Minister of Digital Government Appearance before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (OGGO): Main Estimates 2020–21 and Supplementary Estimates (B) 2020–21

Introduction

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to thank the committee for inviting me here to discuss the 2020–21 Main Estimates and the 2020–21 Supplementary Estimates (B) for the Digital Government portfolio.

The portfolio, I would note, includes the Office of the Chief Information Officer and the Canadian Digital Service, both in the Treasury Board Secretariat, as well as Shared Services Canada.

I am pleased to be joined today by:

• Marc Brouillard, Acting Chief Information Officer of Canada
• Karen Cahill, Assistant Secretary and Chief Financial Officer
• Paul Glover, President
• Samantha Hazen, Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer

After my remarks, my officials and I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Mandate and vision

Mr. Chair, as the Minister responsible for the Government’s digital transformation, part of my mandate is to work with my ministerial colleagues to provide federal public servants with the tools and strategies they need to design and deliver the services Canadians expect in the digital era – services that are secure, reliable and easy to use.

While there is much to be done, we have already made headway in updating our systems and rolling out better and more powerful tools, so we can improve Canadians’ access to trusted digital services.

Policy on Service and Digital

We now have an overarching policy – on service and digital – which came into effect on April 1 this year.

This policy sets out how departments need to manage service delivery, information and data, IT, and cyber security in the digital era.

Importantly, it requires departments to consider key user needs at the outset when developing their programs and services.

The policy is about advancing the delivery of services and the effectiveness of government operations through the strategic management of government information and data and leveraging of information technology.

COVID Alert: an example of progress

Mr. Chair, I would note that we saw this come into play when COVID‑19 struck. Our government developed and launched, in a matter of weeks, online programs such as CERB and CEWS that would normally have taken months, if not years.

And we collaborated with industry, our international partners and Canadians to develop, consult on and launch the COVID Alert app, in record time.

As a result, there are over 5 million Canadians in eight provinces using the app to help slow the spread of the disease.

Opportunities ahead

Looking ahead, we will be examining our structures, incentives and culture, and breaking down silos, so we can more easily develop and adopt digital – always with the goal of better serving Canadians.

We also continue to work on the Next Generation HR and pay solution, committing resources to build a modern, user-friendly human resources and pay solution, and have transitioned the project to Shared Services Canada.

Main Estimates and Supplementary Estimates (B)

This same theme informs those items included in the Main Estimates and the Supplementary Estimates (B) related to digital government.

In the Main Estimates, the Treasury Board Secretariat will be seeking, for the next fiscal year, $281.6 thousand to contribute to the Open Government Partnership, or OGP.

The OGP is the leading global forum for advancing open government around the world.

Its 78 member countries have a shared purpose, which is to make governments more transparent, accountable and participatory. It is an important forum in which Canada continues to play a leadership role.

Supplementary Estimates (B)

In the Supplementary Estimates (B), Shared Services Canada is requesting Parliament’s approval to increase its authorities by $278.4 million, to $2,490.7 million.

These new funds would be allocated as follows:

• $91.0 million for information technology services that directly support the Government’s response to the COVID‑19 pandemic such as emergency relief programs for Canadians
• $84.0 million for the Information Technology Refresh Program which supports better life cycle management of assets
• $37.3 million for Information Technology Modernization Initiatives. This includes projects and activities to support a digitally enabled workforce, such as advancing Microsoft Office 365 in the cloud
• $31.3 million for the Secure Cloud Enablement and Defence Project, meeting the need for more secure and high-speed operations during the COVID crisis
• $23.5 million for core information technology services and funding for the public service
• $10.1 million for secure video conferencing as part of the expansion of the Secure Communications for National Leadership (SCNL) to better support the Cabinet and Cabinet committee meetings

Taken together, these investments will help to provide federal departments and employees with the tools, guidance, and capacity they need to improve operations and support the delivery of better services in the digital age.

Conclusion

Thank you, Mr. Chair, we would now be pleased to take questions from the Committee.

Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (OGGO)

TBS Related Committee Activity: 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session

TBS Related Committee Activity: 43rd Parliament, 1st Session

Issue

What has the government done on the digital front to address operational and service delivery challenges related to the COVID‑19 pandemic?

Key facts

• The Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) is working with Shared Services Canada (SSC) to support the operation of government IT infrastructure and systems and maintain continuity of critical federal services.
• This includes increasing network capacity to support the rise in remote work across government; prioritizing network access and IT services to maintain critical service continuity; mobilizing the CIO community to identify support needs; providing real-time feedback on IT needs in core service areas; and coordinating government action to ensure key IT infrastructure continues to function.
• OCIO is also exploring opportunities to leverage private sector expertise to support the COVID‑19 response.

Response

• We are accelerating our efforts for digital transformation during this pandemic to continue providing an open, secure and resilient digital government.
• We are actively supporting the ongoing operation of IT infrastructure and systems and have also increased the federal network’s capacity so that critical services can continue.
• We are ensuring that departments and public servants have the knowledge, tools and equipment they need to work remotely. This includes procuring and provisioning new devices and equipment, and rapidly deploying new cloud-based collaboration and communication systems government-wide.
• The Canadian Digital Service (CDS) is helping Canada respond to the COVID‑19 crisis by working with departments and other jurisdictions to build new open source tools and services such as COVID Alert, a free national exposure notification app.
• We are working with the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security to maintain awareness of the global cyber threat environment, including regular scanning for new vulnerabilities that may impact the GC.
• On the global stage, we are engaging with partners through key forums like the Digital Nations, the Open Government Partnership (OGP), and the OECD.

Background

The COVID‑19 pandemic continues to transform the government’s operational and service landscape. In mounting its response, the government is accelerating its digital transformation, delivering results that directly support Canadians during this time of crisis while strengthening the government’s foundation for becoming a more open, user-centric and resilient digital government into the future.

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) is working with Shared Service Canada (SSC) to actively support the ongoing operation of the government’s IT infrastructure and systems and maintain continuity of critical federal services.

In parallel, SSC and OCIO are ensuring that departments and public servants have the knowledge, tools and equipment they need to work remotely. This includes procuring and provisioning new devices and equipment, and rapidly deploying new cloud-based collaboration and communication systems government-wide.

OCIO is in continuous contact with the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security to maintain awareness of the global cyber threat environment, including regular scanning for new vulnerabilities that may impact the GC.

OCIO is working closely with departments and agencies to support service delivery by strengthening Business Continuity Planning, identifying critical services, and focusing committee forward agendas on COVID‑19-related efforts. This includes working with SSC and Public Safety Canada to identify critical service interdependencies, including between services identified in departmental service inventories, critical services and the IT systems that support them.

TBS has reached out to CIOs from all departments to understand their unmet staffing needs in priority areas, and to develop a tool to centrally identify and deploy talent to the most-needed areas. This includes repurposing and upgrading features on the Talent Cloud platform to create GC Talent Reserve, a tool to capture staffing needs and available talent. This will be used initially for the CIO community, and OCIO is working with the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer (OCHRO) to determine its suitability for wider use. 

TBS is actively supporting government in managing its legislative and policy responsibilities during the COVID‑19 response, including those related to Access to Information (ATI) and personal information requests, to proactive publication, and to information management. Key activities include system modifications and website notifications, as well as regular guidance to departments and agencies. OCIO also improved the searchability of open government resources, including datasets and infographics, related to COVID‑19 by creating a COVID‑19-specific search functionality on open.canada.ca.

OCIO is engaging within the Government of Canada, as well as across Canadian jurisdictions, sectors, and internationally to establish strong lines of communication, share best practices, and support a coordinated response by CIOs to the COVID‑19 pandemic.

On the global stage, this includes engaging partners through key forums like the Digital Nations, the Open Government Partnership (OGP), and the OECD.

At the national level, OCIO is leveraging its role as co-chair of the Public Sector Chief Information Officer Council and the Chief Information Officer Strategy Council to bring together CIOs from provincial and territorial public sectors, and from Canada’s public and private sectors, respectively, for coordinative action on COVID‑19 challenges.

OCIO is also exploring opportunities to leverage private sector expertise to support the COVID‑19 response. This includes launching a task force to act as a coordinative hub for all IM/IT COVID‑19 vendor offers of support across government.

The Canadian Digital Service (CDS) is helping Canada respond to the COVID‑19 crisis by working with departments, other jurisdictions, and sectors to build new open source tools and services and leverage existing ones.

For example, CDS collaborated with Health Canada, provinces and territories and other organizations to deliver COVID Alert, a free national exposure notification app that has been downloaded by over five million Canadians.

CDS is helping combat misinformation during COVID‑19 with GC Notify, working with Health Canada to launch a new notification service that has sent almost three million messages to Canadians to provide them with up-to-date and accurate information on COVID‑19 that they can trust.

CDS also collaborated with Employment and Social Development Canada and Canada Revenue Agency to launch an online service that has already helped almost one million Canadians receive personalized advice on financial help available to them from the government during the pandemic.

This includes partnering with public and non-profit partners (including the Canada School of Public Service) to leverage available open source tools and services for effective collaboration and service delivery through the Open Call initiative.

Issue

To provide information on activities and initiatives taken by Shared Services Canada within its department in response to the COVID‑19 pandemic.

Key facts

• Since March 2020, employees are largely working in their homes, and Shared Services Canada has issued over 10,000 Microsoft Teams licences to facilitate virtual collaboration.
• Shared Services Canada has undertaken a number of initiatives to support the health and well-being of its employees, including their mental health, such as hosting informative webinars, sharing Employment Assistance Program information, and allowing for flexible work arrangements. A survey was also conducted to determine precision to employee experiences in order to more effectively support them.
• Temporary measures are in place in Shared Services Canada buildings such as workstations being left vacant, chairs removed, boardrooms closed, as well as the installation of hand sanitizer distributors, disinfecting wipes, and informative signage.
• Physical distancing and the wearing of masks is mandatory in all Shared Services Canada workspaces, and only employees supporting critical services or functions requiring an on-site presence are currently working in physical distancing zones from a Shared Services Canada location.
• As of September 23, 2020, Shared Services Canada incurred costs of $50,606.75 to prepare its physical workplaces to accommodate those employees returning to work.
• When restrictions are eased by health authorities and employees will be allowed to physically work in government office spaces, the occupancy rate in Shared Services Canada’s workspaces will remain below 30% based on each building’s specificities.

