Shared Services Canada: Supplementary Estimates (C) narratives: Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates—March 4, 2022
Document navigation for "Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates: March 4, 2022"
On this page
- Funding for next generation human resources and pay solution
- Funding for the cost of providing core information technology services
- Funding for cyber and information technology security projects
- Funding for the Workload Modernization and Migration Program (Budget 2021)
- Funding for workload migration activities
- Funding for the Information Technology Refresh Program
- Funding for the digital communications and collaboration initiative
- Funding for Innovative Solutions Canada
- Transfer from the Department of Public Services and Procurement Canada to reimburse for reduced accommodation requirements as a result of data centre consolidations
- Transfer to Statistics Canada for the Workload Migration Project
- Transfer to the Communications Security Establishment or the National Capital Region regional communications hubs: Canadian Centre for Cyber Security Monitoring
- Transfer to the Communications Security Establishment to support the Security Information and Event Management Project
- Transfer to the Communications Security Establishment to support the operation and development of the Secure Communications for National Leadership Project
- Transfer to the Treasury Board Secretariat for the Government of Canada Enterprise Portfolio Management Project
- Transfer from various organizations to the Treasury Board Secretariat to the Greening Government Fund
- Transfer from various organizations to the Treasury Board Secretariat for financial community developmental programs and the inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility initiative
- Internal reallocation of resources for secure information technology infrastructure
Funding for next generation human resources and pay solution
Supplementary Estimates (C): $36,058,409 2021 to 2022
Funding profile
The following table includes total funding for fiscal year 2021 to 2022.
Fiscal year | 2021 to 2022 |
---|---|
Supplementary Estimates | 36.0 |
Summary
Shared Services Canada (SSC) is seeking access to $36.0 million (vote 1—operating expenditures) in 2021 to 2022 to explore solutions for a human resources and pay solution that meets user needs and follows modern people management processes.
Purpose of the funding
This funding will support the ongoing next generation human resources and pay (NextGen HR and Pay) initiative.
The NextGen HR and Pay initiative is exploring options for a future human resources and pay solution that meets user needs and follows modern people management processes. The initiative is looking at user-centric, accessible, and enterprise cloud-based solutions that will meet the complex needs of the Government of Canada now and into the future.
Work is underway with the government human resources (HR) and pay communities to modernize and streamline HR and pay processes to align with commercially available software.
Recommendations are expected to be delivered in 2023.
Background
Through Budget 2018, the Government of Canada (GC) announced its intention to move away from the Phoenix pay system and begin development of the next generation of the federal government’s pay system. To this end, an investment of $16 million was provided to Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) over 2 years to work with experts, federal public sector unions and technology providers on a way forward for a new pay system. With this funding, TBS was able to complete an agile procurement process in consultation with a wide array of stakeholders, including public servants across the country, other government departments, bargaining agents, and technology providers, ultimately identifying 3 vendors who have been qualified to meet the needs of the GC for a Human Resources and pay solution.
Budget 2019 reaffirmed the GC’s commitment; the federal government announced a $113.1 million investment to co-design and deliver pilots for the Next Generation Human Resources and Pay initiative. These pilots will test potential solutions against the real complexities of the GC’s HR and pay systems. At this time, the GC also announced that it had selected SAP, Workday and Ceridian as the vendors deemed qualified to deliver recommendations for an HR and pay solution for the GC.
The NextGen HR and Pay initiative resided within TBS until April of 2020 when it was transferred to SSC. During fiscal year 2019 to 2020, SSC sought approval to access the funding for the program.
On April 1, 2020, the NextGen HR and Pay team was moved from TBS to SSC, as the new technical authority, and in October of 2020, Canadian Heritage was selected to participate in the exploratory phase of the first pilot.
The NextGen HR and Pay initiative has completed the exploratory phase and is now in the design and experimentation phase. The GC has a contract in place with Ceridian for this phase with Canadian Heritage, and has announced additional testing with partner organizations including Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canadian Coast Guard and Canada Economic Development for Quebec regions, as well as other departments, to assess whether the solution could potentially support GC HR and pay requirements. The initiative continues to conduct research to provide a recommendation for an enterprise HR and pay solution and operating model.
