Appearance of The President of Shared Services Canada
Report 1, Procuring Complex Information Technology Solutions, of the 2021 Reports of the Auditor General

Table of Contents

Opening Statement and Overview of the Audit

1. Opening Statement for the President of Shared Services Canada
2. Auditor General 2021 Report 1 – Procuring Complex Information Technology Solutions
3. Management Action Plan for Shared Services Canada – Procuring Complex Information Technology Solutions (2021) (OAE)
4. Issue Note: 2021 Reports of the Auditor General - Procuring Information Technology Solutions
5. PACP Committee Overview

Procurement

6. Issue Note: Procurement at Shared Services Canada
7. Issue Note: Data Analytics at Shared Services Canada

Next Generation Human Resources and Pay

8. Issue Note: Next Generation Human Resources and Pay

Workplace communications services

9. Issue Note: Workplace Communication Services Procurement

Opening Statement

Paul Glover
President
Shared Services Canada

Standing Committee on Public Accounts (PACP)

To Address the
Office of the Auditor General Spring Report on Procurement of Complex IT Solutions, including procurement for the Next Generation HR and Pay Initiative

May 27, 2021

• (Mr./Mrs.) Chair and members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to discuss Shared Services Canada's progress on the Office of the Auditor General Spring Report on Procurement of Complex IT Solutions.
• I am happy to be here today to answer any Committee questions on the report.
• With me today is Stéphane Cousineau, Senior Assistant Deputy Minister of Corporate Services.
• I would first like to thank the Auditor General for the report and state that we support its recommendations, which will help make Government of Canada procurement activities even more effective, open, and transparent.
• The report acknowledged the good progress that Shared Services Canada and its partners have made toward adopting agile procurement practices for large IT systems.
• We were acknowledged for our application of new procurement approaches and for our engagement with end users and private sector suppliers.
• To advance further, the report expressed the need to build on these experiences in three key areas:
• First, by ensuring governance and partner engagement mechanisms are in place;
• Second, by updating the guidance and training for procurement officers, especially on new agile procurement methods;
• And third, by leveraging data analytics and information management to better monitor fairness in procurement.
• Shared Services Canada is working closely with the Treasury Board Secretariat and Public Services and Procurement Canada on transformational IT procurements.
• We are ensuring our employees have a more comprehensive understanding of agile and collaborative procurement methods through refinements to guidance, training and support.
• This includes the launch of a specialized training program to equip procurement officers with the skills, competencies, and experience they need to manage complex IT procurements.
• SSC is pleased to report that processes are already in place with respect to enhanced governance mechanisms.
• The Department has had a Procurement Governance Framework since July 2019, which facilitates procurement oversight and control, as well as risk management and decision making approaches, to support transparency and accountability.
• These mechanisms help us engage stakeholders, articulate roles and responsibilities, and match decision making with firm commitments.
• On data analytics, SSC is augmenting its capabilities through the development of a analytics strategy and roadmap.
• Our dedicated data and analytics team will input procurement data into the department's Enterprise Data Repository this fiscal year.
• It will then pilot the use of data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to identify potential integrity issues more quickly.
• Since the time of the audit, the department has implemented a number of information management tools and procedures to help ensure and demonstrate that procurement processes are fair.
• The department has developed guidelines on procurement file organization and makeup, a procurement file documentation list, and a compliance and quality assurance program, which contribute to sound information management practices.
• With respect to the Next Generation Human Resources and Pay initiative, SSC continues to work with the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer at the Treasury Board Secretariat, as well as senior officials and users in other departments and agencies, to define business needs and anticipate change management requirements.
• The Exploratory Phase announced last Fall has been completed. This phase established the technical capability of the government to adopt a Software as a Service solution, and undertook a gap analysis of the proposed solution against existing business requirements.
• The next phase will be the Design and Experimentation Phase, which will configure and test the proposed solution using real employee data. Further tests with more complex pay groups will also be undertaken.
• As the initiative moves through more substantive phases, decision makers will be engaged thoroughly. Our new Integrated Enterprise Governance structure prioritizes clear accountability, program assurance and challenge functions, and extensive stakeholder consultation and engagement.
• All the work is being informed by lessons learned from Phoenix and other large-scale enterprise transformation initiatives.
• Decisions on the way forward will be driven by user insights obtained during this initiative.
• Thank you. We would be happy to answer your questions.

