Departmental Evaluation Plan for fiscal years 2025 to 2026 through 2029 to 2030
Office of the Chief Audit, Evaluation and Risk Executive
August 21 2025
On this page
- Introduction
- Annex 1: Projects for 2025 to 2026 through 2029 to 2030 fiscal years
- Annex 2: Programs excluded from the Plan
Introduction
The Office of the Chief Audit, Evaluation and Risk Executive (OCAERE) of Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) integrates 3 departmental oversight functions:
- internal audit
- evaluation
- integrated risk management
The mission of the Evaluation Services Directorate (ESD) is to provide timely and high quality evaluation and advisory services to facilitate decision-making, help improve policies and programs, and ensure accountability.
This document presents the Departmental Evaluation Plan (the Plan) for PSPC for fiscal years starting in 2025 to 2026 and ending in 2029 to 2030. In addition to the evaluations identified within this plan, the ESD annually undertakes additional projects such as management action plan implementation monitoring and advisory services to support the achievement of results by the department, as per the Policy on Results.
The Plan was updated at the same time as the Departmental Risk-Based Audit Plan (RBAP), both under the supervision of the Chief Audit, Evaluation and Risk Executive. The objective was not only to promote better synergy between the 2 functions, but also to reduce, as much as possible, the burden of this exercise on the stakeholders.
PSPC has prepared its 5-year Plan in consideration of Treasury Board requirements, consultations with internal and external stakeholders as well as current and forecasted capacity within the evaluation function. For departmental planning purposes, the first year of the Plan (fiscal year 2025 to 2026) represents the strongest commitments to the subject matter and timing of PSPC evaluations. Evaluation projects may be added, deleted or modified in future annual updates to the Plan.
Annex 1 details the planned projects to be carried out by the ESD during the 5-year period. The start dates identified for the evaluation projects are listed in the anticipated quarter in which the evaluation will formally begin its planning activities. End dates identified for evaluation projects indicate the quarter in which final reports and management action plans are anticipated to receive Deputy Minister approval.
Annex 2 details programs excluded from the Plan. There are 7 program areas representing 14.39% of planned program spending excluded from the current plan.
Annex 1: Projects for 2025 to 2026 through 2029 to 2030 fiscal years
Planned evaluation projects by fiscal year:
| Project title | Branch Office of Primary Interest (OPI) and lead department | Core responsibility | Program inventory | Focus | Rationale | Start date | End date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horizontal Evaluation of the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan – Phase IV | Real Property Services Lead: Environment and Climate Change Canada | Property and infrastructure | Real Property Services | Impact Evaluation | Mandatory Horizontal Evaluation | January to March 2023 | April to June 2025 |
| Evaluation of the Pension Administration | Receiver General and Pension Branch | Payments and accounting | Federal Pension Administration | Delivery evaluation | Mandatory Evaluation | July to September 2024 | January to March 2026 |
| Evaluation of the Cyber Security Certification Program | Defence and Marine Procurement Branch Departmental Oversight Branch | Government-wide support | Security and Oversight Services | Formative evaluation | Mandatory Evaluation | October to December 2024 | October to December 2025 |
| Evaluation of the Canadian General Standards Board | Receiver General and Pension Branch | Government-wide support | Canadian General Standards Board | Targeted project focused on issue of relevance | Discretionary Evaluation – Last evaluated in 2009 | July to September 2025 | January to March 2026 |
| Project title | Branch Office of Primary Interest (OPI) and lead department | Core responsibility | Program inventory | Focus | Rationale | Start date | End date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evaluation of Office Accommodation & Infrastructure | Real Property Services | Property and infrastructure | Federal Accommodation and Infrastructure | Targeted assessment of the effectiveness of the office portfolio reduction plan and GC Workplace Standard | Discretionary – Last evaluated in 2011 | July to September 2026 | January to March 2027 |
| Evaluation of Cape Breton Operations | Real Property Services (Atlantic Region) | Payments and accounting Property and infrastructure | HR Legacy Benefits Portfolio Management | Effectiveness and Efficiency (review of ongoing mitigation of environmental and human resource liabilities and changes in funding requirements) | Discretionary – Never Evaluated | October to December 2026 | October to December 2027 |