Additional funding and authority will be sought as required.
This NextGen HR and Pay initiative is part of the GC’s modernization effort, where legacy information technology (IT) systems are being replaced with modern digital solutions.
Funding for the cost of providing core information technology services
Supplementary Estimates (C): $8,187,888 in 2021 to 2022
Fiscal year | 2021 to 2022 |
---|---|
Supplementary Estimates | 8.2 |
Summary
Shared Services Canada is seeking access to $5.4 million (vote 1—operating expenditures) and $2.8 million (vote 5—capital) in 2021 to 2022 to provide core information technology services in support of partner-led projects/initiatives.
Purpose of the funding
The funding will support the core information technology services to Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), as well as Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).
SSC will support IRCC and its immigration levels plans by providing consolidated and standardized network services, procuring software and hardware for workplace technology devices, and providing technology-related services.
SSC will provide IT components for the CBSA Land Border Crossing Project (LBCP), including managing the procurement of the mobile infrastructure solutions.
Background
[Redacted]
Funding for cyber and information technology security projects
Supplementary Estimates (C): $15,553,777 2021 to 2022
Funding profile
The following table includes total funding for fiscal year 2021 to 2022.
Fiscal year | 2021 to 2022 |
---|---|
Supplementary Estimates | 15.6 |
Summary
Shared Services Canada is seeking access to $15.4 million (vote 1—operating expenditures), $0.2 million (vote 5—capital) in 2021 to 2022.
Purpose of the funding
The funding will support the implementation of the Endpoint Visibility, Awareness and Security Project, which will provide the Government of Canada with modern endpoint visibility, awareness and security capabilities, adapted to today’s rapidly changing information technology landscape. These funds will also support the operational phase of the internal credential authentication services solution (GCPass), a new digital identity management service that ensures applications are only accessed by those with the appropriate clearance.
Background
Together known as the IT Security Tripartite (ITST), SSC, Communications Security Establishment (CSE) and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s Office of the Chief Information Officer (TBS-OCIO), have been working on several independent yet thematically related projects to establish the building blocks to support a aero trust security paradigm with the aim to improve the GC’s cyber security posture. Two of these are Endpoint Visibility, Awareness and Security (EVAS) and internal credential authentication services (ICAS).
This funding is needed to continue essential work related to these cyber security initiatives from Budget 2018 (EVAS) and the 2017 Fall Economic Statement (ICAS).
The Endpoint Visibility, Awareness and Security Project will provide the Government of Canada with modern endpoint visibility, awareness and security capabilities, adapted to today’s rapidly changing information technology landscape. This capability will replace the existing endpoint security products, which are deployed throughout the government.
The internal credential authentication services solution (GCPass), is a new digital identity management service that ensures applications are only accessed by those with the appropriate clearance.
Funding for the Workload Modernization and Migration Program (Budget 2021)
Supplementary Estimates (C): $10,035,761 2021 to 2022
Funding profile
The following table includes total funding for fiscal year 2021 to 2022.
Fiscal year | 2021 to 2022 |
---|---|
Supplementary Estimates | 10.0 |
Summary
Shared Services Canada is seeking access to $8.4 million (vote 1—operating expenditures) and $1.6 million (vote 5—capital) in 2021 to 2022 to support the Workload Modernization and Migration Program.
Purpose of the funding
This funding is to support the continuation of the Workload Migration Program's goal of migrating existing workloads off of aging IT infrastructure and into more modern hosting solutions, such as the cloud or enterprise data centres (EDC). This includes supporting continued delivery of existing projects, as well as launching more detailed partner engagements and prioritization activities.
Background
The Workload Modernization and Migration Program aims to enable secure and stable hosting solutions for the Government of Canada Information Technology infrastructure, and therefore, support GC digital operations.
The modernization of the GC’s IT infrastructure, and specifically the moving of applications from at-risk data centres to modern hosting solutions—either the cloud or an EDC—is key to enabling the digital vision. The GC’s cloud adoption strategy requires that departments consider cloud as their first option for delivering applications and IT services. Where cloud is not a viable option, an EDC can be used to house applications.
The program enables proactive work that aims to avoid data centre failure and to store the GC’s applications in safe and reliable environments. It is anticipated that the Budget 2021 funding will support closing approximately 110 of the remaining 372 legacy data centres.
While the program enables all aspects of the digital strategy, it specifically supports the modernization of GC workloads in order to stabilize and improve the systems that support programs and deliver services to Canadians.
Funding for workload migration activities
Supplementary Estimates (C): $14,704,600 2021 to 2022
Reprofile funding
The following table includes total funding for fiscal year 2021 to 2022.
Fiscal year | 2021 to 2022 |
---|---|
Supplementary Estimates | 14.7 |
Summary
Shared Services Canada is seeking to access $14.7 million (vote 1—operating expenditures) for workload migration activities.
Purpose of the funding
This funding is for projects under the Workload Migration Program that experienced delays brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting the goal of migrating existing workloads off of aging IT infrastructure and into more modern hosting solutions.
Background
Budgets 2018 and 2021 enabled the Government of Canada to invest in digital transformation to support a dynamic, growing country. The aging and at-risk government IT ecosystem needs significant modernization to respond to the new digital age. Without stabilization and modernization efforts, Canadians’ expectations of their government’s programs and services will not be met.
Investing in the workload migration (WLM) is a key enabler of secure, modern and reliable infrastructure to support modernized government programs and client-facing services.
The WLM Program supports SSC's mandate to eliminate aging and mission-critical information technology infrastructure, and systems, and provides partner departments with the opportunity to modernize their applications to ensure closer alignment with the Government of Canada enterprise information management/IT direction, including the Cloud Adoption Strategy.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges. SSC and 43 federal partners, with whom SSC is intrinsically connected, redirected resources to support public servants working from home and services available to Canadians. SSC fast-tracked digital elements to modernize government operations in an agile manner and successfully improved remote access, increased network capacity, and collaborative tools.
Funding for the Information Technology Refresh Program
Supplementary Estimates (C): $8,523,318 2021 to 2022
Funding
The following table includes total funding for fiscal year 2021 to 2022.
Fiscal year | 2021 to 2022 |
---|---|
Supplementary Estimates | 8.5 |
Summary
Shared Services Canada is requesting to access $8.5 million (vote 1—operating expenditures) for the Information Technology Refresh Program.
Purpose of the funding
This funding will cover purchases of equipment which were delayed due to the disruption of supply chains brought on by COVID-19.
Background
This program aims to refresh and sustain existing IT infrastructure managed by SSC. More specifically, program funding is used for the cyclical replacement of physical asset components, such as hardware, and intangible asset components, such as operating systems, middleware, and software of the government’s IT infrastructure.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought challenges. SSC and 43 federal partners, with whom SSC is intrinsically connected, redirected resources to support public servants working from home and services to Canadians. SSC fast-tracked digital elements to modernize government operations in an agile manner and successfully improved remote access, increased network capacity, and collaborative tools.
The reprofile was requested to ensure the availability of funds for 2021 to 2022 for replacements of critical infrastructure in order to reduce risks of failure and disruption in servicing Canadians.
Funding for the digital communications and collaboration initiative
Supplementary Estimates (C): $8,309,219 2021 to 2022
Funding
The following table includes total funding for fiscal year 2021 to 2022.
Fiscal year | 2021 to 2022 |
---|---|
Supplementary Estimates | 8.3 |
Summary
Shared Services Canada is requesting to access $8.3 million (vote 1—operating expenditures) for the digital communications and collaboration initiative.
Purpose of the funding
The funding will support the digital communications and collaboration initiative's stream 2 email migration of departments from their current email solution to a cloud based solution.
Background
The initial date for the stream 1 migrations was delayed primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic as the priorities shifted to the accelerated onboarding of all partners to Microsoft Teams and OneDrive. Consequently, the stream 2 email migrations were also delayed, requiring the reprofile of funds to fiscal year 2021 to 2022. Stream 1 and stream 2 activities were completed by the end of December 2021.
Funding for Innovative Solutions Canada
Supplementary Estimates (C): $458,073 in 2021 to 2022
Reprofile funding
The following table includes funding for fiscal year 2021 to 2022.