Response

• Shared Services Canada can deliver on its mandate by providing most of its services with limited presence in the office. As a result, SSC has been able to adhere to Public Health guidance by enabling its personnel to work from home where possible.
• When Shared Services Canada does require on-site presence to perform specific functions, including in data centres or to manage local networks, protocols have been implemented to ensure those employees can perform their duties in safe and effective ways.
• Those required to be in the office to support critical services are provided with hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, and informative signage. Physical distancing, the wearing of masks, and adhering to health authority guidance is also enforced.
• Shared Services Canada has also undertaken a number of initiatives to support the mental health of employees such as hosting informative webinars, sharing Employment Assistance Program information, and allowing for flexible work arrangements.
• Shared Services Canada is also supporting the whole Government of Canada with their technology needs and taking measures to protect their health and well-being.

Background

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus, COVID‑19, a pandemic. Shared Services Canada, like other parts of the Government of Canada, responded immediately by taking precautions to prevent the spread of the pandemic and support the health of its employees. For example, employees were instructed to work from home and measures were put in place (for example, hand sanitizer and signage) at Shared Services Canada buildings. Adhering to the guidance of respective and local health authorities is also respected in physical offices.

Issue

The Government of Canada must accelerate its digital transformation and achieve its vision of becoming a more open, user-centric and resilient digital government. The Shared Services Canada response to the COVID‑19 pandemic in supporting Government of Canada operations, including the shift to remote work and the smooth delivery of critical services and benefits to Canadians and businesses, is key in achieving this.

Key facts

• On November 20, 2019, the Government of Canada announced the Honourable Joyce Murray as Minister of Digital Government. The Minister is mandated with leading work across government to transition to a more digital government in order to improve services to citizens.

Response

• The Government of Canada is accelerating its digital transformation and strengthening its foundation for a more open, user-centric and resilient digital government, now and into the future.
• This includes enabling new ways to deliver more secure, reliable and easy to use services to Canadians.
• For example, as a result of the COVID pandemic, the government rapidly deployed cloud-based work environments and corresponding cyber-security measures to allow Canadians to continue to access and receive services.
• The government is also exploring options for new user-centric platforms, tools and services that make it easier for Canadians to find and use government services.
• This accelerated transformation includes looking at ways to overhaul the institutional barriers to digital change within government, ensuring we always have the right digital skills, in the right places, supported by a strong, enabling leadership that empowers the change.
• We are building and strengthening our foundational infrastructure to support whole-of-government operations, meet departments’ digital operational needs, and continue to protect information, people, and assets to deliver trusted government programs and services to citizens, whether digital or in person.
• Throughout this transformation, the Government of Canada continues to advance its Digital Standards to ensure that users and their needs are at the heart of our services, programs and operations.
• Shared Services Canada quickly responded to the pandemic by increasing the network capacity for Government of Canada operations and facilitating public servants being able to work virtually by expanding secure remote access by more than 106%, and ensuring the delivery of government services to Canadians and businesses continued smoothly.
• Shared Services Canada worked around the clock quickly with its partners to prepare for the new Canada Emergency Response Benefit, Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy, and Canada Emergency Student Benefit in record time and under considerable pressure, to ensure Canadians can pay their bills, and feed their families.
• On top of making new programs secure and accessible to Canadians, Shared Services Canada engaged its partners and vendors to increase the Government of Canada’s IT infrastructure and bandwidth so that it could withstand the unprecedented number of applications such as Microsoft Teams as well as connect hundreds of thousands of public servants forced to work remotely.

Background

On November 20, 2019, the Government of Canada announced the first standalone Minister of Digital Government, with clear mandate letter commitments to lead work across government to transition to a more digital government and improve citizen service.

In this role, the Minister will lead digital strategy and programming at the Treasury Board Secretariat and Shared Services Canada, including efforts to identify core and at-risk IT systems and platforms, to assemble the expertise needed to effectively implement major transformation projects, and to renew Shared Services Canada. The Minister is also mandated with leading work on the Next Generation Human Resources and Pay System, with accelerating progress on a new strategy to create a single online window for all government services, and with supporting several key Ministers in digitally transforming their services as well as leveraging both digital technologies like artificial intelligence and digital approaches like open source and open data.

This ministerial mandate builds on the Government of Canada’s work during the last mandate to lay the building blocks for digital government.

This included amending the Financial Administration Act to formalize the role of the Chief Information Office of the Government of Canada in legislation and elevate the function to a deputy minister–level position in order to strengthen management of government information technology and support government-wide digital transformation.

The Government of Canada also announced its Digital Standards that establish how all public servants should work differently in the digital age. This includes ensuring that services, programs and operations are user-centric, and that the Government of Canada leverages digital technologies and methods to deliver the high-quality citizen services Canadians expect.

This includes responsibly and ethically leveraging artificial intelligence in service delivery. The Government of Canada’s world-leading Directive on Automated Decision-Making and Algorithmic Impact Assessment tool supports the responsible, human rights-based use of automated decision-making systems by helping departments and agencies assess and mitigate any associated impacts. The Government of Canada has also created an artificial intelligence source list to support departments and agencies in procuring ethical and effective artificial intelligence solutions, services and products that enable improved, digital-age public services.

The Government of Canada is also building a policy framework that supports government-wide digital transformation. This includes the new Policy on Service and Digital, which takes effect April 1, 2020. This policy suite establishes a set of now-integrated rules that will guide how the Government of Canada manages service delivery, information and data, information technology, and cyber security in order to deliver better, user-centric services in the digital era.

Finally, the Government of Canada has established new organizations, designed to support the transition to a more digital government. This includes the Canadian Digital Service to help federal organizations design and deliver services that meet the needs of citizens, and the Digital Academy at the Canada School of Public Service to equip public servants with the skills they need to deliver digital age service excellence.

Treasury Board Secretariat continues to work actively with its partners across the Government of Canada to concretely advance the digital government mandate and to improve services to Canadians. This includes efforts to improve governance while empowering teams to be agile and focus on designing user-centred services.

The COVID‑19 pandemic continues to transform the government’s operational and service landscape. In mounting its response, the government is accelerating its digital transformation, delivering results that directly support Canadians during this time of crisis while strengthening the government’s foundation for becoming a more open, user-centric and resilient digital government into the future.

Shared Services Canada undertook a number of significant initiatives to support Government of Canada operations during the pandemic. Others include:

Issue

Provide an update on SSC 3.0 and how it links to the Minister’s digital vision

Key facts

• The Minister of Digital Government’s mandate includes the renewal of Shared Services Canada so that it is better aligned to deliver common IT infrastructure that is reliable and secure.
• SSC 3.0 was launched in 2019 to guide efforts to deliver shared outcomes and value to government and Canadians, while realizing economies of scale, improving security and reliability of Shared Services Canada services, accelerating turnarounds, enhancing collaboration, and reducing risk.
• It also enabled Shared Services Canada to quickly respond to the pandemic and enable the public service to adapt to remote work, avoiding interruptions to critical services to Canadians.
• Work on SSC 3.0 continues to advance to support the digital government vision, while also evolving to reflect lessons learned throughout implementation in order to ensure that our priorities are established using agile, iterative and user-centred methods.

Response

• In May 2019, SSC 3.0 was launched as the organization’s enterprise approach to service and organizational transformation.
• SSC 3.0 established three main technology priorities:
  • network and security;
  • collaboration tools; and,
  • digital service delivery; supported by an organizational foundation focused on enabling people and the workplace.
• Since its launch, the organization has successfully increased enterprise Internet bandwidth and secure remote access capacity; enabling collaboration tools such as Microsoft Teams across departments and agencies; and, accelerating cloud-hosting solutions.
• The enterprise approach was essential in Shared Services Canada’s ability to respond to the unprecedented time and volume demands of COVID‑19 in order to support the Government of Canada’s operations and provide critical services to Canadians.
• Today, work on SSC 3.0 continues to advance and remains focused on:
  • Migrating applications to Cloud and Enterprise Data Centres, providing a reliable and secure network that can be more cost-effective, accessible and flexible.
  • Equipping federal public servants with modern collaboration tools to ensure remote work is effective and supports continued delivery of federal programs and services.
  • Modernizing service architectures with departments and agencies to better align hardware, software and enterprise priorities with the objective of being able to meet the IT needs of the federal government.
• Shared Services Canada remains well positioned to support the digital government vision by leveraging the latest digital technologies to deliver high-value services to Canadians.
• Through SSC 3.0, Shared Services Canada will continue to support Government of Canada services to ensure that they are simple, seamless and digitally enabled; that information and data are open and accessible; and that Government of Canada priorities and critical operations are well supported.

Background (update on the work ahead)

SSC 3.0 focuses on putting the shared in shared services – promoting an enterprise approach for all of government that consolidates, modernizes and simplifies the Government of Canada’s approach to digital services.

Issue

How much is TBS seeking in the 2020–21 Main Estimates for its Vote 1, Program expenditures, specifically for the transfer payment contribution to the Open Government Partnership (OGP)?

Key facts

• The Treasury Board Secretariat is seeking parliamentary approval for $0.3 million specifically for the transfer payment contribution to the Open Government Partnership.
• Since 2012, Canada has been an active member of the Open Government Partnership.

Response

• The OGP is the leading global forum for advancing open government around the world.
• Canada became a member of the OGP in 2012 and since 2015 Canada has been contributing annually $200,000 USD (up to $281,690 CAD) to fund its secretariat, known as the OGP Support Unit.
• The OGP’s membership is valuable for Canada, it helps advance Canada’s openness and transparency transformation efforts by leveraging international expertise, dialogue, and lessons learned. It also helps Canada establish ambitious commitments, facilitates access to international expertise and peer review, and provides yearly, rigorous assessments of progress.

Background

The Open Government Partnership (OGP), is a not-for-profit organization created in 2011.

The OGP is made up of 70 member countries that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to advance open government. It provides an international forum for dialogue and sharing ideas and experiences on open government among governments, civil society organizations and the private sector.

