The NDIS provider registration process

An enquiry through the site is followed by a call from the registration team. That call covers your eligibility, the NDIS services you could deliver, and any questions you have. The registration groups and modules that come out of it determine your audit type and your fee. At this stage, you can choose to have your application fast tracked by our team.

An Application Manager is assigned and meets with you to work through the NDIS process and your application in detail. That same registration consultant stays with you until you are registered. They advise and assist with preparing every document and getting you ready for the audit. You can ask them questions at any point in the process, however small, and as often as you need to. At the end of the meeting, you leave with a tailored NDIS audit checklist that runs through some of your key deliverables: entity establishment and ABN, insurances, and worker screening for key personnel.

Avaana maintains a suite of around 320 documents, and as part of a registration application, we tailor the utilised documents and content of each document to your scope. Each policy, procedure, register, form and guide must reflect how your business actually operates. It can't be a generic template. Suggested application responses are drafted alongside.

On top of that, every worker induction form, training form and Worker Screening Check must be checked. If you are already delivering services to participants, we sight every Support Plan and Service Agreement.

Drafts come back to you for review and are amended until you are satisfied. We are happy to make any required documentation edits but caution against changes which may put compliance with the NDIS practice standards at risk. Documentation is typically ready in three to four weeks, or in as little as two days on the fast-track option.

The application responses are entered into the NDIS Commission portal and submitted. This takes usually about an hour once the documentation is settled. The portal then generates the initial scope of audit automatically upon submission. Auditors use the scope of audit to prepare their audit quote.

Quotes can be sought from several approved quality auditors. Avaana can make the introductions, but you must engage the auditor directly.

You can now safely take on participants. With your policies, procedures and registers in place, you have the compliance framework to start delivering supports to self-managed and plan-managed participants while your application is assessed.

One-on-one coaching covers what auditors test and how to talk about your business and policies in practice. If you already deliver supports, participant and staff files, registers and governance documents are reviewed first, with a tracked action list, so gaps are closed before an auditor sees them. Sessions run as long as you need them to, covering how to use your policies and the questions an auditor is likely to ask.

An approved quality auditor assesses you against the NDIS Practice Standards for your registration groups. This may include a desktop document review for Verification audits, or a site visit with file reviews and participant interviews for Certification audits. The auditor then reports their findings to the Commission which includes a recommendation as to your suitability to be a registered NDIS provider. Avaana are on call throughout the day if anything the auditor raises needs clarifying.

The Commission makes its suitability assessment and its decision. If it requests further information, the response is drafted and any documentation updated on your behalf. You then receive your registration number and certificate, setting out your registration groups and any conditions, and you are listed on the NDIS website and the myplace provider finder where participants search for registered providers.

You can now work with NDIA-managed participants. 

Five VIP Business Coaching sessions included

Five structured one-on-one sessions with a business consultant, at no extra cost. Sessions are tailored to what your business needs at the time, covering areas such as finding participants, marketing, obtaining referrals, employing and engaging support workers, pricing and cash flow, systems and growth.