| Horizontal Evaluation of the Action Plan for Official Languages | Translation Bureau | Government-wide support | Linguistic services | To be determined – The lead department has not yet determined the evaluation objective | Mandatory Horizontal Evaluation | January to March 2026 | January to March 2027 |
| Project title | Branch Office of Primary Interest (OPI) and lead department | Core responsibility | Program inventory | Focus | Rationale | Start date | End date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evaluation of Government-wide Corporate Services | Digital Services Branch | Government-wide support | Government-wide Corporate Services | To be determined | Discretionary Evaluation – Last evaluated 2005 | April to June 2027 | July to September 2028 |
| Evaluation of Seized and Surplus Asset Disposal | Receiver General and Pension Branch | Government-wide Support | Asset Disposal | To be determined | Discretionary Evaluation – Last evaluated 2017 | July to September 2027 | July to September 2028 |
| Horizontal Evaluation of the Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy | Departmental Oversight Branch Lead Department: Health Canada | Government-wide support | Security and Oversight Services | To be determined – The lead department has not yet determined the evaluation objective | Mandatory Horizontal Evaluation | January to March 2028 | January to March 2029 |
| Project title | Branch Office of Primary Interest (OPI) and lead department | Core responsibility | Program inventory | Focus | Rationale | Start date | End date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evaluation of Linguistic Services | Translation Bureau | Government-wide support | Linguistic Services | To include a focus on results of adoption of AI in service delivery | Discretionary Evaluation – Last evaluated in 2012 | July to September 2028 | July to September 2029 |
| Evaluation of the Procurement Program | Procurement Branch | Purchase of Goods and Services | Procurement Program | To be determined | Discretionary Evaluation – Never Evaluated | October to December 2028 | October to December 2029 |
| Project title | Branch Office of Primary Interest (OPI) and lead department | Core responsibility | Program inventory | Focus | Rationale | Start date | End date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evaluation of Federal Pay Administration | Human Capital Management | Payments and accounting | Federal Pay Administration | To be determined | Discretionary – Never Evaluated | April to June 2029 | April to June 2030 |
| Evaluation of Laboratories Canada | Science and Parliamentary Infrastructure Branch | Property and infrastructure | Not applicable | Formative Evaluation | Discretionary Evaluation – Never Evaluated | July to September 2029 | July to September 2030 |
| Evaluation of Security and Oversight Services | Departmental Oversight Branch | Government-wide support | Security and Oversight Services | To be determined | Discretionary – Last evaluated in 2018 to 2019 (Contract Security Program and Controlled Goods Program) | October to December 2029 | October to December 2030 |
Annex 2: Programs excluded from the Plan
Programs excluded from the Plan are those which have not been identified as a priority area for a discretionary evaluation as part of the annual consultation process. Also excluded from coverage in the Plan are PSPC’s Internal Services (which are optional for inclusion in the Plan) as well as the Office of the Procurement Ombud (which is an organization separate from PSPC, reporting to the same Minister).
To maximize the use of available capacity for areas prioritized for evaluation, the Plan has excluded certain programs based on the following criteria:
- they have previously undergone comprehensive evaluations
- they are more frequently subject to other oversight functions
- they represent low materiality, and/or
- they have not completed significant changes to their design
Excluded programs are reconsidered for addition to the plan annually as part of the updating exercise.
Core responsibility: Purchase of goods and services
There are no exclusions associated with this core responsibility.
| Excluded program | Last evaluated | Oversight activities | Materiality (% of PSPC 2025 to 2026 spending) | Design stability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payments Instead of Property Taxes to Local Governments | 2008 to 2009 | Yes | 0.10% | Yes |
| Government-wide Accounting and Reporting | 2015 to 2016 | Yes | 0.44% | Yes |
| Payment and Revenue Collection | 2015 to 2016 | Yes | 2.68% | Yes |
| Excluded program | Last evaluated | Oversight activities | Materiality (% of PSPC 2025 to 2026 spending) | Design stability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parliament Hill and Surroundings | 2012 to 2013 | N/A | 10.78% | Yes |
| Excluded program | Last evaluated | Oversight activities | Materiality (% of PSPC 2025 to 2026 spending) | Design stability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Information Services | N/A | N/A | 0.25% | Yes |
| Document-Imaging Services | 2014 to 2015 | N/A | 0.09% | Yes |
| Service Management | N/A | N/A | 0.05% | N/A |