Canada became a member of the OGP in 2012 and since 2015 Canada has been contributing annually $200,000 USD (up to $281,690 CAD) to fund its secretariat, known as the OGP Support Unit.

The OGP’s membership is valuable for Canada, it helps advance Canada’s openness and transparency transformation efforts by leveraging international expertise, dialogue, and lessons learned. It also helps Canada establish ambitious commitments, facilitates access to international expertise and peer review, and provides yearly, rigorous assessments of progress.

The Support Unit was also instrumental in supporting Canada’s work as OGP chair, and as host of the 2019 OGP Global Summit.

Issue

How much is TBS seeking in the 2020–21 Supplementary Estimates (B) for its Vote 10, Government-wide Initiatives?

Key facts

• TBS is seeking parliamentary approval for a $20 million increase in Vote 10, Government-Wide Initiatives, specifically for the Application Modernization Initiative.
• Funding for the Application Modernization Initiative will support departments and agencies as they migrate their IT applications from aging data centres into more secure modern data centres or cloud services.
• TBS Vote 10, Government-wide Initiatives, is the centrally managed vote that supports strategic management initiatives in the federal public service, including the Application Modernization Initiative since 2018–19.
• TBS Vote 10 is an appropriate vehicle for allocations that are subject to a review process, and subsequent approval of a delegated official, in this case the Government of Canada Chief Information Officer.

Response

• TBS Vote 10, Government-wide Initiatives, is a centrally managed vote that supports the implementation of strategic management initiatives that cut across many departments.
• The Application Modernization Initiative started with funding in Budget 2018; these current investments would ensure we can enhance key government information technology and information management capabilities, such as upgrading data centres and moving to the cloud where feasible.
• These ongoing upgrades help ensure the Government is always modernizing its key IT infrastructure and improving resilience.

Background

Budget 2018 earmarked $110 million for the Application Modernization Initiative to move IT applications from data centres at highest risk of failure to a modern hosting solution (that is, the cloud or a new data centre).

An initial $44 million was accessed by the Treasury Board Secretariat in February 2019. Funding allocated during this initial phase was used by departments to take stock of their IT applications and identify activities required in preparation for a move to the cloud or a modern data centre.

The $20 million in Supplementary Estimates (B), 2020–21 will be used to continue implementation of the initiative.

The Treasury Board Secretariat, in collaboration with Shared Services Canada, prioritizes allocations based on the risk level of the aging data centre in which departments’ IT applications are housed and their readiness to implement upgrades.

Allocations are authorized by the Government of Canada Chief Information Officer and distributed to organizations through TBS Vote 10.

TBS Vote 10, Government-wide Initiatives, is a Treasury Board managed central vote that supports strategic management initiatives in the federal public service.

In general, items included in TBS Vote 10 still have some stage of development or approval to go through in order to ensure the funds are distributed effectively. In all cases, parliament has been fully informed on the funds through its upfront inclusion in the Estimates and then through reporting of drawdowns with each Estimates and at year-end.

Issue

The 2020–21 Main Estimates for Shared Services Canada were first tabled in Parliament on February 27, 2020. Main Estimates provide an overview of spending requirements for the upcoming fiscal year.

Key facts

• With the approval of 2020–21 Main Estimates, the department’s reference levels will increase by $152.7 million, from $1,902.5 million in the 2019–20 Main Estimates to $2,055.2 million in the 2020–21 Main Estimates.
• The net increase of $152.7 million is mainly due to an increase in new funding of 123.9 million, which constitutes 81% of the total increase.

Response

• Shared Services Canada will invest additional funding to provide modern, reliable and secure information technology infrastructure in support of government priorities and digital delivery of programs and services to Canadians.

Background

With the approval of 2020–21 Main Estimates, the department’s reference levels will increase by $152.7 million, from $1,902.5 million in the 2019–20 Main Estimates to $2,055.2 million in the 2020–21 Main Estimates.

The net increase of $152.7 million (Vote 1: 114.5 million; Vote 5 $40.1 million; Items Voted in Prior Estimates ($1.6) million; Statutory (EBP) ($0.3) million) is attributable to the following:

The total 2020–21 Main Estimates is $2,055.2 million.

Issue

The Supplementary Estimates (B) 2020–21 for Shared Services Canada were tabled on October 22, 2020, and are the second Supplementary Estimates for this fiscal year.

Supplementary Estimates present information on additional spending requirements which were either not sufficiently developed in time for inclusion in the Main Estimates or have subsequently been adjusted to account for developments in particular programs and services.

Key facts

• With the approval of Supplementary Estimates (B), SSC’s authorities to date will increase by $278.4 million, from $2,212.3 million to $2,490.7 million.
• New Funding of $277.2 million (including $0.5 million for the Employee Benefit Plan (EBP)) for the cost of providing core information technology services;
• Statutory Authority of $13.5 million related to payments pursuant to the Public Health Events of National Concern Payments Act; and
• Transfers with other government departments totalling a reduction of ($12.3) million.

Response

• Shared Services Canada will invest additional funding to provide modern, reliable and secure information technology infrastructure in support of government priorities and digital delivery of programs and services to Canadians.

Background

• With the approval of Supplementary Estimates (B), SSC’s authorities to date for 2020–21 will increase by $278.4 million from $2,212.3 million to $2,490.7 million.
• The $278.4 million (Vote 1 $133.0 million; Vote 5 $131.4 million; Statutory $14.0 million) increase in the Supplementary Estimates (B) is attributable to the following:

Issue

Shared Services Canada’s 2020–21 Departmental Plan was tabled on March 10, 2020. It provides an account of the department’s mandate, priorities, and resources for the upcoming year.

Response

• The establishment of Canada’s first stand-alone Minister of Digital Government reflects the importance the Government of Canada places on becoming a digital-first organization that will benefit all Canadians.
• To support this digital vision, Shared Services Canada has launched its next phase of evolution, SSC 3.0.
• This new way of doing things is about leading an integrated government approach to managing information technology. It will help deliver more secure and reliable services and improved value and services to Canadians, with cost advantages.
• This will mean faster turnarounds, enhanced collaboration with different partners, increased reliability on the network and reduced risk of systems failure.

If pressed on specific initiatives:

• Shared Services Canada will continue to partner and closely collaborate with users, government departments, vendors and Shared Services Canada employees to ensure service excellence.
• The department will be agile in its approach and start small, which involves using pathfinder projects to identify standards, processes, operating procedures and values that shape a consistent response.
• Once this has been established, projects will be scaled up to deliver across the government.

Background

The Departmental Plan provides parliamentarians and Canadians with information on Shared Services Canada’s mandate, priorities and resources for the upcoming year. It describes Shared Services Canada’s core responsibilities and departmental results, departmental priorities for 2020–21, and how the work of the department will support the government’s mandate, commitments and priorities.

Shared Services Canada’s 2020–21 Departmental Plan focuses on how SSC 3.0 will transform the department. SSC 3.0’s four priorities are:

1. Network and Security: Fast, reliable, and secure networks
2. Collaboration Tools: Tailored set of options based on users’ needs
3. Application Health: Migration to Cloud and Enterprise Data Centres
4. Enabling the Enterprise: Revised services, new standards and funding model

Issue

What spending did TBS present to Parliament in its 2020–21 Departmental Plan for digital government?

Key facts

• Departmental Plans have been part of ongoing efforts to improve reporting to Parliament over the last 25 years.
• TBS’s Departmental Plan for 2020–21 includes $6 billion in total planned spending
• 1,917 FTEs would be allocated by TBS to achieve results in the Departmental Plan
• TBS’s program expenditures increased by $8.2 million in 2018–19 due to the implementation of Budget 2017 and Budget 2018 initiatives. These initiatives include: Canadian Digital Service, Next Generation Human Resources and Pay and improvement to Access to Information.
• TBS’s planned program expenses for 2020–21 are $47 million less than forecast results for 2019–20, mostly because of the sunsetting of funding received in 2019–20 for various initiatives, such as Stabilization of the Federal Government’s Pay System, Canadian Digital Service and Next Generation Human Resources and Pay.

Response

• We are strengthening our commitment to ensure that the Government of Canada is improving the way Canadians access our programs and services.
• We will continue to advance progress towards our objectives through the Office of the Chief Information Officer and the Canadian Digital Service, working with departments to enable a more digital government, to build capacity to use modern tools and methodologies, and to develop solutions that will benefit Canadians. 
• We are committed to leading the transformation to a more digital government, and improved services to citizens. Over the last year, we have made substantive progress, including launching a new Policy on Service and Digital and providing global leadership on digital issues, including open government.
• Spending plans are focused on the department’s core responsibilities of employer responsibilities, regulatory oversight, spending oversight, and administrative leadership, which includes improving our digital capacity and the services we deliver to Canadians.

Background

TBS’s 2020–21 Departmental Plan presents $6.0 billion in total planned spending, which includes a total of 1,917 total full-time equivalents (FTEs).

The breakdown of these planned departmental expenditures consists of:

• $3.6 billion and 302 FTEs to spending oversight to improve the accountability of how taxpayer dollars are spent, improve financial reporting, and carry out costing due diligences for all proposed legislation and programs.
• $86.2 million and 500 FTEs to administrative leadership to make more government data available to Canadians, improve the government digital citizen services, better manage government assets and projects and reduce the government’s greenhouse gas emissions.
• $2.2 billion and 430 FTEs to employer responsibilities, specifically to increase diversity in the executive levels, such as more women in senior decision-making positions, as well as completing collective bargaining started in 2018.
• $11.1 million and 71 FTEs to regulatory oversight to continue reform efforts to improve transparency, reduce administrative burdens and harmonize regulations to keep Canadians safe and businesses more competitive.
• $86.0 million and 614 FTEs to internal services.

With the establishment of a Minister solely dedicated to digital government, TBS is strengthening its commitment to ensure that the Government of Canada is improving the way Canadians access programs and services.

OCIO and CDS will support the transition to a more digital government by supporting departments with improved tools and methodologies. This focused effort will result in better services for Canadians, services they expect from their government.

