Public Services and Procurement Canada
Summary of findings and recommendations: Evaluation of the Contract Security Program

Initiative description

The Contract Security Program (CSP) functions are located in the Industrial Security Sector within the Departmental Oversight Branch of Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC). The objective of this PSPC program is to help ensure that government information and assets are safeguarded during the contracting process.

The CSP has both a domestic and an international component. The Canadian Industrial Security Directorate is responsible for conducting company and personnel screening, registration, inspections, investigations, and supplying valid security clauses for inclusion in contracts, among other activities related to domestic industrial security. The International Industrial Security Directorate negotiates international bilateral security instruments and conducts other international security roles related to security in contracting.

Evaluation objective, scope and methodology

This evaluation examined the relevance (continued need, alignment with federal priorities and departmental strategic outcomes, and alignment with PSPC roles and responsibilities) and performance (achievement of immediate and intermediate outcomes and program efficiency and economy) of the CSP.

The evaluation was examined based on the following lines of evidence:

• document review
• literature review of similar jurisdictions
• interviews
• surveys

Evaluation constraints and limitations

Limitations included some data availability and integrity issues, comparability of other government jurisdictions, and availability of some private sector stakeholders for interviews.

Evaluation findings

Relevance

There continues to be a need for the CSP as the department has specific responsibilities for managing security in domestic and international government contracting. These responsibilities link the program to the department's strategic outcome of ensuring sound stewardship in the context of security in government contracting. Ongoing requests for program services indicate a continuing and ongoing need for the program.

Performance

Overall the program is meeting the security requirements for domestic and foreign government contracts, and government information is safeguarded. Clients are generally satisfied with program services, but several were dissatisfied with the timeliness of classified security clearances. The program experienced increased volumes in the Personnel Security Screening Division which resulted in difficulties meeting their performance standards. Contractors working for the federal government generally understand their roles and responsibilities related to security in contracting. The Canadian government undertakes a high number of contracts with security requirements annually, with very few instances of information breaches. There were 5 security breaches over the evaluation period, and all were deemed low risk by the program. The program supports secure international contracting, and provides services to foreign governments to help ensure that their information will be safeguarded while in the custody of Canadian contractors. The program conducted a limited number of international investigations.

The program experienced challenges in the delivery of timely and cost-effective personnel screenings. A number of initiatives are underway to further improve program delivery and client services. Limited information on program economy was available as a result of outcome attainment being influenced by a large number of factors outside of the programs scope.

Recommendations

The Assistant Deputy Minister, Departmental Oversight Branch should develop a risk framework to balance the 2 core objectives of security and client service with a view to improve processing times for classified personnel screening, visit requests and security requirements check lists. Furthermore, this framework should include an approach to foreign ownership, control or influence to mitigate the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive information as well as information technology security considerations in contracting.

The Assistant Deputy Minister, Departmental Oversight Branch should strengthen the program's performance measures related to its security objectives. This could include measures to ensure that company security officers are better aware of their role in reporting security breaches and events, and of the security measures required for subcontractors.