Fiscal year | 2021 to 2022 |
---|---|
Supplementary Estimates | 0.5 |
Summary
Shared Services Canada is seeking access to $0.5 million (vote 1—operating expenditures) for the Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC) program.
The funding is sourced from the previous fiscal year’s unused funds.
Purpose of the funding
The funds will serve to fulfill contractual payment obligations that have been established with private companies that are taking part in the Innovative Solutions Canada Program, a procurement program led by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada to promote the development and adoption of innovative technologies in Canada. This funding helps small businesses to develop novel ideas and to facilitate the eventual procurement of such solutions by the federal government.
Background
The reprofile was requested to ensure the availability of funds to meet SSC’s ISC mandate to support the Government of Canada’s innovation agenda. The ISC Program is structured in such a way that innovation challenges (under the ISC program), their resulting contracts, and associated deliverable timelines span multiple-fiscal years.
SSC has dedicated funding of $7.6 million annually, through a special purpose allotment (SPA), for the ISC Program.
Departments are not able to carry forward funds within the SPA, but can apply to the Department of Finance to reprofile.
Transfer from the Department of Public Services and Procurement Canada to reimburse for reduced accommodation requirements as a result of data centre consolidations
Supplementary Estimates (C): $1,651,090 in 2021 to 2022
Funding profile
Fiscal year | 2021 to 2022 |
---|---|
Supplementary Estimates | 1.7 |
Summary
Transfer from Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) of $1.7 million (vote 1—operating expenditures) in 2021 to 2022 to reimburse SSC for reduced accommodation requirements as a result of data centre consolidations.
Purpose of the Funding
Under an agreement with PSPC, SSC receives the amount for power and space savings achieved from the closure of data centres, less the identified decommissioning costs PSPC has forecasted it will incur for fiscal year 2021 to 2022.
Background
Prior to September 2014, an agreement was signed between PSPC and SSC for the transfer of the power and space savings to SSC upon cessation of data centre operations, decommissioning and release of the space to PSPC for reassignment. The agreement was modified later to have the transfer of funding made upon the closure of data centres in order to allow for a more expedient process for closing and decommissioning data centres.
The funds transfer will enable SSC to close (wind-down of the operational activities) and decommission (removal of the IT hardware and other related equipment) some of the smaller operational centres with similar outcomes in terms of savings associated to power consumption and space.
This transfer amount changes each year as data centre sites close.
Transfer to Statistics Canada for the Workload Migration Project
Supplementary Estimates (C): ($7,110,251) in 2021 to 2022
Funding profile
Fiscal year | 2021 to 2022 |
---|---|
Supplementary Estimates | (7.1) |
Summary
Transfer of $7.1 million (vote 1—operating expenditures) in 2021 to 2022 to Statistics Canada to support Workload Migration Project activities.
Purpose of the funding
Under an agreement with Statistics Canada, this transfer of funds aims to facilitate the completion of migration execution activities to public cloud and allow for the closure of the [Redacted]. This work is a collaborative effort between Shared Services Canada and Statistics Canada.
Background
In 2019, Statistics Canada and SSC entered into a multiple year support agreement that established deliverables, and roles and responsibilities with respect to the completion of the WLM from the [Redacted] Project. This agreement outlined SSC’s financial commitment to the project.
The project’s joint governance identified in spring of 2021 the need to extend the project, and thereby the lease at [Redacted], by 1 year, to March 2023.
As a result of a new migration strategy and project timeline, Statistics Canada identified a funding shortfall.
This prompted a revision of the 2019 agreement to account for the extension of the project by 1 year, and the transfer from SSC to support the migration of their applications/workloads to the cloud.
Transfer to the Communications Security Establishment or the National Capital Region regional communications hubs: Canadian Centre for Cyber Security Monitoring
Supplementary Estimates (C): $ (3,631,500) in 2021 to 2022
Fiscal year | 2021 to 2022 |
---|---|
Supplementary Estimates | (3.6) |
Summary
Transfer to Communications Security Establishment from Shared Services Canada of $3.6 million (vote 1—operating expenditures) for the National Capital Region regional communications hubs: Canadian Centre for Cyber Security Monitoring.