In 2020–21, TBS aims to achieve the following departmental results as it pertains to government service delivery is digitally enabled and meets the needs of Canadians:

• percentage of Government of Canada websites that deliver digital services to citizens securely, target 100%
• percentage of Government of Canada priority services available online, target at least 80%
• degree to which clients are satisfied with the delivery of government services, expressed as a score from 1 to 100, target at least 60
• percentage of priority services that meet service standards, target at least 80%

Issue

Shared Services Canada’s 2019─20 Departmental Results Report is expected to be tabled the week of November 30, 2020. It provides an account of the department’s results achieved against the planned performance goals set out in the 2019─20 Departmental Plan.

Response

• Shared Services Canada plays a pivotal role in ensuring services provided to customer departments and agencies respond to the evolving digital and program needs of Canadians. Its information technology infrastructure combines hardware, software, networks, facilities, resources and equipment to deliver, manage and secure reliable information technology services for the Government of Canada.
• Some of the key 2019─20 activities by Shared Services Canada that supported the Government of Canada’s vision to optimize digital performance in federal institutions, include: launch of a cloud-brokering portal, introduction of procurement innovations, increased supercomputer capacity, and improved security for information technology services, networks and systems.
• SSC 3.0, Shared Services Canada’s coordinated, government-wide corporate approach to information technology, is fundamental to sustaining Government of Canada operations in times of crisis. 2019─20 efforts to improve networks, roll out cloud options, modernize call centres and deploy Microsoft 365 laid the groundwork for a quick and agile response to the many new and urgent demands from the COVID‑19 pandemic.

If pressed on specific initiatives:

• Cloud services: During 2019–20, demand for cloud services increased requiring Shared Services Canada to develop and expand expertise, resources and service offerings in this area. To help access cloud services online, a cloud-brokering portal was launched as a single point of access for the processing of requests for cloud services.
• Information technology procurement: Shared Services Canada’s Microcomputer National Master Standing Offer enables federal departments to purchase computer hardware (for example, desktops, laptops, tablets, and monitors) directly. New supply arrangements also allow for the purchase of video-conferencing products and services quickly and easily at competitive prices.
• High-performance computing: Upgrades to the high-performance computing environment through collaboration with customers led to better resolution of weather models to provide forecasts for local conditions, and the production of flood maps to coordinate spring flood relief efforts in Ontario and Quebec.
• Cyber and IT security: Initiatives under the Infrastructure Security Program, will minimize the impact to government operations and services to Canadians of any unauthorized access or misuse of Government of Canada networks and data. Work also continued on the expansion of the current Government of Canada Secret Infrastructure.
• Microsoft 365: Accelerating the deployment of the Microsoft 365 tool and rolling it out to 82,000 employees across 28 departments and agencies improved the ability of public servants to work from home at the onset of the pandemic.

Background

The Departmental Results Report informs parliamentarians and Canadians of the results achieved by Shared Services Canada for Canadians, and the resources used to achieve those results. A retrospective view is provided for 2019–20 against the plans, priorities and expected results that were set out in the Departmental Plan for the year. The Departmental Results Report is based on the Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory approved for 2019–20.

The 2019–20 Departmental Results Report focuses on Shared Services Canada’s contributions towards effectively moving digital government forward and coordinating a government-wide corporate approach to information technology.

Shared Services Canada delivered on responsibilities over the past year by providing modern, secure and reliable services to government organizations so they could deliver digital programs and services that Canadians need.

Issue

The key results reported in the TBS 2019–20 Departmental Results Report.

Key facts

• TBS sought to achieve 13 departmental results and measured its progress toward achieving those results using 31 indicators.
• All 31 departmental indicators (100%) have targets set.
• This objective included four main 2019–20 targeted results, including:
  • a target of 100% for government websites that deliver digital services to citizens securely, with an actual result of 57%, an increase over the previous year’s 44%
  • a target of 70% of Government of Canada priority services to be available online, with an actual result of 69%, down from 74% the previous year due to TBS use of more rigorous assessment standards
  • clients satisfied with the delivery of Government of Canada services (expressed as a score from 1 to 100); results are not available as the question was not asked during the year; results of the next survey are expected to be available by March 2022
  • at least an 80% target of priority services that meet service standards, with an actual result of 70%, compared to 69% the previous year
• In the guidance, tools and advice that TBS provides to departments, it will encourage them to set meaningful, comprehensive and transparent service standards and to review those standards regularly.

Response

• As the Minister of Digital Government, I lead the government’s digital transformation efforts with both the support of the Treasury Board Secretariat and Shared Services Canada.
• COVID‑19 has taught us all important lessons. While the pandemic struck shortly before the fiscal year’s end, the government’s unprecedented emergency response brought home just how important digital transformation is to our operations and the health and safety of citizens and businesses. It also showed us the importance of accelerating digital’s deployment and use.
• During the fiscal year itself, we moved towards this objective in a number of areas:
  • A key achievement was the introduction of the new Policy on Service and Digital. This policy sets out the direction for a transformation to a more seamless and secure digital government, solidly anchored in people-centred service design and delivery
  • We also launched “Notify,” a tool that allows departments to send notifications to people who use their services, at low cost and in just a few simple steps, so they’re kept informed and up to date
  • These are just two examples of the work we have accomplished in 2019–20 to foster the design and delivery of online services that Canadians need
  • Going forward, we continue working with departments to address Canadians’ immediate service and information needs and harness the energy and insights from our COVID‑19 response to further advance our digital transformation

Background

The TBS 2019–2020 Departmental Plan outlined 13 departmental results with 31 indicators to measure progress towards achieving those results. Of these indicators, targets were set for all 31 (100%) indicators.

As the Minister of Digital Government, efforts are made to lead the government’s digital transformation. In 2019–20, under the administrative leadership core responsibility, TBS aimed to achieve the following departmental result: government service delivery is digitally enabled and meets the needs of Canadians. In doing so, it focused on the following four performance indicators:

• Percentage of government websites that deliver digital services to citizens securely: The 2019–20 target was 100% and actual result was 57% of websites delivered digital services to citizens securely, an increase over the previous year’s 44%. The remaining websites are still using aging or outdated supporting infrastructure that need to be updated to fully support secure encryption. Departments are starting to implement cloud technology and to modernize their applications. TBS is providing support wherever required through implementation strategies, guidance, and communication material.
• Percentage of Government of Canada priority services available online: The 2019–20 target was 70% and actual result was 69% of priority services were available online, down from 74% the previous year. The result is lower this year because, as part of implementing the new Treasury Board Policy on Service and Digital, TBS is using more rigorous standards when assessing whether departments’ services are available online. TBS is working to improve this result by communicating with departments regularly and by providing up‑to‑date guidance and tools.
• Degree to which clients are satisfied with the delivery of Government of Canada services (expressed as a score from 1 to 100): The 2019–20 target was at least 60; however, the question was not asked during the year. Results of the next survey are expected to be available by March 2022.
• Percentage of priority services that meet service standards: The 2019–20 target was at least 80% and actual result was 70% of priority services met their service standard, compared to 69% the previous year. In the guidance, tools and advice that TBS provides to departments, it will encourage them to set meaningful, comprehensive and transparent service standards and to review those standards regularly.

Issue

How is cyber security addressed in the Government of Canada, including cyber threats that may pose a risk to government infrastructure, or when aimed at private enterprise?

Key facts

• TBS, SSC and CSE are the primary stakeholders with responsibility for ensuring the government’s cyber security posture is effective and continues to evolve.
• The RCMP is the primary investigative department on all cyber security incidents dealing with actual or suspected cybercrime of non-state origin on the government’s infrastructure.
• Each department has responsibilities under the TBS Policy on Service and Digital for specific aspects of cyber security.

Response

• Government of Canada departments and agencies have the responsibility to ensure cyber security risks are assessed and mitigated within their organization.
• Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, Shared Services Canada, and the Communications Security Establishment ensure the government’s cyber security posture is current and effective.
• We have robust systems and tools in place to monitor, detect and investigate potential threats, and we take active measures to address and neutralize these threats.
• The government will continuously work to enhance cyber security in Canada by preparing for all types of cyber incidents and how to respond to these threats to protect Canadians and their data.

Background

Issue

Networks and cyber security are the foundation of digital government and the basis for all Government of Canada services. In this age of technology, networks need to be strong, readily available, reliable, fast, appropriately secured and scalable based on our changing security needs.

Key facts

• Shared Services Canada is responsible for managing the security and network infrastructure for Shared Services Canada partners and clients. There are 50 wide area networks supported by Shared Services Canada, enabling communication for approximately 377,000 government users nationally and internationally;
• Shared Services Canada continuously evolves the network and security infrastructure. There currently are 16 strategic security projects; and
• Shared Services Canada collaborates with the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat for Cyber Security Event Management (incident prevention, detection and response).

Response

• The Government of Canada is continually updating its networks to leverage the latest security measures to better protect personal information, connect seamlessly to cloud and enterprise data centres, and move at a speed and scale that gives users the connectivity they need to do their work in today’s digital environment. Shared Services Canada has been consolidating a multitude of networks into a single common network while improving speed, reliability and security to support an increasing demand for digital services delivered to Canadians.
• The department works in close cooperation with Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and Communications Security Establishment Canada to align the Government of Canada’s network renewal with security standards that protect the information of Canadians.
• Shared Services Canada’s work to improve the Government of Canada network and cyber security can be highlighted through two service areas, Network Services (Wide Area Network) and management of necessary software upgrades (patch management).

Background

Annex A

The following key projects, activities and programs aim to solidify the Government of Canada’s information technology foundation by increasing network reliability and strengthening security.

Issue

In the context of the COVID‑19 pandemic and a large portion of the public service working from home, concerns have been raised regarding potential risks associated with security and information management.

Key facts

• In the early months of the COVID‑19 pandemic, many organizations limited remote network access to address the increased number of employees working remotely, with some organizations using third party collaboration tools like Zoom to carry out virtual meetings, as well as to share unclassified information and complete other work-related tasks.
• In her letters to the President of the Treasury Board on April 2, 2020, and April 28, 2020, the Information Commissioner of Canada reminded the Government of the importance of documenting decisions and proactively disclosing data during these extraordinary times.
• On May 5, the President of the Treasury Board and the Information Commissioner of Canada met to discuss the impacts of the COVID‑19 pandemic on access to information and information management in the Government of Canada.
• On June 3, the President sent a letter responding to the Information Commissioner’s recommendations shared on April 28, 2020, concerning the ATI system, recognizing the importance of adhering to best practices in information management and mentioning upcoming plans the GC has to better support information practices across government.
• TBS released an updated version of the Guideline on Service and Digital in November 2020 that provides organizations with the most current advice and guidance for the strategic management of information and data.

Response

• The government remains committed to managing information securely and effectively, in accordance with its sensitivity, while ensuring transparency, openness and accountability to Canadians.
• All public servants are expected to manage, secure, and document information according to legislative requirements and Treasury Board policies, whether working on-site, or remotely, and regardless of the tools they use.
• Tools, such as Zoom, that are publicly available can only be used for unclassified, non-sensitive discussions that would be otherwise permitted in an open, public setting. 
• We are currently reviewing and updating all information management (IM) policy instruments and identifying where new requirements are needed to ensure that we have the right set of rules in place for managing information in the digital age, whether working remotely or in the office.
• Robust systems and tools are in place to monitor, detect and investigate potential cyber-security threats, including information compromises that may result from working remotely.

Background

Government of Canada employees were reminded of the requirements to manage information securely and effectively in accordance with its sensitivity and all relevant policy and legislative requirements while working remotely. These requirements are set out in legislation, including the Library and Archives Act, as well as in Treasury Board policy instruments, including the Policy and Directive on Service and Digital, and the PGS, including the Directive on Security Management.

These requirements include the obligation of employees to document decisions and activities of business value. This includes information, regardless of medium or form, which is created or acquired because it enables and documents decision-making in support of programs, services and ongoing operations, or supports departmental reporting, performance and accountability requirements. Information of business value, no matter where it is created or collected, is required to be transferred to and stored in the appropriate organizational corporate repository.

Employees are also required to ensure the security and proper handling of sensitive information, consistent with the security categorization of the information, as outlined in the PGS instruments. This means respecting security markings, and making sure that appropriate tools, devices and methods are used to store, transmit, use and protect the information. In the case of third-party applications, such as Zoom and Google Drives, their use is acceptable for unclassified information. Employees have been reminded to use approved GC tools and services for collaboration and communication, such as Office 365, MS Teams, and GC Tools, wherever possible.

TBS released updated policy guidance in November 2020 that provides organizations with the most current advice and guidance for the strategic management of information and data.

TBS continues to provide guidance to organizations on information management and security. We released the guidance entitled Managing information while working remotely as well as a toolkit (accessible only on the Government of Canada network) to further guide employees in managing government information when working remotely. The toolkit has been updated regularly since its initial release to ensure it provides the most relevant and up-to-date guidance on managing information when working remotely.

Issue

Opportunistic cyber threat actors are taking advantage of Canadians’ heightened levels of concern around COVID‑19, trying to spread misinformation and mount scams on Canadians for money and private data.

Key facts

• TBS works closely with the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS) on cyber event management as part of the GC Cyber Security Emergency Management Plan.
• TBS has a key role as part of the Policy on Service and Digital for cyber security.
• TBS’s strategic oversight responsibilities include the assessment of government-wide program and service impact of cyber threats, vulnerabilities and security incidents to support government-wide reporting and prioritization.

Response

• The Government of Canada works continuously to help ensure that Canadians and their data are protected against cyber threats.
• We provide strategic oversight and direction in the GC cyber security event management process, ensuring that events are effectively coordinated across government to support decision-making and minimize potential impacts.
• We also play a crucial role in the Policy on Service and Digital for cyber security and work closely with the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security to make data, applications and systems secure for Canadians.
• We are continuously working to enhance cyber security in Canada by identifying cyber threats and vulnerabilities, and by preparing for and responding to all types of cyber incidents to better protect Canadians.

Background

COVID‑19 has presented cybercriminals and fraudsters with an effective lure to encourage victims to visit fake websites, open email attachments, and click on text message links. These emails typically impersonate health organizations and can pretend to be from the Government of Canada.

CSE’s Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, in coordination with industry partners, is taking action that is contributing to the removal of a number of fraudulent sites that have spoofed the Public Health Agency of Canada, Canada Revenue Agency, and the Canada Border Services Agency.

The Cyber Centre has also been working to protect the Government of Canada through continued monitoring of important GC programs against cyber threats (including CERB), enabling cyber security monitoring/defence for cloud usage across the GC and evaluating cloud applications, including for the Public Health Agency of Canada.

The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security has also shared advice and guidance to help clients make informed decisions when selecting, installing and using video-teleconferencing tools.

Cyber security tips for remote work were also issued to help inform and educate Canadians about how to stay safe online, particularly while many Canadians are working from home.

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) Canadian Shield:

• On April 23, 2020, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) announced the official launch of the CIRA Canadian Shield.
• The CIRA Canadian Shield is a free DNS firewall service that provides online privacy and security to individuals and families across Canada, based on defensive measures that have already been in place to protect the Government’s own systems.
• CIRA partnered with the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (Cyber Centre) to integrate its Canadian threat feed into Canadian Shield. No personally identifiable information (PII) of any kind is transmitted to the Cyber Centre as part of this process.

Issue

The Government of Canada’s response to a credential stuffing attack against the GCKey service.

Key facts

• A GCKey is a unique electronic credential issued by the Government of Canada for use with online government services. Canadians can use their GCKey as an ID. The GCKey platform itself was not compromised.
• In response to the attack, the government revoked 9,300 GCKey credentials and put in place measures to prevent further attempts to access its services with these compromised credentials. 
• As a result of forensic analysis of these cyber incidents, the CRA identified suspicious activities occurring between early July and August 15 on approximately 48,500 of the more than 14 million CRA user accounts. The CRA breach was separate from the GCKey breach.
• On August 31, a class action lawsuit was filed against the Crown in relation to the incident.

Response

• The Government of Canada, like every other government and private sector organization in the world, faces ongoing and persistent cyber threats, and has robust systems and tools in place to monitor, detect and investigate potential threats, and to neutralize threats when they occur.
• When the government became aware of this security incident in August, it took action to protect the integrity of the system by authorizing the revocation of all affected accounts, applying additional security mitigation measures and activating the Cyber Security Event Management Plan.
• The government is looking at additional security features such as multifactor authentication (MFA), where appropriate, to help Canadians protect their accounts; and is developing a long-term strategy for digital identity.
• We are cooperating with the Privacy Commissioner in his investigation of the credential stuffing attack on the GCKey, and we will support Canadians whose information was compromised. An investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and departments into who is behind the cyber attack along with the source of the compromised credentials is currently ongoing.

Background

On August 5, 2020, the Government of Canada was made aware of a credential stuffing attack against the GCKey service. The GCKey itself was not compromised and the credentials used did not originate from the service. Around the same time, a similar attack was mounted on the Canada Revenue Agency. This is a threat facing private and public sector organizations alike.

A credential stuffing attack involves a bad actor who uses usernames and passwords found online as a result of previous hacks of systems worldwide. Bad actors take advantage of the fact that many people reuse usernames and passwords across multiple accounts. They test credentials they find online to try and get access to all kinds of accounts any way they can.

Of the roughly 12 million active GCKey credentials in Canada, the passwords and usernames of just over 9,300 GCKey users were used by bad actors to access government services. The GCKey service itself was not compromised.

CRA identified suspicious activities occurring between early July and August 15, 2020, on approximately 48,500 of the more than 14 million CRA user accounts. This was separate from the GCKey attack.

The Government of Canada responded to the security incident by:

• authorizing the GCKey service provider to revoke all affected accounts immediately;
• ensuring the GCKey service provider applied additional security mitigation measures such as blocking IP addresses linked to bad actors and disabling direct access to the GCKey login website;
• activating the Cyber Security Event Management Plan, engaging the GCKey service provider, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and Shared Services Canada to coordinate effort with impacted departments to stop the attacks and communicate directly with the affected users; and
• engaging the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, on efforts to protect personal information.

Service Canada and CRA took additional safety measures to protect account holders by deactivating the compromised accounts, temporarily removing some online abilities, and adding additional security measures to the account sign-in process.

On August 15, 2020, an official statement to the public was issued with a follow-up statement on September 17, 2020.

On August 31, 2020, a proposed class proceeding was filed related to the unauthorized disclosure of the personal and financial information of thousands of Canadians from their online accounts with the Government of Canada Branded Credential Service (“GCKey”) and the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”).

• The information was disclosed to a third party during several cyber security incidents targeting GCKey and CRA accounts. The plaintiffs allege that the defendant was aware of cyber security concerns and was aware of vulnerabilities in its security software, both of which put at risk the personal and financial information contained in Class Members’ GCKey and CRA accounts.

The CRA is working with individuals affected by identity theft or fraud to help ensure they are not held liable for fraudulent claims and payments made by fraudsters using their account. Individuals whose accounts have been compromised will be offered credit protection services free of charge.

The government is looking at additional security features such as multifactor authentication (MFA), where appropriate, to help Canadians protect their accounts; and advancing efforts around digital identity. In Canada, pilots and projects are currently underway that allow users to log in with their provincial trusted digital identities to access federal government services in a timely and secure way.

The government also makes available, tools and resources to the public to assist them in protecting their personal information, for example Get Cyber Safe, Publications at the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security, and Slam the Scam.

Issue

Data security and the protection of personal information is paramount in Canada’s increasingly digitally enabled government. The Government of Canada is committed to protecting its data, information and information technology infrastructure so Canadians can rely on a secure, stable and resilient digital government.

Key facts

• At the Government of Canada, we have to be particularly vigilant to ensure the integrity of data and the protection of personal information.
• For instance, the Communications Security Establishment stops hundreds of millions of malicious activities every day. This includes reconnaissance scans, attempts to install malicious software, and attempts to access databases.
• Every month, Shared Services Canada Security Infrastructure blocks 13 billion malicious connections, and 70 million malicious emails via its layered protection.
• That’s 5,000 detected and dropped connections every single second. For every email arrived at the government’s Canada dot ca account, four other malicious emails have been filtered out by our email security infrastructure.
• The Privacy Act requires that government institutions protect Canadians’ personal information. TBS Privacy policies and guidelines support institutions to meet these obligations.
• Since 2019, TBS has been implementing a Privacy Breach Action Plan, which focuses on strengthening the prevention and management of privacy breaches across government.
• TBS issued the Interim Policy and related Directives on Privacy giving institutional heads the discretion to undertake a more condensed, but still rigorous, analysis of privacy considerations to ensure privacy is protected in the implementation of urgent COVID‑19 initiatives.
• Recent cyber attacks have highlighted the need to continue to protect personal information.

Response

• We are serious about the privacy and security of Canadians and are committed to safeguarding the information that we collect.
• Departments and agencies are required to conduct Privacy Impact Assessments on new or modified government programs that collect and use personal information and provide them to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat.
• Since 2019, TBS has also been implementing the Privacy Breach Action Plan, which focuses on strengthening the prevention and management of privacy breaches across government.
• By modernizing our legislative frameworks, we are ensuring privacy protection and data security are key considerations in Canada’s increasingly digitally enabled government.
• We are cooperating with the Privacy Commissioner in his investigation of the credential stuffing attack on Canadians’ GCKey accounts.

Background

The government has improved its enterprise capacity to detect and defend against cyber threats; centralized Internet access points; launched an enterprise security architecture program; and implemented a whole-of-government incident response plan.

To support the government’s urgent response, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat has issued an Interim Privacy Policy and related Directives concerning privacy protection.

The Interim Policy and related Directives give institutional heads the discretion to undertake a more condensed, but still rigorous, analysis of privacy considerations to ensure privacy is protected in the implementation of urgent COVID‑19 initiatives. These measures have succeeded in ensuring that privacy is protected as we move forward with the urgent benefits and supports that Canada needs to manage and respond to the pandemic.

The Office of the Chief Information Officer maintained regular contact with CIOs across the Government of Canada to coordinate the government’s response to COVID‑19 and the associated IT-related needs as well as assisting CIOs in filling their unmet staffing needs.

Shared Services Canada is the custodian of the largest portion of the government’s IT infrastructure. We work with other departments and agencies to help prevent cyber threats by protecting the government’s networks and information.

Shared Services Canada has adopted a Project Governance Framework to manage IT projects. This ensures that privacy and security are considered at each stage of the Project to decrease risks and effectively implement security controls in IT systems and services. At Shared Services Canada, we validate the security controls in place for all infrastructure through the Security Assessment and Authorization process and we use Privacy Impact Assessments to validate that the appropriate privacy safeguards are implemented and functioning, as intended.

Issue

Shared Services Canada is working on projects to allow public servants nationwide to work and interact in more connected ways using modern and accessible digital collaboration tools, including integrated email, instant messaging, enterprise-wide social networks, and video and audio conferencing.

Key facts

• To help the Government of Canada continue its work amid the COVID‑19 crisis, the Government of Canada has adopted Microsoft Office 365 to immediately support digital communications and collaboration.
• This collaboration service was launched on March 15, 2020, to help resolve pressures on the Government of Canada network. The system will be decommissioned at the end of December 2020. Most departments have moved their users into their own departmental systems, the remainder will be completely moved away from the Collaboration System by year end.
• Efforts are underway to ensure each department and agency has access to their own standalone Microsoft Office 365 cloud environment to support work and collaboration up to and including Protected B using Government of Canada–issued and managed endpoint devices.
• Under the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement, Shared Services Canada will be able to provide all federal departments with Microsoft Office 365. Shared Services Canada is currently preparing the infrastructure required to support the implementation of Microsoft Office 365 in the cloud for 43 Government of Canada departments and agencies.
• This new Digital Communications and Collaboration Service will provide:
  • The ability to work securely (up to Protected B) from anywhere, with agility, flexibility of service delivery and increased security;
  • Access to a core set of tools to provide a better user experience;
  • Access to communication tools beyond email to improve employee mobility; and
  • Accessibility from the onset with software features that support inclusivity.

Response

• Shared Services Canada is expanding the digital communications tools and services available to Government of Canada employees.
• Email and other types of digital communications tools enable Government of Canada employees to collaborate effectively and better serve Canadians in today’s online environment.
• Microsoft Office 365 is a suite of tools that enables new levels of efficiency, innovation and collaboration via the cloud. Through Microsoft 365 applications like Teams, public servants nationwide are enabled to work and interact in more connected ways. Nationwide, public servants will be able to work in more connected ways using integrated email, instant messaging, enterprise-wide social networks, video conferencing, web applications, digital collaboration tools and more.
• A temporary Government of Canada COVID Collaboration System (using a standalone Microsoft Office 365 environment) supported any federal employees’ unclassified work and collaboration, when departments and agencies requested access. This service was launched on March 15, 2020, to help resolve pressures on the Government of Canada network. The system will be decommissioned at the end of December 2020. Most departments have moved their users into their own departmental systems, the remainder will be completely moved away from the Collaboration System by year end.

Background

Shared Services Canada is preparing the infrastructure required to support the implementation of Microsoft Office 365 in the cloud for 43 Government of Canada departments and agencies. Shared Services Canada aligns with the Government of Canada’s digital vision of enabling delivery of services anytime, anywhere, and from any government device and supports the SSC 3.0 approach of:

• solidifying the IT foundation by increasing network reliability and strengthening security
• modernizing collaboration tools to enable, engage, and empower employees
• adopting cloud and modern data centres to improve reliability and reduce risk

The new Digital Communications and Collaboration project is working closely with other Government of Canada departments such as the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, Public Services and Procurement Canada, and the Communications Security Establishment. Together, they will ensure that the Government of Canada operates as one to the benefit of all Canadians.

This new Digital Communications and Collaboration Service will provide:

• the ability to work securely (up to Protected B) from anywhere, with agility, flexibility of service delivery and increased security
• access to a core set of tools to provide a better user experience
• access to communication tools beyond email to improve employee mobility
• accessibility from the onset with software features that support inclusivity

Under the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement, Shared Services Canada will be able to provide all federal departments with Microsoft Office 365. Public servants will be able to use software that is more inclusive from the start due to built-in accessibility features. The Microsoft Enterprise Agreement will cover getting:

• digital communication and collaboration tools
• business and network applications
• ongoing support
• maintenance for licensed services

Microsoft Office 365 will enable greater efficiency and collaboration with the latest office productivity technologies. For example:

• Inspectors and scientists working in the field using a tablet and a cell phone will be able to access the same suite of products to work on shared documents with colleagues back at the office.
• Members of a nation-wide working group will be able to collaborate on a project and keep a running log of conversations regardless of the difference in time zones.
• A public servant who uses assistive technology to communicate with team members will be able to take advantage of built-in accessibility functions to get captioning of a web-casted meeting in another city.

Issue

Shared Services Canada’s customer departments continue to manage many of their own applications. These applications are often aging and require constant maintenance. Shared Services Canada is working with customer departments to identify risks and mitigate service disruptions.

Key facts

• Some of the key projects and programs being undertaken by the department with regard to information technology systems and application health include:
  • modern cloud solutions;
  • migration of critical applications to more stable hosting environments; and
  • updating obsolete operating systems such as Microsoft Windows and various Linux/Unix server technologies, where the operating system is no longer supported by the vendors.

Response

• While Shared Services Canada manages a significant portion of the Government of Canada’s information technology infrastructure, departments continue to manage many of their own applications.
• These applications – roughly 12,000 across the Government of Canada – are critical in delivering services to Canadians.
• The health of this portfolio of applications is assessed annually based on the business value, technical condition, funding condition and criticality of the applications.
• SSC provides core services to departments and agencies by assessing application and data health. TBS provides departments and agencies with assistance in acquiring the expertise to accelerate their readiness to modernize their applications, as well as building tools and processes to monitor application performance and help manage the GC’s portfolio of applications as a whole.
• Over the last three years, the overall health of the application portfolio has increased from 28% to 35% which is progress, but the GC needs to continue this trend of improvement.
• The state of these applications varies greatly, and attention must be given in priority to those relying on legacy information technology infrastructure.
• Shared Services Canada is working with client departments to identify risks associated with these applications, and the information technology infrastructure that hosts them, in order to mitigate potential service disruptions.
• Wherever possible, Shared Services Canada is supporting departments as they look to migrate their critical applications to more modern infrastructure available either through cloud-based solutions or Government of Canada enterprise data centres where cloud isn’t feasible.
• The government has indicated that it intends to make generational investments in updating outdated IT systems to modernize the way GC services are delivered.
• With sustained investments in Information Technology infrastructure and a prioritization of systems at risk, it is expected that the GC application health will continue to improve.

Background

Some of the most critical projects being undertaken by Shared Services Canada to resolve these issues can be found below. A list of other ongoing and planned projects related to application health can be found in the Annex following this section.

Annex

The following key projects and programs aim to ensure the reliability and security of information technology systems and applications. They will also enable Shared Services Canada to work with customers to determine the best hosting solutions – whether cloud or enterprise data centres.

Workload migration of customer departments

The following departments are currently in the scope of active WLM projects, from pre-planning to implementation activities:

• Canadian Food Inspection Agency
• Canada School of Public Service
• Canada Revenue Agency and Canada Border Services Agency
• Correctional Services Canada
• Department of National Defence
• Employment and Social Development Canada
• Environment and Climate Change Canada
• FINTRAC
• Health Canada
• Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
• Natural Resources Canada
• Public Service Commission
• Public Services and Procurement Canada
• Statistics Canada
• The Privy Council Office
• Transport Canada

Issue

An overview of the major federal government information technology projects included in the Main Estimates for 2020–21 is provided.

Key facts

• Shared Services Canada is accountable for the delivery of 31 projects for the Government of Canada, nine of which are considered major information technology projects
• In addition, Shared Services Canada supports partner departments in the delivery of 31 projects, two of which are considered major information technology projects

Response

• Shared Services Canada delivers projects to provide modern, reliable and secure information technology infrastructure in support of government priorities and digital delivery of programs and services to Canadians.

Background

The government is committed to building a modern, secure, and reliable platform for the digital delivery of programs and services to Canadians.

The scale, scope, and complexity of the modernization Shared Services Canada is implementing is unprecedented across governments, and the department needs to have the tools and support to do the job that needs to be done.

