Response to parliamentary committees and external audits
Response to parliamentary committees
Summary: In the spring of 2021, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG) released a performance audit that determined whether the federal organizations responsible for procuring the three complex IT initiatives that it audited "were on track to support the achievement of business outcomes and to uphold the government's commitment to fairness, openness, and transparency in procurement."
After studying the AG's report, the Committee concluded in its 2021 report that although the Government of Canada implemented improvements based on past lessons learned, it still had some deficiencies with regard to managing complex IT procurements. The Committee made eight recommendations in the report to help the Government of Canada improve the way it manages the procurement of complex IT solutions. PACP's eight recommendations fell under four themes:
- The agile procurement model;
- Governance mechanisms;
- Use of data analytics to identify procurement integrity issues; and
- Tracking of issues of fairness.
Response to recommendations
Agile Procurement
TBS, SSC, and PSPC have collaborated to develop, deliver, and promote formal and informal learning on agile procurement, specifically, in the development of guidance and tools that promote a common understanding of agile procurement processes, and how to apply collaborative methods to procurements.
Governance Mechanisms
Governance mechanisms that ensure and facilitate interdepartmental engagements on multi-departmental initiatives have been put in place, such as the Next Generation Human Resources and Pay (NextGen HR and Pay) and Workplace Communication Services (WCS). The governance structure has been approved by both the President of SSC and the Chief Human Resources Officer, at TBS. The NextGen HR and Pay initiative has a robust and effective model of oversight and controls that allow for the integration of investment-related functions, effective risk management, and transparency. The SSC departmental Project Management Framework is aimed at guiding effective management and delivery of the department's projects throughout the project lifecycle, and leverages project management best practices.
Use of data analytics to identify procurement integrity issues
SSC continues to leverage its Data Strategy and annual programming to support improved data management practices and analytics capabilities across the Department, and, in conjunction with SSC's Data and Analytics Centre of Excellence, made contract data available in SSC's Enterprise Data Repository (EDR) to enable centralized data analytics and reporting. As a data repository, the EDR allows entities to use the available data to develop Machine Learning models, which provides greater insight around data relationships.
Tracking of Issues of Fairness in Procurements
SSC has undertaken various steps to improve their internal information management (IM) practices in order to help contracting authorities better demonstrate that procurement processes are fair. These activities are contributing to a shared lessons learned environment that further enables the GC to achieve its goal of maintaining fair and transparent procurement management practices, as per the TB Directive on the Management of Procurement.
Response to audits conducted by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (including audits conducted by the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development)
There were no recommendations for Shared Services Canada.
Response to audits conducted by the Public Service Commission of Canada or the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages
There were no recommendations for Shared Services Canada.
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