Purpose of the funding
This funding transfer will allow the Communications Security Establishment to acquire and operate new capabilities to alert, detect, report and monitor cyber intrusions in order to improve cyber defence services.
The financial resources will provide for the purchase of equipment and licensing to support the 100 Gigabyte Uplift at 2 regional communications hubs.
Background
SSC is upgrading the bandwidth and security stack at the 2 National Capital Region regional communications hubs as traffic has increased by approximately 200% due to the pandemic. Traffic is expected to increase further with federal workers returning to work sites, and some traffic that was previously split tunnelled will now flow through the security solution. It is critical CSE monitoring capabilities are upgraded in parallel with bandwidth to ensure no traffic is left unmonitored.
Transfer to the Communications Security Establishment to support the Security Information and Event Management Project
Supplementary Estimates (C): $ (3,494,539) in 2021 to 2022
Fiscal year | 2021 to 2022 |
---|---|
Supplementary Estimates | (3.5) |
Summary
Transfer to Communications Security Establishment from Shared Services Canada of $3.5 million (vote 1—operating expenditures) in support of the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Project.
Purpose of the funding
This funding transfer to the CSE will allow CSE to operate the new Canadian Centre for Cyber Security’s SIEM solution components.
The financial resources will provide CSE with support for people, process and technology development.
Background
The SIEM Project is a key initiative under SSC’s Infrastructure Security Enterprise Program, which was established to provide enterprise, end-to-end cybersecurity solutions, both nationally and internationally, to the Government of Canada.
The SIEM Project’s objective is to implement a fully integrated GC enterprise solution that will provide visibility and automated response to cyberattacks covering GC infrastructure. This will facilitate the ability of SSC and the CSE’s Canadian Centre for cyber security to improve prediction of cyber threats, increase detection capability, detect and identify more complex threats, and reduce the time differential between detection and response time to recovery.
Transfer to the Communications Security Establishment to support the operation and development of the Secure Communications for National Leadership Project
Supplementary Estimates (C): $ (2,631,390) in 2021 to 2022
Fiscal year | 2021 to 2022 |
---|---|
Supplementary Estimates | (2.6) |
Summary
Transfer to Communications Security Establishment from Shared Services Canada of $2.6 million (vote 1—operating expenditures) in support of the operation and development of the Secure Communications for National Leadership (SCNL) Project.
Purpose of the funding
This funding transfer to the Communications Security Establishment will provide support for people, process and the necessary technology investments to participate in the Secure Communications for National Leadership Project.
Background
This initiative is led by the Privy Council Office (PCO) in partnership with the Communications Security Establishment and SSC.
Following the 2016 Budget, in which PCO received funding to undertake an initiative to enhance their security infrastructure, PCO in partnership with CSE and SSC, established the SCNL Project to provide national leaders access to secure communication technologies.
The SCNL Project is developing secure mobile phone capability to provide access to voice and text capabilities for national leaders. The initial SCNL investment indicated that SSC and CSE would re-align funding from SSC to CSE as CSE is required to continue operations until such time as SSC is ready to assume full responsibility for the operation of the secure communications system.
Transfer to the Treasury Board Secretariat for the Government of Canada Enterprise Portfolio Management Project
Supplementary Estimates (C): ($1,000,000) in 2021 to 2022
Funding profile
The following table includes total funding for fiscal year 2021 to 2022.
Fiscal year | 2021 to 2022 |
---|---|
Supplementary Estimates | (1.0) |
Summary
Funds transfer of $1.0 million (in 2021 to 2022) to Treasury Board Secretariat for the Government of Canada Enterprise Portfolio Management (GC EPM) Project to help improve the delivery of information technology services across the government.
Purpose of the funding
This transfer will support TBS in continuing the work done to date to enable departments to submit their business requirements documents into a TBS hosted solution.
Background
Since its inception in 2011, Shared Services Canada has made several changes to advance their demand management processes and improve the delivery of information technology services across the government. Although these changes have improved SSC’s demand intake and management, there are opportunities to further improve IT demand management and business intake.
The Government of Canada Enterprise Portfolio Management initiative (GC EPM) is designing and implementing a software solution to support 3 previously disconnected government-wide processes: IT planning, investment planning, as well as high-level IT demand prioritization, to support Shared Services Canada in its delivery of IT solutions.
