Costs agencies can recover
The Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) recovers costs directly related to the application from the application fee. Costs may be based on time spent, external advice procured, or other costs incurred in performing your functions in relation to an application. Costs must be actual and reasonable. The EPA will review costs and may query them before passing them on to applicants.
Reviewing applications
The Fast-track team will notify you when there is a new application to review as an administering agency. This notification will include the project number, the application phase (activity) you are reviewing, and the relevant application details.
Agencies review applications through the application portal. The Fast-track team will give your agency access to the application portal the first time you have an application to review.
Fast-track application portal user guide – viewing applications and requests (PDF, 257 KB)
To request access to the Application Portal for a new user for your agency, or to remove a user, please get in touch with our contact centre. They will work with our Fast-track operations team to arrange this for you.
Invoices and payments
Registering as a supplier
You must register as a supplier in order to recover costs.
New supplier registration form (DOCX, 220 KB)
Please send your completed form to procurement@epa.govt.nz
Sending invoices to the Fast-track team
To recover costs, please invoice the Fast-track team in a timely and regular manner (at least once a month).
Use the project number as the reference. There will not be a separate purchase order number for each application or activity.
Alongside your invoice, include your costing spreadsheet (prepared using our template), detailing the expenses and the application phase they relate to. The template is available from the Fast-track contact centre at contact@fasttrack.govt.nz
Video: Introduction to the Fast-track costing spreadsheet (Vimeo)
Guide: How to use the costing spreadsheet (PDF, 270KB)
This file helps with reporting and dispute management. The transactions will be provided at a summarised level to applicants on a monthly invoice.
Please send your invoice and the corresponding spreadsheet to costrecovery@fasttrack.govt.nz (this email address should not be used for any other purpose).
Paying invoices
The Fast-track team will make payments to you on a quarterly basis. Each payment will include costs that were invoiced 90 days before and are not in dispute. Please update your invoice payment terms for Fast-track invoices to reflect that invoices are paid quarterly. Please send statements and payment reminders to finance@epa.govt.nz.
We will let you know if an applicant disputes a transaction or their full invoice, and payment for these charges will be put on hold. We may require further information from you to assess the dispute.
Submitting final costs
When an application is returned or withdrawn, you must submit any final costs as soon as possible, and before the next month end, to enable swift refunds to applicants.
Late submissions could limit our ability to recover any further costs on behalf of your agency.
We will advise you when a panel decision has been reached to approve or decline an application. In these cases, you will have two months to submit any final costs.
Post-decision support costs are not recoverable from the application fee – you will need to invoice the applicant directly for these.
Managing disputes
If an applicant wishes to dispute any costs, the EPA will manage the dispute. Agencies whose costs are disputed will need to contribute to this process.
This applies only to costs incurred during the referral and substantive application stages, not pre-application or post-decision, which you will manage directly with the applicant.
If a dispute cannot be satisfactorily resolved, the matter may be escalated through a legal process. Any costs associated with resolving a dispute cannot be recovered from the application fee.
Māori consultation groups
Māori consultation groups may be eligible to claim contributions if they have been invited to comment on an application and they provide comments in response. For information on applying for a contribution fee payment, visit this page in Te Poka Pū Māori | the Māori Information Hub: