An upcoming audit will examine the $1.84 million grant to a training college run by former Family First Senator Bob Day.

The deputy auditor general has announced the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) will investigate the Department of Education and Training’s apprenticeship training alternative delivery pilots program.

The audit was launched in response to concerns raised by shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus.

The ANAO’s response says the audit will look at the effectiveness of the program and its accordance with commonwealth grant rules. Reports are expected by April 2017.

Dreyfus has accused the program of issuing grants without a competitive tender process, and instead relying on references from a government-controlled apprenticeships advisory group convened by Senator Simon Birmingham, in his former role as assistant education and training minister

Dreyfus has specifically highlighted grants given to the North East Vocational College, which had listed Bob Day as chairman for 10 years.

Dreyfus complained that the North East Vocational College was not a peak body, and questioned whether the program was getting “value for money”, given its grants equated to about $90,000 for each of the just 20 construction apprentices at the college.

“In my view, this sizeable grant was not justified by any merits-based decision-making process,” he said.

Dreyfus suggested the grant may have been given to help secure Day’s vote in the Senate, noting that Day had been “personally involved in lobbying ministers to obtain the grant”.

“Any examination of my voting record shows there is no connection between the college grant and my vote,” Day told reporters.

On a larger scale, Dreyfus criticised the program for potentially shifting the financial burden of apprentices from the construction sector to the tertiary education budget.

Day resigned from the Senate last year due to his building companies owing millions to unsecured creditors.