The decision-led approach is about project teams doing the right work at the right time to enable the right decisions to be made through each phase. It can be applied to projects of any scale with evidence to support decisions reflecting a project’s scale, complexity and risk.
The approach has already been used to support the Roads of National Significance and the Northwest Busway projects and it’s making a big difference.
NZTA has released a first draft of the Guide to using the decision-led approach for project development. As of July 2025, all NZTA state highway infrastructure projects are required to use the decision-led approach when developing investment cases. This guidance provides practical advice on how to apply the approach.
What are the changes for consultants when using the decision-led approach?
- Increased clarity around who makes decisions – at all levels of decision making (in project and governance levels). For state highway projects, NZTA is the decision maker, with decisions made at various levels of the organisation. Consultants will provide support to present decision makers with the right evidence, at the right time and in the right order. There will be a focus on well-explained investment cases that capture all the decisions made during the development of the investment case.
- Increased clarity around roles and responsibilities – project team roles and responsibilities will be clearly defined during project initiation. This will include subject matter expert roles and responsibilities at a workstream level.
- A collaborative working environment – project team members can contribute to integrated decision making when it relates to their role.
- Contract set-up – the decision-led approach is a new way of working and will need to be reflected in how contracts are set up with suppliers.
Find out more
You can read more about the approach on the NZTA website.
Register for the webinar on Wednesday 8 October
Join NZTA and ACE New Zealand via Zoom on Wednesday 8 October to get an overview of the decision-led approach, understand the changes consultants can expect to see, and learn about new tools and templates to support your work.
Find out more and register here
More events and training to come
ACE New Zealand is also working with NZTA to provide:
- Face-to-face industry events in Wellington and Christchurch – which will showcase how the decision-led approach has been applied in practice. These are being planned for October/November.
- Industry training – which will cover how to apply the decision-led approach. These sessions are planned to start later this year or early next year.
We’ll provide further details on these events soon.
Have you already used the decision-led approach? Share your feedback
If your consultancy has used the decision-led approach to develop NZTA infrastructure development investment cases, NZTA is keen to gain feedback on how the approach works from a consultancy perspective. In particular:
- What have your experiences been using the decision-led approach in the investment case phase?
- How can NZTA further refine the decision-led approach?
- Are there any key project workstream decisions that are missing? What are these and what phase of project development are these at?
- What further information would you need to support your role?
If you’d like to provide feedback, please email decisionledpdinfo@nzta.govt.nz by 16 October 2025.