Audit of Project Management at the Public Health Agency of Canada

Final Report: Executive Summary and Management Response and Action Plan

March 2026

Prepared by the Office of Audit and Evaluation

Public Health Agency of Canada

Note: The complete audit report is available upon request. Please send an email to oae-bae@phac-aspc.gc.ca.

On this page

• Executive summary
  • Engagement objective
  • Engagement scope
  • What we found
• Management Response and Action Plan
  • Recommendation #1
  • Recommendation #2
  • Recommendation #3
  • Recommendation #4

Executive summary

Engagement objective

The objective of this audit was to assess whether the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) had developed and implemented an effective project management framework that is working as intended to promote effective and efficient project management.

Engagement scope

The scope of the audit encompassed the PHAC Project Management Framework (PMF) and projects that were worth more than $250K. These projects fall under the Corporate Project Management Office's (CPMO) umbrella of responsibility for review and tracking requirements. Projects with less than a $250K budget were managed by the branches and were excluded, as they were not subject to CPMO review and not tracked centrally as required by the PMF. The audit reviewed processes in place during the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 fiscal years, including projects initiated in previous fiscal years.

Additionally, due to the ongoing Audit of Governance and Strategic Planning of IT, which will review the effectiveness of all IT governance processes, including those that apply to IT projects, this audit examined specific elements of project governance such as costing, documentation consistency, capacity, and risk management.

What we found

We found that PHAC's Project Management Framework (PMF) is aligned with the Treasury Board Directive on the Management of Projects and Programmes and provides appropriate governance, gating, and oversight mechanisms for projects worth over $250K. The PMF establishes clear roles, project life cycle stages, and reporting expectations that are consistent with Treasury Board requirements.

However, we identified the following areas where improvements are needed to enhance the effective and efficient application of the PMF across PHAC:

• Documentation presented to governance committees met PMF requirements; however, we found that project teams often lacked clarity on what was expected of them as projects were being initiated, resulting in inconsistent use of standard templates or application of project management principles. These issues reflect broader challenges in the understanding of project management processes, particularly among staff who must navigate the PMF without formal project management experience.
• PHAC does not have a formal process to track project interdependencies, a portfolio-level risk view of risk, capacity, nor smaller branch-managed project activities, meaning those worth less than $250K. All of these are required by the Directive and the PMF. These gaps limit PHAC's ability to identify systemic risks, recurring issues, and potential efficiencies that could be gained across its project portfolio.
• Finally, we found that costing tools and systems were lacking sufficient detail and accuracy to capture project cost information. These deficiencies can negatively affect timely decision making, reduce accountability, and increase the financial risks of budget overrun and in forecasting future expenditures.

Management Response and Action Plan

Recommendation #1

The VP of CFOCMB should improve the support for project managers and ensure that essential documents involved with projects should be clear and templates should be easily accessible, to promote consistent oversight and efficient project delivery.

Management Response and Planned Management Action

Management agrees with this recommendation.

The Corporate Project Management Office (CPMO) had already identified challenges related to the clarity, consistency, and accessibility of project documentation and has taken concrete steps to address these gaps. Actions taken include the development and implementation of an evergreen operational guide for new and existing project teams, designed to orient them to the end-to-end project management process, relevant policies, governance and approval requirements, roles and responsibilities, and standardized templates. The guide is maintained and updated on an ongoing basis as processes, policies, and governance requirements evolve. Expectations have also been reinforced through regular project check-ins and ongoing communications with PHAC senior management and Shared Service partners.

Building on this foundation, CFOCMB will further strengthen documentation clarity and accessibility, and ongoing support to project managers through the following actions.

Action plan items:

1. Update the Project Management Framework, PHAC's high-level guidance for project planning, governance, and oversight, to add clarity, depth, and clear parameters for processes.
2. Develop policy and guidance for managing projects under $1M at the branch level, including a toolkit of simplified artefacts, presentation templates, and dashboard and reporting templates to reduce corporate burden and make smaller project management more efficient.
3. Enhance and streamline project artefacts by clarifying expectations related to document content, modification, timing, access, removing redundancies, embedding guidance directly into artefacts where feasible, and maintaining them as evergreen to support continuous improvement and readiness for the next Organizational Project Management Capacity Assessment (OPMCA) renewal.
4. Launch a centralized CPMO SACR site accessible to all staff, providing a single authoritative source for all project management artefacts, guidance, best practices, change management tools, and learning resources.

Deliverables

1. Updated Project Management Framework shared with all PHAC and Shared Services VPs.
   1. Expected completion date: Completed (November 2025)
   2. Office of Primary Interest: CPMO, Corporate Management Directorate (CMD)
2. Policy and guidance for managing projects under $1M and shared with all PHAC and Shared Services VPs.
   1. Expected completion date: Completed (August 2025)
   2. Office of Primary Interest: CPMO, CMD
3. Updated and Streamlined Project Artefacts and templates
   1. Expected completion date: May 2026
   2. Office of Primary Interest: CPMO, CMD
4. Centralized CPMO SACR site accessible to all employees
   1. Expected completion date: November 1, 2026
   2. Office of Primary Interest: CPMO, CMD

Recommendation #2

The VP of CFOCMB should strengthen portfolio-level oversight by systematically monitoring risks and identifying potential efficiencies across PHAC, and clarify the process and expectations for timely management of project deviations by project sponsors.

Management Response and Planned Management Action

Management agrees with this recommendation.

The CPMO has established portfolio level oversight mechanisms to support consistent monitoring of project health and risks. A portfolio-level dashboard was developed that provides a consolidated view of the overall project portfolio, as well as individual project dashboards within a single reporting package. These dashboards have been shared with all PHAC and Shared Services Vice Presidents on a periodic basis for the past two years.

As of December 2025, project and portfolio dashboards are presented as a standing item by the Vice President, CFOCMB, at the Vice President Corporate Management Committee to support discussion of portfolio and project baselines and applicable variances with project sponsors. Vice Presidents may request that projects with multiple or elevated risk factors present directly to the committee, strengthening executive oversight and supporting the timely management of project deviations by project sponsors.

Action plan items:

1. Develop and implement a new project risk methodology that aligns with the corporate risk approach to strengthen both project-level and portfolio-level risk practices and improve visibility and oversight.
2. Create and deliver an e-learning course to support the consistent application of the risk methodology across projects, reinforcing portfolio-level oversight, trend analysis, and improved strategic decision making.
3. Update the Project Management Framework to clarify risk management processes and expectations for the timely management of project deviations by project sponsors, including clear guidelines and defined thresholds for when deviations must be escalated for committee awareness, discussion, or decision.
4. Transition dashboards to the enhanced Power BI platform to capture additional portfolio level risks, track trends over time, and support executive decision making. New enhanced Power BI platform will facilitate a targeted discussion on portfolio level risks during DG and VP governance discussions.

Deliverables

1. New project risk methodology aligned with the corporate risk approach, shared with PHAC and Shared Services VPs.
   1. Expected completion date: Completed (August 2025)
   2. Office of Primary Interest: CPMO, CMD
2. E-learning course supporting consistent application of the project risk methodology across projects, rolled out to all project teams.
   1. Expected completion date: Completed (October 2025)
   2. Office of Primary Interest: CPMO, CMD
3. Update the Project Management Framework clarifying risk management processes and escalation thresholds for project deviations.
   1. Expected completion date: Completed (October 2025)
   2. Office of Primary Interest: CPMO, CMD
4. Transition Dashboards to the enhanced Power BI platform to capture portfolio level risks and track trends over time and facilitate portfolio level risk discussion at DG and VP governance.
   1. Expected completion date: March 2026
   2. Office of Primary Interest: CPMO, CMD

Recommendation #3

The VP of CFOCMB should enhance agency-wide oversight of project management capacity and strengthen understanding of project management processes and tools to better support staff without formal project management experience who must navigate the current project management landscape.

Management Response and Planned Management Action

Management agrees with this recommendation.

The CPMO has taken concrete steps to strengthen Agency-wide project management capacity and improve access to project management processes, tools, and guidance for staff with varying levels of experience.

A Project Management Learning Roadmap was developed and shared to support the limited project management experience within project teams. The roadmap offers comprehensive training for staff leading projects at all levels and was recently updated to include training aligned with the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) program, the GoC Project Management Competencies Framework, and additional TBS learning toolkits and resources.

CPMO delivers regular project management learning and best practice communications through periodic updates issued via the Senior Designated Official to promote consistency and continuous capacity building across PHAC. CPMO also increased the emphasis on establishing and actively managing project-level Director and DG Steering Committees to ensure full stakeholder engagement and increase capacity.