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2021 Winter Reports of the Auditor General of Canada: Procuring Complex Information Technology Solutions

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Issue

The Auditor General tabled a performance audit report on Procuring Complex Information Technology Solutions on February 25, 2021.

Key Facts

• The audit covered the period of April 1, 2018 to August 30, 2020 and implicates Shared Services Canada (SSC), Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS), Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC).
• The OAG observed that federal organizations had made good progress towards modernizing procurement practices and adopting agile procurement.
• The audit found that organizations did not provide enough guidance or training to staff related to agile procurement.
• The audit noted that there were opportunities to strengthen governance to ensure that senior representatives were sufficiently engaged in procurement initiatives.
• The audit noted that improvements are needed to detect and prevent integrity risks in procurement processes.
• The audit also made recommendations related to training on agile procurement, and on information management and the use of data analytics to support demonstration of fairness and integrity in procurement.

Response

• The Government of Canada is committed to responsible management of its IT solutions in an open and transparent manner and welcomes the Auditor General's recommendations.
• The Government will continue to work across organizations and key stakeholders to develop and promote guidance and tools to support agile procurement.
• SSC has governance frameworks in place to ensure that projects and procurements have appropriate governance and stakeholder engagement, and sound information management practices.
• SSC will continue to ensure that governance mechanisms are in place for engagement related to complex IT procurement.
• SSC is working closely with TBS and PSPC to foster a common understanding of agile procurements when undertaking transformational IT initiatives.
• In 2019, SSC established a Centre of Expertise in Agile and Innovative Procurement supporting procurement officers in the implementation of agile and innovative procurements.
• SSC will continue to work with the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer at TBS and senior officials and users in other departments and agencies to define business needs and anticipate change management requirements for transformational IT initiatives, such as NextGen.
• SSC uses data analytics to inform decision-making and will continue to augment its capabilities through a Departmental Analytics Strategy and roadmap. To help identify procurement integrity issues, SSC will be uploading its procurement data into the department's Enterprise Data Repository.
• SSC's Compliance and Quality Assurance Program contributes to support the continuous improvement of information management practices in procurement.                               

Background

Objective of this audit: This audit focused on whether selected departments planned and carried out agile procurements for complex IT solutions that supported the achievement of business outcomes and demonstrated the government's commitment to fairness, openness, and transparency in the process.

In particular, the audit examined the procurement processes for three major IT initiatives : Next Generation Human Resources and Pay (NextGen); Benefits Delivery Modernization (BDM); and, Workplace Communication Services (WCS). While NextGen and BDM used elements of agile procurement, WCS used a traditional procurement process.

Findings: Overall, the OAG found that the implicated departments made good progress towards adopting agile procurement practices. However, the OAG also found that:

• the organizations rolled out agile procurement without enough training to staff or engagement with key stakeholders; and
• monitoring of fairness, openness and transparency needed improvement in the areas of procurement integrity, tracking of fairness issues and information from third-party fairness monitors.

Recommendations : The report makes five recommendations. TBS was implicated in two of the audit's recommendations because of its central agency policy role and its involvement with the NextGen HR and Pay Initiative (TBS was lead between 2018-2020 before responsibility for the project was transferred to Shared Services Canada). SSC was scoped into the audit on four of the audit's recommendations related to the WCS and NextGen.

1. Recommendation in paragraph 47: To further support the government's modernization of procurement,
• the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, Public Services and Procurement Canada, and Shared Services Canada should develop more comprehensive guidance and training for employees to improve understanding of agile procurement and how to apply collaborative methods.
• the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, with input from Public Services and Procurement Canada and Shared Services Canada, should also assess what skills, competencies, and experience procurement officers need to support agile approaches to complex IT procurements.

TBS's Response:

Agreed. Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada will continue to work with Public Services and Procurement Canada, Shared Services Canada, and other key stakeholders to develop, deliver and promote formal and informal learning focused on agile procurement as well as develop and promote guidance and tools that support capacity building in the procurement community.

