and running one takes discipline every week after. We manage the registration, develop your first course, and run the administration for as long as you need us.

A training room in natural daylight, ready for a cohort

Standing is earned long before the first cohort arrives. The chairs stand in rows, the documents sit in order, and the calm rests on early preparation.

Stacks of prepared documents on a desk
Months of paperwork, read in full before it is sent.
§ I · What SWDA asks of a new provider

Registration is an examination of the whole organisation.

Any organisation that wants to offer SWDA-funded courses for the first time must pass through Organisation Registration (OR) on TPGateway, and the application is reviewed together with a first Course Application (CA). The two stand or fall as a pair, which is why we always prepare them on the same working schedule.

The examination is broader than most founders expect. SWDA reads four things.

The entity

The legal entity and its financial records, including a final Notice of Assessment from IRAS showing positive trade income, not an estimate.

The people

Management staff and adult educators must be free of relevant breaches over the past five years, and of convictions involving dishonesty or fraud.

The premises

Documentary proof of adequate training facilities, with photographs of the training and assessment rooms.

The systems

A policies and operations manual covering Course Administration and Outcomes, what SWDA calls Systems and Capabilities, assessed as part of the application itself.

It even reads the paperwork learners will touch, down to the learner contract each trainee signs. The application fee is $545 inclusive of GST, and it is not refunded if the application fails.

We prepare clients to meet that standard in full, not the minimum needed to enter review, so the provider passes its first audit cycle unchanged.

§ II · Three ways we work

From first registration to a running operation.

Most enquiries fall into one of three forms. We fit the form to the project, not the project to the form.

From a clean slate

Establishing a new ATO

For organisations entering the Training and Adult Education sector for the first time. We sit with you from registration through to your first cohort, preparing each submission the way SWDA expects.

  • ACRA incorporation and TPGateway pre-registration overview
  • Policies and operations manual drawn to SWDA's Systems and Capabilities standard
  • First Course Proposal Form and assessment instruments
  • Learner contract and governance instruments
  • Audit-ready record-keeping from the outset
Provider conversion

Becoming an approved provider

For training providers operating outside the SWDA framework who now need approved status to access SWDA funding, sectoral commissions, or government tenders.

  • Diagnostic against the TPQA criteria
  • Gap analysis with a prioritised remediation plan
  • Course approval submissions for existing programmes
  • Trainer pairing where AE Qualifications fall short
Retained operations

Ongoing operations

For ATOs already trading. The administrative back office of an ATO is heavier than most organisations expect, and we run it on a retainer or per-project basis.

  • TPGateway submissions and renewal cycles
  • AE Registry and qualifications upkeep
  • Cohort administration and SOA issuance
  • TPQA refresh and audit preparation
§ III · Setup process

From enquiry to first cohort, in four steps.

A typical new-ATO setup runs ten to sixteen weeks from enquiry to first cohort. A provider conversion is usually shorter, and an operations handover shorter still. We will tell you which applies once we have read the project.

Step I

Initial discussion and readiness diagnostic

We sit with the leadership team to understand the sector, the intended learner, and the regulatory ground under the proposed programmes. From this we draw a one-page readiness diagnostic against SWDA's registration requirements and the TPQA criteria that will eventually apply.

Step II

Registration and quality documentation

We prepare the TPGateway Organisation Registration, the policies and operations manual, and the governance instruments the assessor expects to see in place, from terms of business and the refund and transfer policy to the learner contract and the trainer-agreement template.

Step III

First course on TPGateway

We submit the paired Course Application through TPGateway, draft the supporting courseware and assessment plan, and pair the course with an Adult Educator from the community who meets the AE Qualifications threshold.

Step IV

First cohort and audit handover

We see the first cohort through to the issuance of Statements of Attainment, prepare the post-cohort review, and hand the operating folder to the in-house team, or continue under a standing operations arrangement.

§ IV · Operations, between cohorts

The quieter half of the work.

Most new entrants underestimate the administrative cadence of a trading ATO. The funded course requires post-cohort filings within prescribed windows. The renewal cycle requires evidence accumulated over the preceding twelve months. The Adult Educator Registry requires upkeep as practitioners come and go. None of it is difficult work, but none of it forgives a lapse.

A running-operations arrangement is the form most of our long-running clients settle into. We manage the TPGateway submissions, the SOA issuance, the audit-evidence folder and the trainer administration on a monthly retainer. The client retains the relationships, the classroom, and the position in the sector that no consultant can hold on their behalf.

Where the project is finite, a single TPQA refresh, a single course re-approval, or a single audit response, we take it as a short commission on the same terms, and step out when the work is done.

§ V · Organisation Registration

The OR application, step by step.

A working register of every requirement SWDA sets for Organisation Registration on TPGateway, with the role 2birds plays in each. Built for businesses entering the sector for the first time, and for established organisations weighing what an application would entail.

Engage 2birds on the full OR application

If the list above looks daunting, that is by design.

Organisation Registration is the work of months, not days, and the $545 application fee is not returned to an applicant who fails. We manage the OR application from end to end on a single fixed-fee engagement, alongside the paired Course Application that SWDA requires to be submitted with it.

Begin a conversation
Organised binders of documents
Maintained by 2birds · Paraphrased from SWDA TPGateway documentation · The official SWDA framework prevails
Legal notice and disclaimer

The Organisation Registration requirements summarised in this register are paraphrased from the TPGateway documentation published by the Skills and Workforce Development Agency ("SWDA"), current as at the date of publication. The register is provided for the convenience of prospective Approved Training Organisations and their advisers. It is a working reference only and does not constitute advice on any particular application.

The inclusion of a requirement does not warrant that satisfying it will result in registration or approval, and the omission of a requirement does not imply that SWDA will refrain from imposing further conditions. Registration, and its continuance, reside at all times in the sole and absolute discretion of SWDA.

The "How 2birds assists" notes describe the typical role of the firm and are in every case subject to a separate engagement letter. Where this register and the official SWDA framework differ, the official framework, in its current form, shall prevail.

Before you ask

Questions we hear from new founders.

A typical new setup runs ten to sixteen weeks from our first conversation to a first cohort, with SWDA's own review inside that window. A provider converting from private courses is usually faster. We tell you which timeline applies once we have read your situation.

SWDA expects at least a year of regular training activity, with at least one course in every quarter, supported by structured evidence. If you are not there yet, that is not the end of the conversation. We plan the runway with you, what to run, how to document it, and when the application becomes viable.

Gladly, and many clients prefer it. On a monthly retainer we manage the TPGateway submissions, the certificate issuance, the audit-evidence folder and the trainer administration. You keep the classroom, the learners and the standing in the sector, which no consultant can hold for you.

The next step

Ten to sixteen weeks, done properly the first time.

Tell us where you are starting from, and we will tell you candidly what the road to a first cohort looks like.

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