Shared Services Canada works closely with its customers on the implementation of information technology projects, to ensure uninterrupted program and service delivery to Canadians with a focus on current priorities.

All projects are carefully monitored through rigorous governance throughout their implementation and corrective actions and mitigation strategies are reviewed with senior management on a regular basis.

Issue

Shared Services Canada is accelerating Government of Canada cloud adoption in support of the Government of Canada’s response to COVID‑19 and workload modernization.

Key facts

• Shared Services Canada provides the Government of Canada with access to commercially available cloud services for unclassified and Protected B data.
• As the government cloud services broker, Shared Services Canada helps departments choose the public cloud services for their business needs.
• By adopting cloud computing, the Government of Canada is able to better support a digitally enabled workforce and digital services for Canadians, particularly during this critical pandemic period.
• The Government of Canada has policies in place that enforce where data resides (residency) and how it is controlled (sovereignty).
• Shared Services Canada monitors compliance to Government of Canada specified security requirements to ensure they are implemented and remain in place.
• The Government of Canada will not award contracts unless all of the security requirements are met.
• Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat was the first department that Shared Services Canada supported in successfully migrating all of their suitable application workloads to the cloud by developing pioneering solutions for migration, transformation, authentication, authorization and cloud-to-ground connectivity.
• In March 2020, Shared Services Canada established the Microsoft 365 Government of Canada COVID Collaboration System to enable communication and collaboration with Government of Canada departments and agencies on an unclassified platform, and alleviate pressures on the Government of Canada network. The system was planned for a six-month duration and was decommissioned on September 17, 2020.
• Government of Canada departments are accelerating the deployment of their departmental M365 tenants, which enables Teams and OneDrive in a Protected B environment. Shared Services Canada is providing transitional support to seven Government of Canada organizations who required an extension beyond the September decommission date.

Response

• Cloud adoption presents great opportunities for better serving Canadians through agility, elasticity, improved service levels, and enhanced security. Cloud enables rapid provisioning of secure computing resources, which can expand and shrink with the level of demand, resulting in timely, modern and secure core IT systems that will enhance service delivery to Canadians.
• Shared Services Canada and departments are working together on new initiatives to further advance cloud adoption, standardize support, improve processes and service levels and enhance security.
• Shared Services Canada is enabling departments to securely transition applications to the cloud for better availability and performance. The workloads currently hosted in traditional data centres are being assessed to determine the best way to prepare them for modernization and migration to the cloud.
• Shared Services Canada provides departments with access to cloud services through its Cloud Brokering Service. As of September 30, 2020, this fiscal year, Shared Services Canada has fulfilled $19.1 million of cloud requests across the Government of Canada.
• The cloud’s agility, rapidity, and reliability allowed Shared Services Canada and departments to provide Canadians with immediate access to critical assistance and public health information during the unprecedented COVID‑19 situation.
• In a time where collaboration between government departments, agencies and Canadians has never been more important, Shared Services Canada continues to enable departments to meet their COVID‑19 related requirements.
• Shared Services Canada has been instrumental in configuring cloud-hosted collaboration tools to enable public service employees to seamlessly transition to a virtual workplace in response to the COVID‑19 pandemic.

Background

Shared Services Canada provides the Government of Canada with access to commercially available cloud services for unclassified and Protected B data.

As the government cloud services broker, Shared Services Canada helps departments choose the public cloud services for their business needs.

By adopting cloud computing, the Government of Canada will be able to better support a digitally enabled workforce and digital services for Canadians, particularly during this critical pandemic period.

Issue

Shared Services Canada is modernizing the Government of Canada’s procurement practices, making them more inclusive, simple, seamless and digitally enabled and more supportive of economic policy goals – including those focused on the environment and accessibility for underrepresented socio-economic groups.

Key facts

• SSC is currently testing an agile contracting framework (Procurement Process 3.0) that includes multiple innovative mechanisms.
• SSC collaborated with TECHNATION in three pilots which resulted in improved vendor outreach and the validation of the innovative engagement model.
• Pilot results show that:
  • SSC and vendors, working collaboratively, were able to finalize the elaboration of the technical requirement within less than four months.
  • 75% of the bidders that bid on Pilots 1 and 2 were small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or a joint venture that contains at least one SME.
  • For Pilot 1, more than 80% of respondents who participated in the Invitation to Refine (ItR) sessions (our innovative engagement model) found SSC’s responses timely.
  • 100% of respondents found the communication from SSC transparent and indicated they would like to participate in ItR sessions on future procurements.

Response

• To address systemic procurement issues, SSC is currently testing an innovative contracting framework, Procurement Process 3.0, across the procurement ecosystem to support simplification, efficiency, competition, openness, transparency, and ultimately, to produce better results.
• Under Procurement Process 3.0, SSC and TECHNATION have tested a new more dynamic and transparent way of collaborating with vendors that is called the “True Collaboration Process.”
• The Digital Marketplace enabled outreach with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that may have the required capacity to perform in accordance with the requirements of the resulting contract. Results of various consultation and submission processes showcase the effectiveness of collaborating with TECHNATION on two procurement pilots for IT Solutions to date.
• SSC implemented a Fairness and Transparency Platform under PP3.0.
• Agile procurement represents an opportunity to invent and test new socio-economic measures and with the support of a working group of vendors, SSC has piloted several of these to date. SSC engages with associations representing indigenous persons, SMEs, women, and other underrepresented groups.
• All challenged-based solicitations include measures to improve access to underrepresented groups such as: open participation to Invitations to Refine (our innovative engagement model), set-aside spots for demo-ing their technology, set-aside contracts to underrepresented groups for prototypes, and incentives for prime contractors to integrate SMEs.
• From Pilot 1 (Integrated Business Glossary – IBG) concerning the Invitation to Refine (ItR) and the way SSC engaged with bidders:
  • 80% of respondents who participated in the IBG ItR process found SSC’s responses timely.
  • ​100% of respondents indicated they would like to participate in ItR sessions on future procurements.
  • ​89% of respondents found the use of a Slido questionnaire as part of the ItR session efficient.
  • ​90% of respondents were satisfied with how well SSC explained its treatment of their feedback.
• 75% of the bidders that bid on Pilots 1 and 2 were SMEs or a joint venture that contains at least one SME.

Background

In modernizing procurement, SSC aims to:

• shorten the length of time and level of effort required to develop a solicitation
• improve expected results of contracts
• introduce flexibility by allowing course correction during the procurement process
• shorten and lessen complexity of tender documents
• better access for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to Government of Canada procurement activities

Procurement Process 3.0 relies on:

• collaboration with vendors to finalize the technical requirements
• simplified bid submission processes where bids take the form of presentations
• concurrent prototype contracts to make the choice of the solution to be deployed based on tangible results

Issue

Shared Services Canada’s procurement processes for information technology products and services are transparent, open and fair.

Key facts

• In fiscal year 2019–20, 79% of Shared Services Canada–funded contracts (or 2,246 contracts) were awarded to small and medium enterprises, valued at approximately $877 million.
• Of all contracts awarded to SMEs in fiscal year 2019–20, 98% of the total number and 97% of the total value were awarded to Canadian small and medium enterprises.
• Shared Services Canada also awarded 117 contracts valued at approximately $35.8 million to Indigenous businesses in calendar year 2019.
• For all the Shared Services Canada–funded contracts, the department executed procurement processes for a total of $1.3 billion in fiscal year 2019–20. Of these:
  • Our total spend was 87% in competitive procurement, amounting to a total of roughly $1.13 billion.
  • Our total spend was 13% in non-competitive procurement, amounting to a total spend of roughly $170 million.

Response

• Shared Services Canada follows the Treasury Board’s Contracting Policy, making sure that procurement processes increase access, competition and fairness, and result in best value for Canadians.
• Shared Services Canada meets its obligations under the various international trade agreements to which Canada is a party.
• Shared Services Canada is actively working with industry to make procurement simpler, faster and less administratively burdensome for businesses working with the federal government.
• Shared Services Canada has a significant amount of buying power and where we can we want to make sure we do everything possible to reduce the barriers to entry for small and medium-sized enterprises, companies run by women, Indigenous Canadians, persons of colour, and other underrepresented groups.

Background

Issue

On June 18, 2020, the Prime Minister announced a national exposure notification app that uses technology designed by Google and Apple. On July 31, 2020, the Prime Minister of Canada and the Premier of Ontario announced that the app, COVID Alert, was available for download.

Key facts

• COVID Alert, a national exposure notification app, was announced June 18, 2020. It was launched July 31, after approximately 45 days of design and development efforts.
• As of November 17, COVID Alert has been downloaded over 5.3 million times, with 5,145 one-time keys claimed in the app across eight provinces.
• COVID Alert was developed by the Canadian Digital Service, using open source code developed by volunteers from Shopify, as well as Bluetooth exposure notification technology co-developed by Apple and Google. It received security reviews from the Office of the Chief Information Officer at the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and BlackBerry.
• On October 30, an update was introduced to send notifications based on a more precise timeline. With this update, users who have tested positive for COVID‑19 and have entered a one-time key from their respective public health authority will now have the option to enter the date of their symptom onset or their testing date.
• Engagement with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) began June 11, led by Health Canada. Draft recommendations were received from the OPC on July 10 and acted upon in subsequent weeks.

Response

• The Government of Canada, in collaboration with provinces and territories and the private sector, has developed a new nation-wide mobile app to let users know if they may have been exposed to COVID‑19.
• Since launching in July, it has been downloaded over 5.3 million times, with over 5,000 one-time keys entered into the app by users after receiving a positive diagnosis, across the eight provinces where the app is currently fully functional.
• The full functionality of the app is expected to launch in the Northwest Territories in the coming days.
• The app uses strong measures to protect the privacy and confidentiality of any data it collects. Unlike traditional contact tracing, the exposure notification app does not track a user’s location or collect personally identifiable information.
• After consultations with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC), our government acted on the Commissioner’s recommendations.
• Our government cyber security experts have been involved in the development of the app along with the Government of Ontario and BlackBerry to ensure that the system has been designed, built, and deployed securely.

Background

In partnership with Health Canada, the Canadian Digital Service (CDS) designed and developed the COVID Alert app. It provides exposure notifications to Canadians, to help them understand when they may have been exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID‑19.