SSC's Response:

Agreed. Shared Services Canada is working closely with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and Public Services and Procurement Canada with respect to undertaking transformational IT procurements and is fostering a common understanding of agile procurements. Work on agile procurement has been done in close partnership and  through engagement with other government departments that are Shared Services Canada's procurement clients.

In December 2019, Shared Services Canada established the Centre of Expertise in Agile and Innovative Procurement, which is dedicated to supporting procurement officers in the implementation of agile and innovative procurements. The department has also undertaken significant efforts to launch and implement the Procurement Refresher and Essentials Program (PREP), which is continuously modernized. Shared Services Canada will continue to ensure that employees involved in transformational IT procurements have a more comprehensive understanding of agile and collaborative procurement methods through refinements to guidance, training, and support being provided to procurement officers.

2. Recommendation in paragraph 53: TBS, ESDC, and SSC should ensure governance mechanisms are in place to engage senior representatives of concerned departments and agencies for each of the complex IT procurements we audited. This will be particularly important to support agile procurements of complex IT initiatives and their successful achievement of business outcomes.

TBS's Response:

Agreed. For the NextGen initiative, the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer in the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat will continue to work with Shared Services Canada and departments and agencies at senior levels as well as users from the HR, pay and manager communities to define business needs and anticipate change management requirements.

As the initiative moves from discovery to more substantive phases, decision makers will be required to be engaged thoroughly. A review of existing governance to align it with upcoming phases is underway.

Shared Services Canada's Responses:

Agreed. Shared Services Canada is pleased to report that processes are already in place.

For the Workplace Communication Services procurement, Shared Services Canada is committed to engaging all stakeholders at the appropriate junctures in the procurement process, ensuring roles and responsibilities are clearly understood and agreed to, and seeking decision maker commitment to ensure desired business outcomes are achieved.

Since awarding of the Workplace Communication Services contract in 2017, Shared Services Canada has put in place the Project Management Framework, which guides the effective management and delivery of the department's projects throughout the project life cycle. The framework consists of tools such as a project control framework, integrated plans, risk registers, and the stakeholders' responsibility and accountability matrix, which ensures continued alignment between all stakeholders to support the achievement of the desired business outcomes. The department's Project Governance Framework documents and communicates the role of the various governance committees in providing effective oversight and a challenge function.

Shared Services Canada also has had a Procurement Governance Framework since July 2019, which was developed, implemented, and communicated, as appropriate, to provide procurement oversight, control, integration, risk management, and decision making for greater transparency and accountability. This framework tailors the required stakeholder oversight levels in relation to the size, scope, complexity, and risks of the procurements.

3. Recommendation in paragraph 63: PSPC should continue to advance its use of data analytics so that it can identify procurement integrity issues.

4. Recommendation in paragraph 64: SSC should begin to use data analytics to improve its ability to identify procurement integrity issues.

Shared Services Canada's Response:

Agreed. Shared Services Canada will augment its data analytics capabilities by developing a departmental analytics strategy and roadmap. Further, the department's Data and Analytics Centre of Excellence will onboard procurement data into the department's Enterprise Data Repository in the upcoming fiscal year and pilot the use of data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to improve the department's ability to identify procurement integrity issues.

5. Recommendation in paragraph 68: PSPC and SSC should improve their information management practices to help contracting authorities better demonstrate that procurement processes are fair. The departments should ensure that procurement records include, at a minimum, file histories, explanations of problems that arise (and how they were resolved) and all relevant decisions and communications with implicated parties.

Shared Services Canada's Response:

Agreed. Shared Services Canada is pleased to communicate that since the time of the audit, the department has implemented a number of information management tools and procedures to help demonstrate that procurement processes are fair. Shared Services Canada has developed guidelines on procurement file organization and makeup, a procurement file documentation list, and a compliance and quality assurance program, all of which help contribute to sound information management practices. The department will continue to communicate the importance of these practices to ensure that new and existing employees are aware of the tools and processes in place for sound information management.

TBS, PSPC, SSC, and ESDC agree with the recommendations directed at their departments respectively.

Other Background Information

To deliver services efficiently, federal government organizations often need to procure new, complex information (IT) systems to replace aging ones. The government currently has about 21 large IT procurements underway, valued at over $6.6 billion.

In 2017, the Prime Minister directed the Minister of Public Services and Procurement to modernize how the government procures these new systems. Since then, Public Services and Procurement Canada and Shared Services Canada have introduced initiatives to meet this directive. Agile procurement, which they adopted in 2018, is one of them.

While traditional procurement is linear, agile procurement is iterative and typically awards multiple small contracts. Agile procurement aims to achieve business outcomes by establishing close collaborations between procurement experts, end users (those who use the procured systems), and private sector suppliers, through multiple phases. It permits course corrections and helps federal organizations apply lessons learned. It is best used for complex projects in which it may not be clear at the outset what the best potential solution is to address business needs.

The 2018 OAG examination of the implementation of the Phoenix pay system recommended that for all government-wide IT projects, mandatory independent reviews of the project`s key decisions be carried out to determine if they should proceed or not. Furthermore, it recommended that the government ensure effective oversight is maintained and documented, and that it includes the heads of concerned departments and agencies. The Standing Committee on Public Accounts endorsed these recommendations in February 2019.

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Overview of the Committee

PACP Members

Name	Party	Riding	Membership
Kelly Block	Conservative	Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek	PACP Member & Chair since Oct 2020
Lloyd Longfield	Liberal	Guelph	PACP Member & Vice-Chair since Feb 2020
Maxime Blanchette-Joncas	Bloc Québécois	Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques	PACP Member & Vice-Chair since Feb 2020 Public Accounts Critic
Luc Berthold	Conservative	Mégantic—L'Érable	PACP Member since Oct 2020 TBS Critic
Philip Lawrence	Conservative	Northumberland—Peterborough South	PACP Member since October 2020 National Revenue Critic
Len Webber	Conservative	Calgary Confederation	PACP Member since Oct 2020
Matthew Green	New Democratic Party	Hamilton Centre	PACP Member since Feb 2020 TBS Critic
Kody Blois	Liberal	Kings—Hants	PACP Member since Feb 2020
Greg Fergus	Liberal	Hull—Aylmer	PACP Member since May 2019 Parliamentary Secretary TBS & Digital Government
Francesco Sorbara	Liberal	Vaughan—Woodbridge	PACP Member since Feb 2020
Jean Yip	Liberal	Scarborough—Agincourt	PACP Member since Jan 2018

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Procurement at SSC

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Issue

Shared Services Canada (SSC) conducts innovative, open, fair and transparent procurement processes that are supported by a solid governance. Whenever possible, SSC uses competition to get the best value for Canadians.

Key Facts

• SSC procurement is guided by the principles of fairness, openness and transparency.
• SSC has a significant amount of buying power, and SSC aims to do everything possible to unlock further value from federal procurement to drive innovation and economic growth, while also simplifying procurement and increasing access for small and medium-sized enterprises and for companies owned and operated by priority groups, such as Indigenous Peoples and persons with disabilities.
• The SSC “Procurement Modernization – Strategic Engagement Committee” (PM- SEC) provides a forum for industry associations, experts, and SSC representatives to propose, analyse and recommend means to improve and modernize procurement practices, including measures that promote the participation of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
  PM-SEC membership includes:
• TECHNATION: a membership-driven national industry association that represents the information technology (IT) industry.
• Canadian Information Technology Providers Association (CITPA): an affiliation of Canadian-owned vendor-authorized solution providers that deliver IT solutions to the Government of Canada (GC).
• Canadian Business Information Technology Network (CABiNET): a member driven industry association for small and medium enterprises on federal government procurement initiatives. It is an association that consists of companies that provide IT resources and solutions to the GC.
• Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI): non-profit organization focused on helping high-growth Canadian technology firms to scale up globally. The council’s mandate is to optimize the growth of Canada’s innovation-based sector by ensuring Canadian technology and public policy leaders are working together to improve Canada’s innovation outputs.
• Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce (CBCC): non-profit organization established as an initiative of the National African Canadian Association (NACA) to enhance commerce and economic development within the Black community. The CBCC platform promotes black business and creates a supportive network for its members and the Black diaspora in Canada.
• Canadian Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender plus (LGBT+) Chamber of Commerce (CGLCC): not-for-profit organization that works to foster economic growth by supporting and nurturing LGBT+ businesses, entrepreneurs, students, and allies by helping Canada’s corporate world connect with the LGBT+ community. CGLCC is a leader in supplier diversity, and is the certifying body in Canada for LGBT+ businesses.
• Canadian Aboriginal Minority Supplier Council (CAMSC): a nationally respected not-for-profit organization that advocates business relationships and economic growth of the Canadian supply chain through the inclusion of Aboriginals and Minority suppliers.
• Women Business Enterprises Canada (WBE): a non-profit organization, led by corporate members that aims to open doors for Canadian women-owned businesses to supply chains across North America. WBE's mandate is to build connections between Canadian women-owned businesses and corporate/government buyers across North America.
• In 2019, SSC established the Centre of Expertise in Agile and Innovative Procurement (CoEAIP) which is deploying pathfinder agile procurement processes to support simplification, efficiency, competition, openness, transparency, and ultimately, to produce better results.
• Characteristics of this agile approach include,
• Cross-functional teams.
• Contracting for prototypes.
• Leveraging open business intelligence platforms, such as “TECH2GOV” Digital Marketplace, to attract hundreds of Canadian SMEs to participate in agile procurements.
• SSC has in place a Procurement Governance Framework that provides procurement oversight, control, integration, risk management, and decision- making, to ensure transparency and accountability of decision-making.
• SSC has created a Compliance and Quality Assurance Program (CQAP) to measure adherence and compliance with law, policy and governance.
• SSC is piloting better vendor management tools to explore new ways in which to hold contractors accountable for poor performance or unacceptable behaviour, particularly in large scale procurements.
• SSC openly collaborates and consults with Industry on its integrated procurement strategies and practices.

Response

• SSC procurement adheres to Government of Canada (GC) procedures and transparency practices. Like other departments, SSC proactively discloses all awarded contracts over $10,000, competitive and non-competitive.
• SSC supports market-based competition, where possible.
• SSC fully justifies all instances of non-competitive contracts by referencing the legal authority found in the applicable Trade Agreements and the Government Contracts Regulations (GCRs).
• Examples of non-competitive contracts with a supplier may include:
  • To maintain substantial investments in Information Technology (IT) infrastructure to maximize its useful life and make the best use out of GC resources.

• To acquire essential, interchangeable or interoperable equipment to maintain the existing GC IT infrastructure where:

1. the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is the only one that sells the product (and does not have a reseller network); and
2. SSC can demonstrate that a change of supplier cannot be made for economic or technical reasons and would cause significant duplication of costs.

BuyandSell

• SSC openly competes generic requirements on BuyandSell (and if specifying a product by brand name because there is no sufficiently precise or intelligible way of describing the requirement, SSC will consider equivalent goods or services).
• If the procurement is subject to trade agreements, SSC cannot hold a competition that is restricted to resellers of a specific product, unless SSC will consider equivalent goods or services that demonstrably fulfill the requirement.
  • Specifying a product by brand name should be unusual unless there is no other sufficiently precise or intelligible way of describing the requirement.

Network Solution Supply Chain (NSSC) Vehicles

• NSSC was established by way of an open, multi-phased, collaborative procurement process. All Network procurements are subject to governance via the Network Infrastructure Requirement Review Committee (NIRCC) for requirements exceeding $1M.
• For requirements that are able to be satisfied off the NSSC catalogues, where there is a justified branded requirement, procurements will be run through the NSSC vehicle and awarded to the contractor demonstrating the best value for the Crown

Background

• SSC procures the necessary IT assets and services to support digital services and program delivery to Canadians.
• SSC procurement is conducted in a manner that enhances access, competition and fairness and results in best value or optimal benefits to Canadians, and is guided by the following principles:
  • Fairness, transparency, inclusiveness and integrity.
  • Market-based competition is the best vehicle for delivering the most efficient, effective and highest value solutions.
  • Procurement supports economic growth, innovation, economic, socio-economic, innovation, and environmental and sustainability goals.
  • Positive Industry relation and early engagement is key to successful procurement.

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Metrics

Procurement contracts

All SSC-other government department contracts

Fiscal Year	Competitive	Non-Competitive	TOTAL
2019-20	6,526 (64%) $1.6B (87%)	3,747 (36%) $230.6M (13%)	10,273 ($1.8B)
2020-21	7,739 (61%) $2.4 B (62%)	5,012 (39%) $1.4B (38%)	12,751 ($3.8B)

Network Equipment Specific (SSC) ^{Footnote 1}

Fiscal Year	Competitive	Non-Competitive	TOTAL
2019-20	217 (49%) $226.1M (98%)	224 (51%) $4.8M (2%)	441 ($230.9M)
2020-21	396 (61%) $186.1M (95%)	255 (39%) $8.9M (5%)	651 ($195.1M)

Greening - Achievements:

• 2020 EPEAT Purchaser Award Winner for its leadership in sustainable electronics procurement for 6th year in a row
• Enterprise Data Centre Borden- Designed LEED Silver
• SAGE- significantly reduced use of styrofoam and plastics in packaging of ICT
• WTD Print- Procurement vehicle with requirements for energy star certification and stringent mandatory recycling

Small Medium Enterprises (SSC Funded – fiscal year 2019-20)

Volume

• Total SSC contracts 2,855
• 2,246 Contracts to SMEs (79%)
• 98% Contracts to Canadian SMEs
• 117 Contracts to Indigenous SMEs

Value

• Total SSC $1.3B
• $877M awarded to SMEs (67%)
• 97% Awarded to Canadian SMEs
• $35.8M Awarded to Indigenous SMEs

Fiscal year 2018-19 vs Fiscal year 2019-20

• 6% increase in number of contracts
• $467M increase value of contracts

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Data Analytics at Shared Services Canada

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Issue

In order to lead the Government of Canada's Digital Transformation, Shared Services Canada needs to leverage its internal data and analytics capabilities. To do so, the Department will invest ███████████ over the next five years into its Data and Analytics Centre of Excellence, to move toward a modern, accessible, interoperable and digitally-enabled enterprise model.

Key Facts

• Work is underway at Shared Services Canada to streamline services, management systems, and data and analytics governance across service lines.
• Shared Services Canada's Data Strategy was developed in the fall of 2019, and is being implemented within its Data and Analytics Centre of Excellence to ensure the organization is taking a data-driven approach to analytics - treating data as an enterprise asset, increasing analytical expertise, and enabling better decision making through data management tools including an Integrated Business Glossary, and Master Data Management hub.
• Since the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic, Shared Services Canada successfully delivered on improved remote access, increased network capacity and a roll-out of collaborative tools to support the Government of Canada's digitally-accessible services that are deemed essential to the livelihood of millions of Canadians.
• To continue with its strategic direction, Shared Services Canada needs to improve access to consistent and reliable data and bring its business performance insight, so that better decisions can be realized in support of the Government of Canada's information technology infrastructure and digital services through its partner departments.
• By harnessing world-class data analysis toolsets – including SAS products, Microsoft PowerBI, and ThoughtSpot – Shared Services Canada is enabled to provide visual analytics, artificial intelligence, and search-driven analytics and is thereby poised to deliver on its commitments.

Response

• Shared Services Canada has developed and implemented a data strategy over the last few years. This strategy treats data as an enterprise asset, increases our analytical expertise, and integrates data management into our governance model and decision making.

• Our dedicated team has built a centralized repository to generate business intelligence across various data sources, including financial records, service metrics, and information about the needs of our partners and clients.
• For example, we are adding procurement data to the repository this fiscal year to pilot the use of data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to identify potential integrity issues more quickly.
• We also launched a data literacy training program, aligned departmental governance to prioritize the use of data analytics, and are equipping our analysts with a full suite of tools in the cloud to leverage next-generation analytics.

Background

The Data and Analytics Centre of Excellence (DACoE) at Shared Services Canada (SSC) has established an Enterprise Data Repository (EDR), a training program for data literacy, and its departmental governance bodies are in place to align authoritative data, analytics tools and systems.

To date, SSC's EDR has harmonized the authoritative systems defining SSC's demand and intake requirements from partner and client organizations across the Government of Canada with its financial records, client feedback, and service metrics. This allows SSC analysts and decision-makers to rely on a common “source of truth"to deliver on its departmental mandate.

These data sources currently include:

• business intake data (BITS),
• Information Technology Service Management (ITSM),
• the Data Enterprise Control Desk (ECD) and Partner ITSM,
• the Government of Canada Information Technology Plan,
• Application Data (APM),
• Client Satisfaction Data (CSFI),
• five financial sources from SIGMA,
• procurement data,
• Procurement and Vendor Relations / Procure-to-Pay (PVR/P2P), and
• SSC' internal services data (GCSX).

During the COVID-19 pandemic response, SSC's EDR enabled the organization to quickly mobilize a new business intake prioritization framework in collaboration with its partners and clients and daily operational reporting on service requests and incidents. This resulted in an effective response to the emerging needs of Canadians and the various Government of Canada departments and agencies it serves.

The Department continues to rely on its data and analytics capabilities to respond to the Treasury Board's Policy on Service and Digital, enabling SSC to continue the successful implementation of its Data Strategy established in the fall of 2019.

SSC's corporate functions now include a Chief Data Officer and a Chief Analytics Officer in order to drive its data and analytics programs. This creates seamless alignment between the strategic business focus of the organization, through the Chief Data Officer, and the delivery arm led by the Chief Information Officer / Chief Data Officer.

The ███████████ over the next five years will enable the expansion of SSC's enterprise data repository to critical source systems across multiple functional areas including service, project, human resources, financial, and procurement management. Through critical analysis of its data, SSC will bring tremendous value in its delivery of IT infrastructure services enabling the Government of Canada's Digital Transformation.

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Next Generation HR and Pay Initiative

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Issue

Update on the Next Generation HR and Pay Initiative

Response

• The NextGen HR and Pay is about testing pay solutions against pay requirements of federal departments. It is an iterative and agile testing process that will lead to a comprehensive recommendation about building the HR and Pay solution for the future.  
• This initiative builds on the lessons learned from the development and implementation of Phoenix.
• Through a competitive, agile procurement process, SAP was selected to work with the Government of Canada for preliminary testing of their Success Factors software, a Software as a Service solution with industry-leading HR and pay practices built into its configuration.
• Since October 2020, we have worked with the Department of Canadian Heritage to establish the parameters to test the pay capabilities of SAP's proposed solution. Future testing will include other organisations to test the diverse levels of pay and HR complexity required of the Government of Canada system.
• The team is leveraging input and advice from other complex private and public sector organizations that have implemented a Software as a Service HR and pay to ensure the software can handle the complexities of the Government of Canada environment.

Background

Budget 2018 announced the Government's intention to move away from Phoenix and begin development of a pay system that will be better aligned with the complexity of the federal government's human resources and pay structure.

TBS received $16 million over two years, beginning in 2018-19, to explore replacement options for a next generation human resources and pay solution. 

In summer 2019, the Government announced it had selected Ceridian, SAP, and Workday as the vendors deemed qualified to deliver a next generation human resources and pay solution for the Government of Canada.   

In September 2019, the Government announced that it will invest $117 million to co-design and deliver pilot projects for the NextGen HR and Pay system.

In March 2020, after extensive evaluation, and testing, it was announced that SAP had been selected to work with our team on a pilot for a new Human Resources and Pay solution.

SAP was selected through a rigorous evaluation process which was open and transparent and placed users at the centre. The evaluations involved elements such measuring vendors against Digital, Privacy and Security Standards as well as testing of hundreds of HR and pay scenarios, both simple and complex.

All three vendors remain qualified to work with the government in the future for HR and pay solutions. This means maximum flexibility for the government to access the solutions of multiple, best-in-class vendors which is critical to the NextGen approach.

The NextGen team at SSC engaged SAP on a series of discussions to assess organizational capacity and readiness to work on NextGen under the current COVID-19 circumstances.

Initial focus of work with SAP included establishing governance and oversight, project management tools and protocols and development of a detailed plan to pilot the solution in a core department.