Action plan items:

1. Identify and document core project management competencies for staff leading and supporting projects across PHAC, providing clear guidance on the skills and knowledge required for effective project delivery.
2. Develop a practical tool or checklist to assess branch-level capacity to deliver planned and active projects, helping ensure project sponsors have the resources and support needed about workload and capacity.
3. Establish a Community of Practice for project managers and project teams across PHAC to share lessons learned, promote consistent application of project management practices, and strengthen collaboration and knowledge exchange across projects and branches.

Deliverables

1. One-pager outlining project management competencies for staff across PHAC.
   1. Expected completion date: December 2026
   2. Office of Primary Interest: CPMO, CMD
2. Project management capacity assessment tool/checklist to support branches in demonstrating readiness and sustained capacity.
   1. Expected completion date: December 2026
   2. Office of Primary Interest: CPMO, CMD
3. Community of Practice for project managers and project teams to share lessons learned, promote consistent practices, and strengthen collaboration across PHAC.
   1. Expected completion date: September 2026
   2. Office of Primary Interest: CPMO, CMD

Recommendation #4 (High Priority)

The VP of CFOCMB should improve and implement costing tools and systems that provide accurate and complete financial details for projects, in order to fully enforce the PMF and demonstrate accurate performance and financial oversight.

Management Response and Planned Management Action

Management agrees with this recommendation.

The Corporate Project Management Office (CPMO) works closely with Financial Management Advisors (FMAs) assigned to the branch sponsoring the project. FMAs review all costing and project governance documents to confirm financial accuracy and provide guidance to the project teams based on their understanding of the branch's financial context. They also participate actively in projects' Steering Committees, supporting informed decision-making and ensuring alignment with financial policies.

Building on this foundation, the Office of the Chief Financial Officer will further enhance project financial management and oversight by implementing structured costing tools, financial controls, dashboards, and integrated reporting processes that provide clear financial visibility and accountability at both the project and portfolio levels.

Action plan items:

1. Develop and implement a standardized Project Costing Guide to support project managers and stakeholders. The guide will outline roles and responsibilities, provide clear instructions for estimating project costs, and ensure consistent application of the costing methodology across all projects.
2. Implement financial controls supported by process flowcharts and financial documentation standards to track and monitor project expenses from initiation through completion. This includes establishing coding standards, assigning at least one Internal Order number per project to track project costs in the financial system of record. This includes defining standardized financial documentation requirements for project expenditures between PHAC and Health Canada (Shared Services) to demonstrate compliance with financial policies, support accurate forecasting, and meet project financial reporting requirements.
3. Develop and integrate automated Project Financials reporting into the Project Management Dashboard. This will consolidate project financial information and provide portfolio level visibility to support governance oversight and informed decision making.
4. Launch periodic and recurring project reporting processes that align project forecasting and expenditure tracking with the regular Financial Status Reporting cycle. This will ensure consistent financial oversight, strengthen accountability, and embed Financial Management Advisors in the review, challenge, and escalation of project financial information.

Deliverables

1. Standardized Project Costing Tool implemented to support consistent project cost estimation across PHAC.
   1. Expected completion date: March 2026
   2. Office of Primary Interest: Internal Reporting under Resource Management and Investment Division (RMID), Deputy Chief Financial Officer (DCFO) Directorate with support from CPMO
2. Project Costing Guide developed and shared with project managers and stakeholders, outlining roles, responsibilities, and costing expectations.
   1. Expected completion date: March 2026
   2. Office of Primary Interest: Financial Management Advisory Services (FMAS), DCFO with support from CPMO, CMD
3. Documentation standards established between PHAC and Health Canada to support compliance, audit readiness, and accurate project financial certification.
   1. Expected completion date: December 2026
   2. Office of Primary Interest: DCFO
4. Automated project financial reporting established and integrated into Project Dashboards.
   1. Expected completion date: September 2026
   2. Office of Primary Interest: Internal Controls and Financial Analytics (ICFA), DCFO with support from FMAS, DCFO and CPMO
5. Standardized financial processes and controls implemented to support tracking and monitoring of project expenses throughout the project lifecycle. Recurring project financial reporting processes implemented and aligned with the Financial Status Reporting cycle.
   1. Expected completion date: September 2026
   2. Office of Primary Interest: RMID, DCFO with support from FMAS, DCFO