Exposure notification uses Bluetooth technology via an application that is downloaded to mobile devices. This is different from conventional contact tracing done by public health officials, a manual process requiring extensive personal information.

On October 30, the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Health, and the Honourable Joyce Murray, Minister of Digital Government, announced an update to the app to send notifications based on a more precise timeline. With this update, users who have tested positive for COVID‑19 and have entered a one-time key from their respective public health authority will now have the option to enter the date of their symptom onset or their testing date. This will provide a better estimation of the period when they may have been most infectious to others.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) was consulted during the development of COVID Alert.

TBS, Health Canada, and other involved departments acted on the OPC’s recommendations. These included several changes to the privacy language in the COVID Alert app, to better enable meaningful, informed consent.

TBS and Health Canada continue to consult with the OPC on any changes to the app.

The app was launched July 31 and is available nationwide. Eight provinces are onboarded and using the app to its full functionality by distributing one-time keys necessary for people to upload their random codes when they receive a positive diagnosis of COVID‑19. Conversations and efforts continue with remaining provinces and territories (Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories, Yukon) to bring their health care systems onboard as soon as possible. Outreach is also ongoing to Indigenous communities in collaboration with Health Canada and Indigenous Services Canada, including to the Assembly of First Nations’ Chiefs Committee on Health and First Nations Health Managers Association.

The Canadian Digital Service (CDS) is a team within the Treasury Board Secretariat, with the mission to change government to serve people better. CDS helps federal departments make public services faster, easier to use, and more reliable and secure.

Issue

How did Shared Services Canada (SSC) support IT capacity during the COVID‑19 pandemic for departments and agencies in the Government of Canada (GC)?

Key facts

Response

Providing tools needed by public servants to deliver services to Canadians is critical. This enables work to be performed remotely such as from home, and to operate from anywhere in Canada.

• Having reliable, flexible, scalable technology enables government departments and agencies to adapt their services, support their teams, and implement responsive measures in a time of crisis.
• Shared Services Canada provided reliable, secure IT infrastructure and telecommunications services to Government of Canada departments and agencies delivering critical services to Canadians during the pandemic.
• We worked diligently to support departments in ensuring that, despite the increased demand, Canadians received seamless services from the federal government.
• For example, we worked with the Canada Revenue Agency and Employment and Social Development Canada to help launch the new Canada Emergency Response Benefit and Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy.
• SSC has also worked with key departments to set up new call centres and toll-free lines, including:
  • Global Affairs Canada for Canadians overseas trying to return home to Canada and to respond to travel-related enquiries
  • Public Services and Procurement Canada for the procurement of personal protective equipment and medical supplies to support health care workers

Background

How are we working with other departments during this pandemic?

• SSC plays an important role in ensuring critical services for Canadians remain operational during emergency events.
• We are working in close collaboration with the COVID‑19 GC lead – Public Safety under the Federal Emergency Response Plan (FERP) – and our GC partners.

Supporting the CERB and CEWS

• We worked with CRA and ESDC to help launch the new Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS).
• We continue to work with ESDC and CRA to provide recommendations and remediation to support critical new and enhanced federal benefits for Canadians.
• SSC provided the IT infrastructure CRA needed for its MyAccount application to handle the more than 15 million CERB applications received to date.

Issue

How did SSC support Government employees working from home during the pandemic?

Key facts

Response

• SSC is responsible for providing reliable, secure IT infrastructure and telecommunications to the Government of Canada organizations delivering critical services directly to Canadians. This includes email and workplace technologies, telecommunications, data centre services, and cyber and IT security.
• We have enabled GC employees to access their digital workspaces anywhere, anytime, by:
  • more than doubling the government’s secure network capabilities so that more public servants than ever before are equipped to access networks and systems while teleworking
  • increasing Internet bandwidth to the Government of Canada by 50% to 60 GBps,
• We have also supported collaboration from home offices around the country by:
  • tripling capacity for teleconferencing to 5 million minutes per day (up from 1.6 million minutes per day)
  • providing more than 187,000 GC employees in 40 departments with access to MS Teams and M365 which is helping them be productive in their remote work,
  • increasing Webex video capacity from 20,000 total accounts to 40,000
  • providing mobile Internet for more than 1,000 federal first responders across Canada
  • enabling Wi-Fi calling for 183,000 mobile accounts across Canada
  • provisioning thousands of devices (laptops, tablets, phones) to address emergency requirements and support of critical Government of Canada services

Background

How many public servants can work remotely over VPN?

• The GC now has Secure Remote Access (SRA) capacity for more than 284,000 simultaneous connections. This is more than double the capacity from the beginning of 2020.
• We continue to work with private sector vendors on expanding SRA capacity to support remote work.
• In addition to increased network capacity, our GC partners are taking action to limit non-critical network usage and reduce non-critical activities. Departments are responsible for determining what activities are deemed critical in order to meet their business objectives.

Is the delivery of online services to Canadians affected by the COVID‑19 pandemic?

• Yes. The COVID‑19 pandemic has led to more Canadians accessing services online than ever before.
• Additionally, new services and benefits, such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, have placed an increased demand on GC networks.
• Our role has been to work with our GC partners to ensure they have the infrastructure they need to continue delivering online services to Canadians.

Issue

The Government of Canada is accelerating its digital transformation in response to the COVID‑19 pandemic. This year, Shared Services Canada (SSC) and the Canadian Digital Service (CDS) rolled out digital supports to enable Canada’s pandemic response.

Key facts

Response

• In mounting our response to the COVID‑19 pandemic, we have accelerated our digital transformation and strengthening the foundation for a more open, user-centred, and resilient digital government.
• The Canadian Digital Service and Shared Services Canada are helping Canada respond to the COVID‑19 crisis by working with departments, other jurisdictions, and sectors to build new open source tools and services and leverage existing ones.
• The amount of information from different sources on COVID‑19 can be overwhelming, and as such, we launched “Get updates on COVID‑19” using GC Notify in May 2020.
• Over three million messages have now been sent, keeping subscribers informed and up to date on COVID‑19 health guidance and government programs.
• Another new service is “Find financial help during COVID‑19,” an anonymous, web-based benefits finder tool developed by the CDS, with Employment and Social Development Canada.
• “Find financial help during COVID‑19,” ensures Canadians can get accurate and secure information about the range of benefits programs they can access, to get the help they need as quickly and easily as possible.

Background

To support the influx of inquiries from Canadians during the crisis period, Shared Services Canada worked with our partners (IBM and Rogers) to add capacity on the Hosted Contact Centre System. Shared Services Canada continues to work with vendors to secure their help during incidents and to address any future capacity requirement.

The Canadian Digital Service (CDS) helps federal departments make public services faster, easier to use, more reliable and secure.

CDS supports departments in two ways: through direct partnership, delivering on a specific service; and through its platforms, including GC Notify, which allow departments to rapidly roll out their own services.

The “Find financial help during COVID‑19” service was developed by the CDS, in partnership with Employment and Social Development Canada. It is a web-based benefits finder, where Canadians anonymously answer a few simple questions and are presented with a personalized list of financial benefits related to COVID‑19 that could be available to them, based on their specific circumstances.

“Find financial help during COVID‑19” is open source, meaning that the code is available for other jurisdictions to use to develop their own benefits finder.

The Canadian Digital Service launched GC Notify in November 2019. There are currently 62 services using GC Notify, at both federal and provincial levels. Over 5.8 million notifications have been sent through the platform.

GC Notify is free for government departments to set up, designed to be highly scalable, and can be integrated into existing services, in as little as two days. It helps government departments serve Canadians more effectively, while reducing costs.

The service is built on cloud infrastructure, with 24/7 monitoring and support from CDS. GC Notify is open source and was built using open source code from the GOV.UK Notify service, which was created by the Government Digital Service in the UK. CDS adapted the code to fit the Canadian context, for example by building in the ability for the service to operate in both official languages

Issue

Update on the Next Generation HR and Pay Initiative

Key facts

• In June 2019, following an innovative and agile procurement process, the government announced it had selected Ceridian, SAP, and Workday as the qualified vendors for the Next Generation solution.
• 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, the government announced that SAP had been selected to work with our team on a pilot for a new Human Resources and Pay solution.
• The NextGen team at SSC has engaged SAP on a series of discussions to assess organizational capacity and readiness to work on NextGen under the current COVID‑19 circumstances.
• On October 14, 2020, the selection of the Department of Canadian Heritage for the first exploratory phase of the Next Generation HR and Pay project was announced. The exploratory phase is expected to last approximately six months; however, this timeframe could be shortened or lengthened depending on the findings.

Response

• We continue to work towards a long-term and sustainable HR and pay solution to meet the diverse needs of federal employees across Canada.
• The government has committed $117 million to co-design and deliver pilot projects to test solutions against the real complexity of federal government HR and pay needs.
• In March 2020, the Government of Canada announced SAP as the vendor selected to begin exploratory work on a new Human Resources and Pay solution.
• Effective April 1, 2020, leadership for NextGen was transitioned from Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat to Shared Services Canada because of its expertise and experience in the delivery of enterprise solutions.
• The Chief Human Resources Officer at Treasury Board Secretariat remains the Business Owner and a key collaborator of the NextGen initiative.
• The Department of Canadian Heritage has been selected for the first exploratory phase of the NextGen project.
• The NextGen team will work collaboratively with Canadian Heritage and SAP to test solutions for a reliable, integrated HR and pay solution for the Government of Canada while keeping the people who will be using this new system at the core of our mandate.
• Knowledge and results from this phase will help inform and define the way forward.
• Employees’ pay will not be affected. The exploratory phase will take place in a controlled environment that is separate from Phoenix.
• This important work continues under the current COVID‑19 circumstances.

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.

Last summer, 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.

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 first exploratory phase of the Next Generation HR and Pay project was announced.

The government will work with the selected vendor (SAP) and the Department of Canadian Heritage to develop a business case, privacy impact assessment, change management and other planning considerations to learn how a future HR and pay solution can integrate information from multiple compensation-related HR systems.

Canadian Heritage was selected as the first 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.

The exploratory phase will not affect employees’ pay. It will occur in a controlled environment that is separate from Phoenix. 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.

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