OGGO – Remarks The Honourable Sean Fraser, P.C., M.P. Minister Of Immigration, Refugees And Citizenship – February 15, 2023

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (OGGO)

McKinsey & Company contracts

Ottawa, Ontario
Wednesday, February 15, 2023
526 words

Thank you, Chair, for the invitation to join today’s discussion about IRCC’s work with McKinsey and Company.

Over the course of the past few years, even pre-dating the pandemic, IRCC has faced several significant challenges. More people have been choosing to come to Canada, which is great for our country. However, IRCC’s aging systems and processes simply couldn’t keep up with the increased demand.

Like all Government of Canada departments and agencies, IRCC relies on many partnerships, across several levels of government and with external partners, to deliver our services to our clients. Sometimes, we rely on third parties to provide specialized expertise for a specific purpose.

An example of this is when, in 2018, IRCC determined it needed specific expertise to review how the department served clients and to recommend improvements. This resulted in two competitive contracts between 2018 and 2020, both awarded to McKinsey, with a total value of 27.7 million dollars, or less than 1 percent of the department’s operating expenditures for those fiscal years.

The first contract—with a total value of 2.9 million dollars—provided an assessment and set of recommendations to improve services and begin transformation. While the department forged ahead to implement these recommendations, it established a second competitive contract—with a total value of 24.8 million dollars—to augment internal capacity, help IRCC employees gain specialized expertise themselves, and accelerate digital transformation with a focus on improved client service.

During the first contract, McKinsey completed a diagnostic assessment of IRCC by:

• conducting site visits;
• interviewing department leaders;

and

• analyzing the department’s service delivery and transformation plans.

They identified gaps and opportunities to improve service delivery and developed a transformation strategy, complete with a step-by-step plan, and two new operating models: one to deliver more efficient processes and another to deliver digital solutions for IRCC’s clients.

IRCC then implemented new measures to transform client services, including establishing transformation teams and a Chief Transformation Officer function, with the mandate to improve processing and adopt digital services.

During the second contract, McKinsey supported the department through the onset of the pandemic and provided guidance and input on:

• a transformation of the IRCC office in Delhi with a pilot that made on-site processes more efficient and sped up processing times;
• deploying new operating models to deliver user-centric technology faster;
• designing and supporting the implementation of digital services and tools for clients applying for visas, study permits, citizenship, and some permanent residence classes; and
• recruiting practices to retain digital talent and expertise.

IRCC’s second contract with McKinsey ended on December 31, 2021, with the successful transfer of knowledge and expertise to IRCC staff, who now work independent of McKinsey.

Building on this expertise to further advance client service, with initiatives such as case status trackers and process improvements, has allowed the department to achieve unprecedented immigration levels in the permanent residence lines of business. There is still much work for be done to improve our immigration system, but we’re now much better positioned for that work.

In closing, Chair, IRCC is satisfied with the work McKinsey did to help accelerate our transformation agenda.

Thank you. I look forward to answering the Committee’s questions.