Effective April 1, 2020, leadership for NextGen was transitioned from Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat to Shared Services Canada. The Chief Human Resources Officer at Treasury Board Secretariat remains the Business Owner and a key collaborator of the NextGen initiative.

On October 14, 2020, the selection of the Department of Canadian Heritage for the Exploratory Phase of the Next Generation HR and Pay initiative was announced.

The Government is working with the selected vendor (SAP) and the Department of Canadian Heritage to develop an approach to testing that reflects the needs of Canadian Heritage in the context of the core public service.

Canadian Heritage was selected as the Exploratory Phase Department because their organization provides a good representation of the government's human resources complexities, including multiple occupational groups, regional representation, overtime, and other considerations.

Throughout this process, the NextGen team is engaging with public service employees, leaders, HR advisors and technical specialists, as well as working hand in hand with bargaining agents in the development of a user-centric HR and pay solution.

As part of this pilot initiative, NextGen has involved over 890 employees from 20 federal organizations through thirty-eight workshops and 90 working sessions with HR and pay practitioners, end users and technical experts. These activities form the basis for NextGen's Exploratory Phase, and they will inform the next steps in the initiative.

The government will be making a decision this month about moving from the exploratory phase with SAP's Success Factors into the design and experimentation phase, where configuring of the solution will occur.

Any testing undertaken will not affect employees' actual pay. Testing will occur in a controlled environment that is not connected to payment systems. Canadian Heritage employees will continue to be paid through the Phoenix pay system while testing is completed.

The Government continues to work with stakeholders, such as bargaining agents, employees, and HR and pay practitioners, and will continue to engage in an open and transparent manner, so that the new solution can address the needs of a modern public service and its employees as soon as possible.

Over the next three years, NextGen will carry out additional pilots and a feasibility study. The details for the additional pilots and the feasibility study are being finalized and learning from the exploratory phase will inform the planning for these future phases.

Ongoing stabilization of the Phoenix Pay System remains a top priority for the government and is being pursued by Public Services and Procurement Canada.

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Workplace Communication Services

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Issue

The Workplace Communication Services initiative will replace approximately 107,000 legacy landline systems with modern, cost-effective Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, telephone services.

Key Facts

• The Workplace Communication Services contract was awarded to TELUS in June 2017.
• Key partners participating in the Workplace Communication Services initiative include Department of National Defence, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada Border Services Agency, Canada Revenue Agency, and Indigenous Services Canada.

Response

• Shared Services Canada will modernize end-of-life landline voice services into newer technologies for improved service reliability and greater functionality.
• New voice services technologies will  support program and service delivery to Canadians by enhancing service reliability, productivity, mobility and collaboration.

If pressed on modernization schedule:

• Modernization of the government's voice systems is complex, significant in scope, and is expected to take another five years to complete.
• Shared Service Canada has been modernizing legacy landlines since 2012.
• DND in particular have been significantly engaged in an ongoing and sustained manner since project inception to ensure the new WCS service and WCS project scope meet DND requirements.
• Shared Services Canada will continue to stabilize end-of-life voice services to ensure service availability until the modernization schedule has been completed.

Background

The Workplace Communication Services initiative is an important part of Shared Services Canada's efforts to consolidate and modernize the Government's telecommunications infrastructure.

Currently, voice services are delivered via a mix of traditional landline telephones, more modern and reliable technology such as Voice over IP telephony and mobile services  (i.e. cellular and smartphones).

Many of the traditional landline systems are at end-of-life, some of which using technology that was retired by suppliers in 2018. Service outages related to this legacy equipment may have a significant impact on the partner's ability to deliver programs and to work effectively.

The Minister of Digital Government's vision is focused on strengthening and modernizing digital government. Through the Workplace Communication Services Initiative, modernization of essential fixed lines to enterprise VoIP services will ensure that reliable, secure, timely and accessible voice services are maintained, and advance the realization of a digitally-enabled Public Service.

The Workplace Communication Services contract was awarded to TELUS in June 2017. Since then, Shared Services Canada and TELUS have been working towards “service readiness", ensuring the new VoIP service design is robust, tested and ready for implementation (achieved in May 2021). In parallel, over 5,000 traditional landline phones were modernized through the Workplace Communication Services Initiative to existing enterprise VoIP services.