This initiative will provide a common scalable and integrated system for use within the Treasury Board Secretariat, departments, and SSC to have visibility into a single source of government-wide IT Infrastructure plans, demand and digital investments, as well as ensure alignment with government priorities and SSC’s capacity to deliver.
The GC EPM initiative will also automate the integration of government plans and investments that require IT solutions into SSC’s business requirements documents.
Transfer from various organizations to the Treasury Board Secretariat to the Greening Government Fund
Supplementary Estimates (C): ($25,000) in 2021 to 2022
Funding profile
Fiscal year | 2021 to 2022 |
---|---|
Supplementary Estimates | (0.03) |
Summary
Shared Services Canada is transferring $25 thousand (vote 1—operating expenditures) in 2021 to 2022 to Treasury Board Secretariat to support the Greening Government Fund (GGF), which funds projects which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions in federal government operations.
Purpose of the funding
The GGF has been established as part of the Government of Canada’s response to climate change.
This initiative:
- provides project funding to federal government departments and agencies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in their operations
- promotes and shares innovative approaches to reducing GHGs
Once a contribution is made, a department can seek funding to the GGF for projects which achieve the objectives of the GGF.
Background
The Centre for Greening Government of Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada sent a call letter to departments for expressions of interest for the GGF inviting eligible departments to submit an application for funding.
Eligibility for funding is open to departments who have contributed to the GGF. This includes departments who have generated more than 1 kiloton (KT) of GHG emissions per year from air travel or who have voluntarily contributed to the GGF.
The objectives of the GGF are to support and share the results of projects which will reduce GHG emissions in federal operations. The GGF seeks to fund projects that achieve at least 2 of the following:
- large-scale emissions reductions
- solutions in areas where GHGs are difficult to reduce
- solutions that can be replicated within or across government departments
Transfer from various organizations to the Treasury Board Secretariat for financial community developmental programs and the inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility initiative
Supplementary Estimates (C): ($8,333) in 2021 to 2022
Funding profile
The following table includes total funding for fiscal year 2021 to 2022.
Fiscal year | 2021 to 2022 |
---|---|
Total authorities | (0.008) |
Summary
Transfer of $8 thousand (vote 1—operating expenditures) in 2021 to 2022 from Shared Services Canada to the Treasury Board Secretariat for the Office of the Comptroller General’s (OCG) financial community developmental programs and the inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility (IDEA) initiative.
Purpose of the funding
The funding will allow for TBS to support and deliver enhanced and continuous development programs. TBS will also lead the financial management community on the IDEA initiative which has become a priority for the public service.
Background
Large departments and agencies (LDAs) contribute to funding the renewal and delivery of development programs. These development programs are delivered by the OCG on behalf of the financial management community. LDAs also contribute to an additional resource (FI-04) within OCG that will be responsible for leading the implementation of the IDEA strategic recruitment on behalf of the financial management community as well as the integration of required changes to existing development programs.
TBS will be responsible for:
- administering developmental programs
- running targeted staffing initiatives
- reporting on an annual basis to the Talent Management Advisory Committee (TMAC)
- reporting on an annual basis to non-TMAC members
Internal reallocation of resources for secure information technology infrastructure
Supplementary Estimates (C): $819,000 in 2021 to 2022
Fiscal year | 2021 to 2022 |
---|---|
Supplementary Estimates | 0.8 |
Summary
Shared Services Canada will reallocate funding by transferring $0.8 million from vote 5—capital to vote 1—operating expenditures in 2021 to 2022 in support to secure IT infrastructure.
Purpose of the transfer
This transfer is for operational expenditures for the Administrative Access Controls Service Project, which will implement standard security management capabilities.
Vote 5 funding can only be used for capital expenditures. In this case, $819,000 of expenditures were determined to be operating, not capital, necessitating the transfer between votes.
Background
The Administrative Access Controls Services Project will provide an enterprise service to allow Shared Services Canada and its partners to be able to manage their privileged accounts within their systems and applications.
Document navigation for "Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates: March 4, 2022"
Page details
- Date modified: