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Section II - ANALYSIS OF PROGRAM ACTIVITIES BY STRATEGIC OUTCOME

Introduction

This section of the report provides information about PWGSC’s program activities. These program activities are organized by our two strategic outcomes to provide quality services in support of government operations and sound stewardship of its assets.

Quality Services: PWGSC delivers common, central and shared services to federal departments in support of government operations. In addition to supporting departments directly, we use economies of scale and specialized expertise to generate efficiencies and improve government-wide performance for the benefit of Canadians.

Sound Stewardship: PWGSC safeguards the assets entrusted to us, including the skills and knowledge of our employees, as well as our physical infrastructure and systems. In doing so, we maintain and grow our capacity to provide services into the future.


PWGSC – Program Activity Architecture
Strategic Outcome Quality Services (16 Program Activities) Strategic Outcome Sound Stewardship (10 Program Activities)
  • Federal Accommodation and Holdings
  • Real Property Services Revolving Fund
  • Real Property Disposition Revolving Fund
  • Real Property Stewardship
  • Acquisition Services
  • Optional Services Revolving Fund
  • Defence Production Revolving Fund
  • Supply Operations Stewardship
  • IM/IT Services
  • Telecommunications Services Revolving Fund
  • IM/IT Stewardship
  • Receiver General Services
  • Public Service Compensation Services
  • Receiver General Stewardship
  • Public Service Pay Stewardship
  • Public Service Pension Stewardship
  • Government Information Services
  • Government Information Stewardship
  • Business Integration Services
  • Business Integration Performance
  • Consulting and Audit Canada Revolving Fund
 
  • Translation and Interpretation to Parliament, Conference Interpretation, Terminology
  • Translation Bureau Revolving Fund
  • Translation Stewardship
  • Office of Greening Government Operations Services
  • Office of Greening Government Operations Stewardship

Note: The Program Activities of Corporate Management and Business Integration Client Relations Management are not shown in the table above because, for Treasury Board Secretariat's financial reporting purposes, their costs have been re-allocated to the other Program Activities as departmental overheads.

To better reflect the PWGSC approach to service delivery and organizational structure, our program activities have been grouped to highlight our key service areas:

  • Real Property;
  • Acquisitions;
  • Information Technology;
  • Receiver General and Public Service Compensation;
  • Consulting, Information and Shared Services;
  • Business Integration;
  • Special Operating Agencies
    • Consulting and Audit Canada
    • Translation Bureau;
  • Greening Government Operations; and
  • Corporate Management.

In each of the subsections which follow, our performance over the past year is presented by the strategic priorities the department pursued in 2006-2007, as well as by our long-term and enduring program activities.

In 2006-2007, there were a number of organizational changes throughout the department; however, this report is structured to respond as directly as possible to the commitments made in our 2006-2007 Report on Plans and Priorities. Where programs have been ended or activities reassigned, the changes are clearly identified at the outset of each of the subsections, which follow.

REAL PROPERTY

PWGSC provides departments and agencies with office and common use accommodation and acts as a steward for various engineered public works such as bridges and dams, and national treasures such as the Parliamentary Precinct and other heritage assets across Canada.

PWGSC also provides other federal departments and agencies with expert professional and technical services. These cover the areas of architecture, engineering, environment and real estate, as well as asset and facilities management for the acquisition, development, construction, management, operation, maintenance, repair and disposal of real property.

On behalf of the federal government, PWGSC administers the Payments in Lieu of Taxes Program to local taxing authorities, and the Real Property Disposition Revolving Fund, which facilitates the disposal of properties surplus to government requirements.

Real Property supports PWGSC's two strategic outcomes through four program activities:

Quality Services

  • Federal Accommodation and Holdings;
  • Real Property Services Revolving Fund;
  • Real Property Disposition Revolving Fund; and

Sound Stewardship

  • Real Property Stewardship

The expenditures and actual results for 2006-2007 for the above program activities are summarized at the end of this Real Property section.


Key Facts*

  • Managed, as custodian, $7 billion worth of federal real property.
  • Managed 6.8 million square metres of rentable space including:
    • 3.4 million square metres of Crown-owned space;
    • 2.9 million square metres of leased space; and
    • 0.5 million square metres of lease purchase space.
  • Provided accommodation to 241,000 federal employees in 105 departments and agencies in about 1,800 locations across Canada.
  • Administered annual payments of more than $460 million under the Payments in Lieu of Taxes Program to approximately 1,300 local taxing authorities.
 * Source: PWGSC databases

 

Performance by 2006-2007 Priorities

The strategic change and improvement initiatives impacting the results of our program activities are presented by the PWGSC strategic priorities, as follows:

  • Transforming our Business;
  • Strengthening Accountability and Transparency;
  • Delivering Projects of National Importance; and
  • Supporting the Government's Strategic Agenda.

Transforming our Business

Our business transformation initiatives are primarily related to the following program activities: Federal Accommodation and Holdings and Real Property Services Revolving Fund.

Real Estate Study

In September 2006, BMO Capital Markets Real Estate Group and RBC Capital Markets Real Estate Group Inc. were hired to study 40 Crown-owned assets and a broad range of options to determine the most cost-effective and efficient ways to accommodate federal government departments. In March 2007, the Government of Canada announced it was moving forward on the first step in a two-step process for the possible sale-leaseback of nine federal government office properties. This would result in long-term positive benefits by:

  • transferring ownership risk for major building capital costs to the private sector;
  • ensuring the buildings are properly maintained;
  • increasing the transparency and predictability of accommodation costs; and,
  • providing lease conditions favourable to the Crown.

A review of the top bid by Deutsche Bank clearly demonstrated that the transaction was fair, from a financial point of view, to the Crown. The firm also found the marketing process had been robust and thorough, and endorsed the top bidder.

On August 20, 2007, the Government of Canada announced that it had entered into an agreement for the sale of nine office buildings and their subsequent lease-back $1.6 billion. The impact of this agreement, once finalized, will be reflected in the 2007-2008 financial statements.

For more information on PWGSC's Real Estate Study see:

http://www.pwgsc.gc.ca/text/buildings/index-e.html.

Real Property Renewal - Savings

In 2006-2007, we tracked $134 million of efficiencies within PWGSC’s Real Property Branch and $17 million attributable to organizations that reimburse PWGSC for services and accommodation, for a total of $151 million against a target of $150 million. These results were achieved through the rigorous application of accommodation standards, improved inventory management, and the maintenance of overhead efficiencies.

Rigorous Application of Accommodation Standards: PWGSC consistently applied space and fit-up standards and optimized space utilization to bring government occupancies more in line with private sector norms. The aim is to reduce the average space per Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) to 18 rentable square metres by 2009-2010. In 2006-2007, the average space per FTE employee was 19.7 rentable square metres, a reduction of 1.7 rentable square metres per FTE from the previous year. We identified efficiencies of $71 million internal to PWGSC and $11 million attributable to reimbursing organizations.

Improved Inventory Management: PWGSC continued to focus on longer-term program planning and optimizing our accommodation portfolio. This included improving the management of our leased portfolio and facilities operations, resulting in efficiencies of $47 million in 2006-2007. Leasing improvements included more timely lease negotiations and longer term leases, resulting in reduced fit-up and administrative costs, as well as more rigorous rental rates for negotiating targets for new leases and renewals. Facilities operations efficiencies included exercising options to increase the amount of services delivered by our alternative service provider, SNC Lavalin ProFac Inc.

Efficiencies in Service Delivery: We continued to take full advantage of efficiencies and reduced overhead while maintaining a satisfactory level of service delivery, through attrition in our workforce (a 15% reduction since 2004-2005), co-location with other levels of government, and the use of technology to interface with our clients. We tracked related efficiencies of $15 million in 2006-2007.

Corporate Real Estate Model

We continued to work towards becoming an industry leader in business performance and best practices. In 2006-2007, we developed a Corporate Real Estate (CRE) model that focuses on strategic decision-making, service performance, client satisfaction and accountability, and allows alignment to industry best practices and process requirements. Clear accountabilities, defined roles and responsibilities, and standard competencies are key attributes of a CRE model. This new structure was unveiled on April 1, 2007.

Business and Systems Transformation Project

A global scan of public and private corporate real estate organizations revealed that most successful organizations use integrated workplace management systems to address their business and client needs. As a result, PWGSC prepared a business case that assessed options for pursuing a business and systems transformation initiative supported by a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) real estate product, with the associated business process integration. The COTS product is an Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS), which will provide comprehensive and consistent management information to support our business and client activities. Also, in support of our transformation, Real Property has become actively involved in the Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate to develop an open standard for data exchange.

Project Performance

To improve service delivery and increase client satisfaction, Real Property launched its National Project Management System (NPMS), based on industry best practices. The NPMS provides the methodology, web-based tools, and project governance structure, as well as enhanced client and quality management focus, to deliver our projects on time, on budget and within their defined scope. The NPMS covers the broad range of projects of national interest we deliver, from lease projects, to major re-fit and Crown construction projects. As part of the NPMS, we are putting in place a performance measurement and assessment framework to improve project management.

Strengthening Accountability and Transparency

Efforts to strengthen accountability are primarily related to the Real Property Stewardship Program Activity. Real Property continued to ensure sound and ethical management and stewardship of the resources entrusted to it.

PWGSC worked with the Office of the Chief Risk Officer to embed risk management and quality assurance into our business processes. In 2006-2007, the department established the Risk Management and Quality Assurance functions and began developing and integrating the branch risk profile into its business planning process. As well, collaboration between sectors and regions resulted in entrenching risk management concepts in the National Project Management System.

To foster a strong culture of values and ethics, we strengthened our commitment to provide timely and thorough responses to recommendations from the Auditor General and PWGSC's Audit and Evaluation Branch.

Delivering Projects of National Importance

Parliamentary Precinct

PWGSC is custodian of the buildings and grounds of Canada's legislative buildings on Parliament Hill and surrounding streets of Ottawa, known collectively as the Parliamentary Precinct. In addition to being the seat of Canada's government, and a symbol of Canada's democratic traditions and values, the Parliamentary Precinct receives Canadian and international visitors for business and tourism. PWGSC's mandate is to ensure that these remarkable heritage structures remain safe, useful and beautiful for future generations.

Long-Term Vision and Plan: The Long-Term Vision and Plan (LTVP) is the planning framework that guides development within the Parliamentary Precinct and projects to restore its buildings and grounds over the next quarter century. The original LTVP was approved in 2001 but changes in circumstances have led PWGSC to comprehensively review the plan, in consultation with Parliament and our advisory organizations.

The revised LTVP endorses the high-level vision and principles of the 2001 LTVP that aim to restore the Parliament buildings and grounds to a condition that will reflect their importance as the seat of Canada's government. The revised LTVP has a new implementation framework founded on rolling five-year programs of work and a number of enhanced oversight and governance provisions.

Library of Parliament: From 2002-2007, PWGSC led the rehabilitation of the Library of Parliament to preserve and enhance this Victorian Gothic architectural treasure for future generations. Inside and out, every aspect of the Library building was in need of attention, from the weathervane atop the roof to the cramped and crowded basements below ground. A heritage building, more than 130 years old, the Library demanded a unique approach and rare skills. The project was not only about the conservation of an architectural gem. It also covered the design and construction of a state-of-the-art research facility to better assist parliamentarians in doing their work.

West Block Renovation: PWGSC began renovations of the West Block, the main focus of the current five-year LTVP implementation phase. Initial work involved the stabilization and repair of some of its significant exterior components, such as the southeast tower, to ensure the safety of users of the building and visitors to Parliament Hill. The extent of the renovations has required parliamentary functions, currently housed in the West Block, to be moved. Projects to provide interim space included the advancement of plans for La Promenade and Wellington Buildings, which will temporarily house West Block offices and committee rooms.

See Section III — Table 12 for more information on individual LTVP Major Crown Projects or visit our website at:
http://www.pwgsc.gc.ca/reports/text/dpr_2006-2007/rpe-cpt-e.html

War Memorials

Canada's First World War monuments were erected to honour and remember the achievements and sacrifices of Canadians and Newfoundlanders during the First World War. Since 1996, PWGSC's heritage conservation experts, in collaboration with Veterans Affairs Canada, investigated the deterioration of these monuments and recommended appropriate conservation measures. This led to a $30-million project to restore 12 war monuments in France and Belgium.

Vimy Ridge Monument: As a National Historic Site of Canada with great historic, symbolic and architectural significance, the Vimy Ridge Monument required a very careful conservation approach that respected the intent of Walter Allward's original design. A multi-disciplinary project team of experts from Canada, France and Belgium worked on the rehabilitation of the site. PWGSC provided the project management services for this high-profile project, which was rededicated at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial on April 2, 2007.

Supporting the Government's Strategic Agenda

National Capital Area Accommodation Strategy (Ontario:Quebec ratio)

In 2006-2007, the planning was done to meet the Ontario:Quebec distribution ratio of 75:25. As part of our National Capital Area Office Accommodation Strategy, we expect to reach an Ontario:Quebec distribution ratio of 75:25 by 2010 through a three-year action plan. This includes a Gatineau-specific accommodation strategy that clearly outlines how PWGSC will increase the inventory of office space in Quebec by 120,000 square metres.

Greening of Government Operations

PWGSC contributed to the government's sustainable development goals through its use of environmental management practices designed to minimize the environmental footprint of both existing and future facilities with special focus on greenhouse gas reductions, green leasing, green purchasing and environmental impact assessments.

PWGSC is providing leadership in greening government by committing to achieve the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED® — Canada) Gold standard for new construction and major renovations.

PWGSC developed a Green Lease Standard, which addresses such key environmental standards as wastewater management, indoor air quality, recycling, energy-efficient lighting fixtures and greenhouse gas reductions. Over 70 new leases or lease renewals have applied the new green lease provisions.

The Jean Canfield Government of Canada Building in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island is expected to obtain the LEED® — Canada Gold standard when it opens in 2007-2008. The Jean Canfield Building will house 500 federal employees from various departments.

The new Government of Canada Yellowknife Building in the Northwest Territories was built according to the latest environmental and energy-efficient standards. The four storey, 7,200-square metre building houses 200 public service employees from approximately 15 departments and agencies and will be the first "North of 60" LEED® — Canada Gold certified office building.

PWGSC introduced its first "green roof" in downtown Ottawa: shrubs, plants and flowers now cover roughly a third of the rooftop on the 29-year-old CD Howe building. Green roofs reduce the amount of energy required to heat and cool the building, lower greenhouse gas and sulphur dioxide emissions, improve air quality and allow both pollutants and nutrients from rainwater to be absorbed by the soil rather than entering storm drainage systems.

Performance by Program Activity

In the following tables, we identify the commitments made in our Report on Plans and Priorities 2006-2007, as well as our performance against those commitments for the following four program activities: Federal Accommodation and Holdings; Real Property Services Revolving Fund; Real Property Disposition Revolving Fund; and Real Property Stewardship.

Federal Accommodation and Holdings (Strategic Outcome: Quality Services)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures
2006-2007
Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating (including Special Purpose Allotment), Capital, Grants and Contributions and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 2,516.3 2,363.8 2,200.6
Less: Respendable Revenues 278.4 472.3 472.3

Net Expenditures 2,237.9 1,891.5 1,728.3

Federal Accommodation and Holdings Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) 2,402 2,402 2,325


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.

The variance between authorities and actual spending is due to project slippage caused by uncontrollable and unpredictable factors inherent to the nature of real property activities, such as: market fluctuation driving the price of commodities; weather conditions impacting the consumption of utilities and the delivery of some projects; and also, delays in the delivery of several repair and fit-up projects. It is also attributable to the reprofiling of the Action Plan on Climate Change not approved and to the carry forward of capital projects, as well as to the annual Treasury Board directed lapse to cover employee benefit and health care costs related to the special purpose allotment.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Effective management of real property investment, under the custodianship of PWGSC, in support of the delivery of government programs. Government departments and agencies have safe, healthy, productive and affordable work environments and facilities that enable them to deliver programs and services. The real property portfolio is managed as an investment on behalf of the taxpayer.
  • Accommodation usage trends: The rentable square metres per Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) decreased by 0.4% from last year. The five-year trend continues to show improvement in the usage of office space. The rental cost per rentable square metre increased by about 1.8% and rental cost per FTE increased by about 1.3%.
  • Operating cost trend analysis: In 2006-2007, figures were within 5.1% of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) average.
  • Vacancy rate: The vacancy rate for Office Crown Owned buildings 2006-2007 was 3.7%. BOMA vacancy rate for the Canadian private sector 2006-2007 was 7.6%.
  • Progress against Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS): Fiscal year 2006-2007 marked the third year of SDS 2003. For the reporting period, PWGSC continued to make progress on its SDS goals and objectives. Details on performance may be found in the PWGSC Sustainable Development Performance Report, discussed in more detail in Section III - Table 17.

Real Property Services Revolving Fund (Strategic Outcome: Quality Services)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating (including Special Purpose Allotment), Capital, Grants and Contributions and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 847.2 847.2 984.8
Less: Respendable Revenues 847.2 847.2 984.8

Net Resources (Provided) Used (Note 1)  -   -   - 

Real Property Services Revolving Fund Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) 1,261 1,261 1,133


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.

The drawdown authority used at year-end was nil. The business volume increase reflected between the authorities and actual spending is mostly due to increased work for Third Party Clients (Alaska Highway bridge work), Parks Canada (Western Asset Management Service Center Highways), Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (mining work), Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and PWGSC. The drop in FTEs is the direct consequence of services repatriated by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.

Note 1: The amounts reported for the Real Property Services Revolving Fund are on a modified cash basis.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
The provision on a fee-for-service basis of optional real property services to other custodial departments, and to other departments and agencies requesting services over and above those provided under the Federal Accommodation and Holdings Service Line program. Quality, affordable services are provided to government departments and agencies. Revenues will cover the full cost of service delivery.
  • Real Property Services Revolving Fund (RPSRF): Provides separate financial reporting for optional real property services delivered to clients. These services are provided on a full-cost recovery basis. PWGSC recovered from clients 98.6% of the total cost of $990.3M charged to the RPSRF in 2006-2007.
  • Projects on time, on budget: Analysis of 97 nationwide projects completed (24 Federal Accommodation and Holdings and 73 RPSRF) reveals that against the 2001-2002 baseline, timeliness improved by 8% while projects completed on budget improved by 8%. 44% of these projects were delivered on scope.

Real Property Disposition Revolving Fund (Strategic Outcome: Quality Services)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating (including Special Purpose Allotment), Capital, Grants and Contributions and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 4.0 4.0 2.8
Less: Respendable Revenues 12.0 12.0 8.9

Net Resources (Provided) Used Note 1 (8.0) (8.0) (6.1)

Real Property Disposition Revolving Fund Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) - - -


Note: Please note that this financial table has not been audited.

The variance between the Real Property Disposition Revolving Fund authorities and actual spending is due to the uniqueness of the real estate and the uncertainty of the condition of properties prior to sale.

Note 1: The amounts reported for the Real Property Disposition Revolving Fund are on a modified cash


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
The provision, on a cost-recovery basis, of routine disposals of real property assets no longer required in order to generate revenue for the Crown. Realization of value (net proceeds of sale) from surplus properties.
  • Professional and timely disposal services and maintenance of a sufficient level of credit to facilitate custodial disposals: The Real Property Disposition Revolving Fund facilitated the completion, termination or cancellation of 250 disposals within the fiscal year. The actual revenue generated was $6.7M compared to an original budget of $8.0M. The fund maintained a sufficient level of credit to start the fiscal year 2007-2008.

Real Property Stewardship (Strategic Outcome: Sound Stewardship)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating (including Special Purpose Allotment), Capital, Grants and Contributions and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 35.1 56.9 53.3
Less: Respendable Revenues 1.4 2.0 2.0

Net Expenditures 33.7 54.9 51.3

Real Property Stewardship Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) 245 250 283


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.

The variance between authorities and actual spending is mainly due to lower than anticipated translation costs, and to personnel costs related to collective agreements that did not materialize as initially anticipated. The increase in FTEs is mainly due to the transfer of mandated activities from the special purpose allotment to Real Property Stewardship.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Provision of strategic leadership and proactive management of the resources and real property assets to support the delivery of government programs. Government program delivery is facilitated by a consistently applied, modern real property and program management framework that reflects a whole-of-government perspective in decision-making.
  • Actual recapitalization rate: As a result of delays due to uncontrollable and unpredictable factors inherent to the nature of project delivery, the effective recapitalization rate was 2.4%, which is below the target of 4% and the funding level of 2.9%. 48% of the lapse was due to the deferral of two acquisitions worth $18.6M The balance of $18.8M, which represents 6% of the total capital budget, was due to delays caused mainly by internal capacity issues affecting the number of projects planned, approved, awarded and implemented. The strong economy in Western and Pacific regions also had an impact on the availability of qualified resources to meet the high demand in construction.
  • Percentage or number of portfolio plans approved (against target):We continued to refine our Portfolio Management approach in 2006-2007 through the implementation of Phase 1 of the National Portfolio Management Plan (NPMP). The NPMP builds on the investment principles of the National Investment Strategy.
  • Year-end financial results:Are within acceptable percentage of budget and improved over previous fiscal year financial performance.

ACQUISITIONS

PWGSC is the government's primary procurement service provider, offering client departments and agencies procurement solutions such as specialized contracts, standing offers, supply arrangements and online access to specially developed marketplaces (e-procurement). The role of Acquisitions is to provide the federal government with timely, value-added acquisitions and related common services. These services are provided within a framework that promotes quality services and the stewardship of key program areas: procurement renewal, policy improvements, quality assurance of contracting and client-supplier relations. The provision of acquisition services requires stringent and ethical procurement standards.

As a strategic partner with federal government clients, Acquisitions:

  • builds and manages supplier relationships, including those of small and medium enterprises (SMEs);
  • promotes a strategic government-wide consultative approach through commodity management;
  • strives to achieve best-value purchases;
  • helps define client requirements and find the best solutions for meeting their needs;
  • looks for opportunities to improve the process of buying goods and services; and
  • oversees client and supplier relationships after contract award, to ensure strong accountability.

The role of Acquisitions includes military and Major Crown Project procurements. In addition, Acquisitions offers specialized services, such as marine inspection and technical services; forensic accounting services; management of seized property; central removal and freight services; travel management; standards for and certification of goods and services; surplus asset disposal; procurement of vaccines and drugs on behalf of provinces and territories; and the registration of quality (ISO 9000) and environmental (ISO 14001) management services.

Acquisitions supports PWGSC's two strategic outcomes through four program activities:

Quality Services

  • Acquisition Services;
  • Optional Services Revolving Fund;
  • Defence Production Revolving Fund; and

Sound Stewardship

  • Supply Operations Stewardship

The expenditures and actual results for 2006-2007 for the above program activities are summarized at the end of this Acquisitions section.


Key Facts*

  • As Canada's largest public purchaser of goods and services, PWGSC's purchases accounted for more than 85% of the total value of government procurement.
  • Purchased roughly $12 billion in goods and services and managed approximately 60,000 transactions.
  • Spent the vast majority of procurement dollars on a basket of 40 commodities such as information technology and office equipment.
  • Office of Small and Medium Enterprise (OSME) worked to remove barriers to competition and ensure open, fair and transparent competition for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
* Sources: PWGSC databases, The Way Forward, 2006-2007 Performance Management Report

Performance by 2006-2007 Priorities

The strategic change and improvement initiatives impacting the results of our program activities are presented by the PWGSC strategic priorities, as follows:

  • Transforming our Business;
  • Strengthening Accountability and Transparency;
  • Delivering Projects of National Importance; and
  • Supporting the Government's Strategic Agenda.

Transforming our Business

PWGSC undertook a number of strategic change initiatives in support of the Acquisition Services Program Activity.

Savings Expectations

In 2006-2007, Acquisitions continued to work on the delivery of efficiencies, productivity gains, and cost reductions, thereby contributing to the reallocation of resources to higher government priorities. While the initial commitment of government-wide acquisitions savings was to realize net savings of $2.5 billion over five years, in the Fiscal and Economic Update tabled in November 2006, the government announced adjustments to its savings forecast after determining that the projected savings were over-estimated. Savings for 2008-2009 and beyond will need to be achieved by departments through overall cost efficiencies, including continued efforts to reduce procurement costs.

There has been considerable progress in renewing procurement over the past two years. Acquisitions' total procurement savings for 2006-2007 was $225 million. This value is the estimated gross savings resulting from purchases conducted by PWGSC's Acquisitions Branch and its regions, which represents about 2% of our total procurement volume. It does not include all of the procurement savings resulting from purchases made by other government departments using the Consolidated Procurement Instruments, which PWGSC put in place prior to the end of March 2007.

Commodity Management

Commodity management is a PWGSC-led strategic and consultative framework used to plan and manage the procurement of selected goods and services on a life-cycle basis to optimize value for the government.

One of our key commitments in the 2006-2007 Report on Plans and Priorities was to embed commodity management practices into daily operations. Commodity councils set savings targets for each commodity and PWGSC monitors overall efficiencies. Significant achievements were made. For example, we:

  • established 10 management level Commodity Councils guiding overall strategies and 24 Commodity Teams to guide commodity management processes and objectives;
  • established a robust consultation regime to allow industry associations and suppliers to provide feedback on new approaches;
  • implemented 18 Consolidated Procurement Instruments (CPIs) by the end of March 2007 with an additional nine in the final stages of being put in place. The initial 15 instruments put in place in the last fiscal year had an estimated value of $887 million;
  • developed a Commodity Management Introductory course given at the spring 2007 Materiel Management Institute (MMI) Conference to procurement and materiel management officers; and,
  • worked with Justice Canada and the Treasury Board Secretariat to explore means of modernizing current policies and regulations impeding the use of innovative commodity management strategies and practices, which could increase government-wide efficiencies (e.g. PWGSC Act sections 8,9 and 20).
E-Procurement

In 2006-2007, PWGSC continued the development and roll-out of the Government of Canada Marketplace (GoCM). This is an online tool that provides federal employees with an electronic catalogue of pre-approved goods and services available through standing offers and supply arrangements. This project will help generate efficiencies by delivering volume price discounts, consolidating procurement instruments such as standing offers and improving and simplifying purchasing processes.

In December 2006, the GoCM was released to all government departments and agencies, offering one-stop access to mandatory standing offers and supply arrangements. This preliminary release was intended to collect feedback on usability, functionality, training and content, as well as to further refine and improve the GoCM in preparation for the full launch in March 2008. As a result, Acquisitions Branch will improve the layout and usefulness of the tool and improve communications. Over the longer term, it is our intent to develop an end-to-end solution for purchasing goods and services available through Standing Offers and Supply Arrangements.

See Section III — Table 20 for more information on the GoCM project, or visit our website at: http://www.pwgsc.gc.ca/reports/text/dpr_2006-2007/ih-hi-e.html.

Client Engagement

Review sessions and workshops were held with clients in support of the establishment of comprehensive departmental procurement strategies and service-level agreements. These workshops have resulted in greater client buy-in and an improved working relationship between client departments and PWGSC.

Client engagement activities in 2006-2007 included meetings with 17 departments where procurement specialists provided detailed analysis and validation of departmental spending. An intense review of client departments' procurement processes, structures, practices, achievements and assessments against best practices was supported by recommendations on how the clients could improve their procurement practices and realize operational and procurement efficiencies.

In 2006-2007, PWGSC developed a range of communication materials, fact sheets on new instruments and the development of a website to provide procurement support to client departments. Through the website, PWGSC will work in partnership with departments and agencies to align their procurement processes and practices with the government's procurement transformation initiative.

Small and Medium Enterprises

The Office of Small and Medium Enterprise (OSME) plays a key role in procurement transformation initiatives. Through OSME, the department works to ensure open, fair and transparent competition for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). OSME's mission is to make certain that SMEs have a fair opportunity to compete for government business.

To improve outreach activities, six new OSME regional offices were established in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver, with an additional office in Ottawa. In 2006-2007 OSME:

  • provided information sessions, policy presentations, trade shows and one-on-one meetings to help over 13,000 SMEs, more than double the number reached over the previous two years;
  • received 2.1 million hits on the Business Access Canada website, an increase of 24% over the past year; and
  • encouraged approximately 9,600 new companies to register online during 2006-2007 to do business with the government.

SME participation by dollar value has already jumped, increasing by 85% to 300% in certain commodity areas. Currently, the overall participation rate by dollar value of SMEs exceeds 37% of total volume, representing approximately $5 billion per year being awarded to an average of 9,500 SMEs per year.

Finally, OSME has participated in a number of stakeholder sessions focused on socio-economic interests, including Aboriginal procurement, green procurement and, most notably, innovation-oriented procurement policy.

Strengthening Accountability and Transparency

PWGSC has a key role in the Supply Operations Stewardship Program Activity, ensuring strong accountability in the government's procurement efforts. In support of the Federal Accountability Act and Action Plan, PWGSC started a public recruitment process in February 2007 to find candidates for the new position of Procurement Ombudsman. The Ombudsman will help to ensure that the government's procurement practices are fair and transparent. The appointment of a Procurement Ombudsman designate occurred in September 2007.

PWGSC started to develop the Code of Conduct for Procurement in 2006-2007. The Code's comprehensive statement of the government's expectations for the handling of procurement activities by suppliers and public service employees complements integrity provisions already contained in all procurement documents.

A draft Code was released for public consultation in February 2007. The feedback from the consultations resulted in significant changes that improved the document. The Code was released in September 2007. The complementary Vendor Performance Policy, expected in February 2008, will incorporate more specific implementation processes for evaluating vendor performance, identifying irregularities and facilitating the dispute resolution process.

Delivering Projects of National Importance

The following is primarily related to the Acquisition Services Program Activity.

Military Procurement

PWGSC works closely with the Department of National Defence to ensure timely contract awards and delivery of equipment and services that satisfy the needs of the men and women in the Canadian Forces, while ensuring best value for Canadians. The procurement, related to seven major military capabilities, announced by the government since June 2006, is now well underway, with the average timelines for these new capability procurements estimated at less than 25 months, well under the 63 month average for past major military projects.

PWGSC is also looking to buy goods that, where appropriate, are readily available in the marketplace instead of those that require development. In the case of the Strategic Airlift (C-17) project, as an example, PWGSC awarded a contract eight months after approval of the statement of requirements, and the contractor delivered the first aircraft in August 2007, 14 months after the project was announced.

Overall PWGSC is working with DND and TBS to develop a more efficient and coherent means to procure military equipment and services that balance the operational objectives of the Canadian Forces with broader policy objectives (the right equipment at the right time for the right price, obtained fairly and transparently with the best possible socio-economic benefits package).

Shared Travel Services Initiative

The Shared Travel Services Initiative (STSI), jointly led by PWGSC and the Treasury Board Secretariat, is aimed at improving and streamlining the government's travel management practices and increasing the satisfaction of travelling employees.

STSI has developed and deployed the following services across the government:

  • Travel Call Centre (provides traveller assistance during any booking process);
  • Travel Portal (used for booking travel and submitting expenses);
  • Designated Travel Card (an American Express card with best-in-class insurance benefits and a choice of loyalty programs for Government of Canada travellers);
  • Online Booking Tool (used by government employees to make car, hotel, train and plane booking arrangements for official government business travel);
  • Expense Management Tool (used by government employees to manage travel requests and expense reports for official government business travel);
  • Accommodations and Car Rental Directory (a directory of reduced rates used by government employees on official government business travel); and
  • Negotiated airline agreements (used by government employees on official government business travel to reduce the cost of travel).

PWGSC is continuing to improve transparency and accountability of government travel with the implementation and adoption of these activities across the government. The STSI saved the Government of Canada approximately $20 million in 2006-2007.

More information on the Shared Travel Services Initiative may be found in Section III — Table 20 and on our website at: http://www.pwgsc.gc.ca/reports/text/dpr_2006-2007/ih-hi-e.html.

Supporting the Government's Strategic Agenda

Environment

PWGSC is assisting client departments to identify, acquire and adopt environmentally friendly "green" procurement alternatives. For instance, Acquisitions assisted the Office of Greening Government Operations in updating the Green Procurement templates that provide buyers with information on environmental considerations.

PWGSC worked closely with Environment Canada, Natural Resources Canada and the Office of Greening Government Operations to develop and implement commodity specific green procurement plans to improve environmental sustainability. The posting of commodity templates on Publiservice, covering such areas as IT hardware and fuels, for example, will increase the visibility of the green procurement potential to all government departments and combined with increased usage of our standing offers, will allow government to clearly demonstrate progress and performance in this area.

Improving Government Procurement

Over the past two years, Acquisitions has been developing a process to capture, categorize and analyze government procurement expenditures to support commodity management, client engagement and performance reporting activities. This process culminated in the launch of an expenditures analysis tool and related databases in early 2006-2007. This database of detailed and consistent spending information outlines basic reports and multi-year analysis to support client engagement and commodity management. It allows departments to consider the bundling of requirements and establishment of a demand management regime. This consolidated approach to spend analysis (spend management) will also have considerable benefits in terms of supporting comptrollership and sound management.

In addition, commodity management is a key element in improving government procurement requiring a government-wide consultative and strategic framework. This will involve the implementation of Consolidated Procurement Instruments, which include standing offers, supply arrangements and government-wide contracts. Once integrated into a robust electronic procurement tool such as the GoCM, these instruments will provide the optimal environment for achieving benefits such as:

  • better value than retail catalogue prices;
  • reduced administrative and inventory costs;
  • greater access to Aboriginal suppliers;
  • availability of green products; and
  • pre-qualified suppliers and goods and services meeting client requirements.

Performance by Program Activity

In the following tables, we identify the commitments made in our Report on Plans and Priorities 2006-2007, as well as our performance against those commitments through four program activities: Acquisition Services; Optional Services Revolving Fund; Defence Production Revolving Fund; and Supply Operations Stewardship.

Acquisition Services (Strategic Outcome: Quality Services)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 195.3 227.7 230.0
Less: Respendable Revenues 40.9 60.5 60.5

Net Expenditures 154.4 167.2 169.5

Acquisition Services Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) 1,800 1,824 1,861


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.

The variance between the authorities and actual spending is mainly due to higher than anticipated costs related to ongoing operations. The FTE increase is attributed to unadjusted authority transfers between Acquisition Services and Supply Operations Stewardship.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Acquisition of goods and services on behalf of the federal government. Management of the supply process by assisting clients with requirements definitions, bid solicitation and evaluation, contract negotiation and administration. Management of all procurement-related aspects of major projects (over $100 million). Operation of regional offices to carry out PWGSC acquisition activities across Canada, as well as offices in the United States and Europe, principally to service the needs of the military. Timely and cost-efficient acquisition services are provided to other government departments and agencies with enhanced service levels. Percentage reduction in cost of goods and services; percentage reduction in time for procurement transaction; percentage reduction in cost of government purchasing:
  • In 2006-2007 PWGSC received 31,748 requisitions totaling $12.35 billion and issued 60,351 contractual documents totaling $11.97 billion. The total procurement savings, from purchases made by PWGSC, were $225.18 million. This does not include all of the procurement savings which resulted from purchases made by other government departments' using the Consolidated Procurement Instruments which PWGSC put in place prior to the end of March 2007.

Percentage of client departments satisfied with PWGSC services:
  • Throughout 2006-2007 Acquisitions devoted most of its efforts towards the transformation of its procurement processes working towards a centralized client service model. As a result, its client consultancy survey did not take place this past year, but is slated to take place in 2007-2008.

 

Optional Services Revolving Fund (Strategic Outcome: Quality Services)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 100.4 100.4 94.3
Less: Respendable Revenues 100.4 100.4 95.2

Net Resources (Provided) Used (Note1)  -   -  (0.9)

Optional Services Revolving Fund Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) 44 44 44


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.

The Optional Services Revolving Fund variance between the authorities and actual spending is due to lower than anticipated sales and related expenditures in the Traffic Management Program.

Note 1: The amounts reported for the Optional Services Revolving Fund are on a modified cash basis.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results

Provision to client departments of specialized services such as marine inspection and technical services, travel management, consensus standards and conformity assessment services. Procurement of vaccines and drugs on behalf of provinces and territories.

Quality, affordable services are provided to government departments and agencies.

Revenues offset the full cost of service delivery.

Recoveries as a percentage of cost:
  • 100% of costs are recovered

Defence Production Revolving Fund (Strategic Outcome: Quality Services)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures  -   -   - 
Less: Respendable Revenues  -   -   - 

Net Resources (Provided) Used (Note1)  -   -   - 

Defence Production Revolving Fund Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs)  -   -   - 


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Maintenance of a legacy fund for acquisition of military supplies in an emergency. Funding of defence acquisition emergencies on a cost-recovery basis. Recoveries as a percentage of cost:
  • The fund was not used, thus it remains at a break-even point.

Supply Operations Stewardship (Strategic Outcome: Sound Stewardship)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 47.7 91.6 68.1
Less: Respendable Revenues 8.6 3.7 3.7

Net Expenditures 39.1 87.9 64.4

Supply Operations Stewardship Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) 339 342 327


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.

The variance between the authorities and actual spending is mainly due to lower than anticipated expenditures related to the business transformation generated by the government's change in procurement strategic direction. The FTE decrease is attributed to unadjusted authority transfers between Supply Operations Stewardship and Acquisition Services which is reflecting an increase.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Management and administration of the department's acquisition policy; contract quality assurance, professional development, and vendor performance review; and other activities that support program delivery.

Procurement community is satisfied with the policy advice, quality assurance, strategic planning and human resources support provided.

Corporate goals related to professional development are met.

Federal employees' knowledge of green procurement increases.

Percentage of satisfied employees:
  • 93% of employees are proud of the work carried out in their work unit (Q33: the same as 2002; PWGSC 91%);
  • 96% are strongly committed to making Acquisitions successful (Q86: down 1% from 2002; PWGSC 95%);
  • 84% are satisfied that the organization treats them with respect (Q87: down 4% from 2002; PWGSC 84%);
  • 78% of employees believe that Acquisitions is a good place to work (Q88: down 8% from 2002; PWGSC 79%); and
  • 78% are satisfied with their careers in the public service (Q89: up 2% from 2002; PWGSC 77%).

Percentage of achieved official language targets:
  • 59% of AB positions are bilingual.
  • 84% of AB employees meet language requirements of position.

Percentage of minimum training investment:
  • 44% of AB employees participated in 3 or more days of training (AB's minimum training investment/year).
  • 91% of AB employees with learning plans received training.

Number of outreach sessions provided to Federal employees:
  • Acquisitions assisted OGGO with 15 client consultations in 2006-2007. It should be noted that the lead responsibility for informing federal clients was transferred to OGGO in 2005-2006.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

PWGSC's Information Technology Services (ITS) provides IT services to other government departments, including electronic access by Canadians to government information and services, and manage PWGSC's internal Information Management/Information Technology (IM/IT) services. It manages voice and data networks, data centres, distributed computing applications, Secure Channel, and information management enabling services.

ITS provides key leadership in supporting government-wide IT transformation initiatives and PWGSC's modernization. ITS works closely with client departments and agencies to understand and respond to their IT requirements, while delivering highly reliable, cost-effective and secure IT services and solutions.

ITS supports PWGSC's two strategic outcomes through three program activities:

Quality Services

  • IM/IT Services;
  • Telecommunications Services Revolving Fund; and

Sound Stewardship

  • IM/IT Stewardship

The 2006-2007 three program activities' expenditures and actual results are summarized at the end of this ITS section.


Key Facts*

  • Enabled Canadians to access 130 federal government services online.
  • Assisted in providing citizens and businesses secure access to online government services.
  • Provided effective and efficient technology solutions for other government departments, enabling them to focus on their core programs and service delivery to Canadians.
  • Printed 79 million cheques and 27 million non-cashable items.
  • Issued over 5 million epasses through Secure Channel which provided Canadians and businesses with online credentials to access government services (includes 2.2 million online submissions for Census 2006).
 * Source: PWGSC databases, Sustainable Development Strategy Report.

Performance by 2006-2007 Priorities

The strategic change and improvement initiatives impacting the results of our program activities are presented by the PWGSC strategic priorities, as follows:

  • Transforming our Business;
  • Delivering Projects of National Importance; and
  • Supporting the Government's Strategic Agenda.

Transforming our Business

The IT Shared Services (IT-SS) initiative, which primarily supports the IM/IT Services Program Activity, is a major component of the government's overall plan to consolidate IT infrastructure services and facilities to ensure effective, efficient and cost-conscious technology solutions. This complements the ongoing delivery of services currently provided to departments and agencies in the areas of telecommunications, network infrastructure and computing.

IT Services, in growing the IT-SS initiative, views the government, holistically, as an enterprise whose goal is to reduce technical complexity and increase interoperability and information exchange. Under this approach, departments and agencies will continue to have the flexibility to deliver their own programs and services, while the government as a whole will achieve more efficient, cost-effective operations through economies of scale and standardization.

ITS worked with six organizations (Canada School of Public Service, Health Canada, Veterans Affairs Canada, Parks Canada, Public Works and Government Services Canada and Privy Council Office) to transfer IT services to a shared services model. Health Canada's service desk and all of the Canada School of Public Service's IT services have completed the transfer, while others are at various stages of transition.

In 2006-2007, ITS established an ambitious change agenda to strengthen internal PWGSC IM/IT methods and procedures, in order to create a leading edge, best practice organization. During this period a seven-point IM/IT change agenda was approved and implementation is now well underway. This initiative included the implementation of a best practice business model that focuses on clients and service delivery. The model, which enhances our ability to deliver services, is divided into the three phases of IM/IT service provisioning: plan, build and operate.

Accomplishments, directly supporting the IM/IT Stewardship Program Activity, included:

  • Development of frameworks for Governance, IM/IT Investments and PWGSC Enterprise Architecture;
  • Development of a draft IM/IT Strategy;
  • Implementation of a Project Delivery Office; and
  • Development and implementation of IT security components to ensure compliance with the government's IM/IT Security Policy and Standards.

IM/IT is a critical component of PWGSC's transformation initiatives. During 2006-2007, ITS provided strategic advice, technical solutions and support to other departmental transformation initiatives including:

  • Real Property's Business Systems Renewal Project;
  • Finance's Business Process Reengineering and Systems Migration;
  • Acquisitions' Government of Canada Marketplace and Shared Travel Services Initiative;
  • Human Resources' renewal initiative; and
  • Receiver General and Public Service Compensation's Pay and Pension Modernization projects.

Delivering Projects of National Importance

ITS began the year working on three major initiatives - the Shared Travel Services Initiative (STSI), the Government of Canada Marketplace (GoCM) and the closeout of Government On-Line (GOL).

ITS transitioned the STSI from a Major Crown Project to a Government of Canada program and transferred it to the Acquisitions Branch in October 2006.

The GoCM, an Internet-based tool that provides Government of Canada employees with simplified access to an electronic catalogue of goods and services, was informally launched in December 2006. It is a key initiative of PWGSC's procurement transformation agenda.

The GOL initiative was successfully completed in September 2006 with the GOL closeout submission, which was approved by the Treasury Board. The GOL initiative was the primary catalyst for Canada being recognized internationally by an independent authority, five years in a row, as the government most connected to its citizens online. Canadians, businesses and international clients now have a more accessible government, where information and services are organized according to their needs, and are available 24/7 around the world, in English or French.

Supporting the Government's Strategic Agenda

The IM/IT Stewardship Program Activity is supported through ITS's outcomes-based management model, which rigorously measures and monitors all aspects of its operations, plans and projects. This model enabled ITS to quickly identify variances. During the monthly senior executive review in January 2007, a Secure Channel performance variance was noted and quickly resolved with the vendor. In March 2007 the Daylight Saving Project, consisting of over 500 changes across thousands of infrastructure components, was implemented without incident.

Operational excellence was further enhanced through the Services Management Improvement Program (SMIP). ITS implemented a client centred external service delivery strategy that drives efficiencies; respects client privacy rights; reflects an enterprise view of government services; and results in effective service delivery. It measured the effectiveness of service delivery, the results of which were used to improve processes and, where appropriate, migrate clients to lower cost solutions. Resulting improvements are projected to produce $3.5 million in savings for 2007-2008.

The Records, Documents and Information Management System (RDIMS), an IT Shared Service launched in September 2005 to improve the collection and alignment of information, met its 2006-2007 targets of 60,000 active licenses and participation of more than 50% of government departments and agencies.

ITS also achieved major accomplishments with Secure Channel such as:

  • Enabling 2.2 million citizens to submit the 2006 Census online via the internet, resulting in it being awarded a gold medal for "Innovative E-Government Pilot Projects;"
  • Receiving the Canadian Information Productivity Award for the second year in a row; and
  • Stabilizing funding and formalized commitment and support for the use of Secure Channel's new cost recovery business model.

Performance by Program Activity

In the following tables, we identify the commitments made in our Report on Plans and Priorities 2006-2007, as well as our performance against those commitments through three program activities: IM/IT Services; Telecommunications Services Revolving Fund; and IM/IT Stewardship.

IM/IT Services (Strategic Outcome: Quality Services)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 283.3 459.3 455.1
Less: Respendable Revenues 140.1 196.0 196.0

Net Expenditures 143.2 263.3 259.0

IM/IT Services Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) 1,506 1,547 1,587


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.

The operating vote variance between the total authorities and actual spending is due to Long Term Contract savings related to the Secure Channel project as well as to procurement delays and increase in business volume late in fiscal year.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Provision of IM/IT solutions to the Government of Canada, including infrastructure, design, and leadership of major government-wide service projects. Shared services and systems used by departments and agencies.
  • Number of IT Shared Services implemented: The product catalogue now contains 62-shared services. A product maturity index will be used to further assess the readiness of these services.
  • Percentage of GC programs supported directly by PWGSC shared services: 98% of GC online programs supported via the secure channel network.
  • Percentage of IT services offered by PWGSC that are shared services: 100 % of IT products (62) in the catalogue were offered as shared services.
  • Percentage of PWGSC Information Technology Services Organization (IT-SSO) IT spending vs. GC-wide IT spending: The IT-SSO has not received government approval and was not implemented in 2006-2007. Reliable GC IT spending information is dependent upon full implementation of the GC IT services profile and government-wide chart of accounts.

Telecommunications Services Revolving Fund (Strategic Outcome: Quality Services)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 135.8 135.8 161.3
Less: Respendable Revenues 135.8 135.8 168.2

Net Resources (Provided) Used (Note1)  -   -  (6.8)

Telecommunications Services Revolving Fund Full-Time Equivalents(FTEs) 194 194 183


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.

Telecommunications Services Revolving Fund actuals were higher than anticipated due to a large increase in revenue and cost of sales attributable to the Network Equipment Support Services (NESS) being implemented along with client growth in some of our other services.

Note 1: The amounts reported for the Telecommunications Services Revolving Fund are on a modified cash basis.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Provision of network and infrastructure services; voice telecommunications services; satellite services; and managed services. This activity is the only one currently managed through a fully compensatory client-paid revolving fund. Departments and agencies receive competitively priced and innovative business solutions, leading to government-wide cost savings.
  • Break-even or surplus in Revolving Fund: 2006-2007 surplus was $6.8M
  • Client engagement levels (market penetration:
    • RF revenue increased by 27.9% as a result of the IT Shared Services initiative (exceeded 10% growth target)
    • Over 90% of GC voice communication as per target
    • 52 of 100 GC data communications networks (exceeded target of 50)
    • Management of 20 GC data communications networks
    • 100% of GC Wireless communications (Cell/PDA) as per target
    • About 95% of federal government organizations use Secure Channel
  • New services managed within revolving fund portfolio: Business cases for new shared services include:
    • Cable plant management-under development
    • Communications services through Voice over IP

IM/IT Stewardship (Strategic Outcome: Sound Stewardship)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 10.4 15.0 15.0
Less: Respendable Revenues 0.6 0.8 0.8

Net Expenditures 9.8 14.2 14.2

IM/IT Stewardship Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) 97 125 126


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Provision of IM/IT standards, architecture, engineering, security, client interface/relationship, branch program management, strategy and governance. Sound leadership of IM/IT resources in GC.
  • Percentage of business cases for enterprise services: 100% (all five of IT Services' business cases developed were for enterprise services).
  • Client Engagement in business cases: business cases were developed in collaboration with the GC client community including, DND and Service Canada

RECEIVER GENERAL AND PUBLIC SERVICE COMPENSATION

PWGSC manages the Receiver General and Public Service Compensation functions of the government.

The organizations supporting the Receiver General function manage the operations of the federal treasury, including issuing payments and collecting revenue for all government departments; preparing the Public Accounts; and producing the government's Monthly Statements of Financial Operations. These activities ensure the government's financial stability and public confidence through accurate and timely issuance of payments to Canadians and reporting of the government's financial activities. For example, the Public Accounts are subject to the single largest annual audit conducted by the Office of the Auditor General. As a result of the Receiver General's ongoing efforts, the Auditor General has named Canada a world leader in financial reporting by a national government.

As Canada's largest payroll and pension administrator, Public Service Compensation provides payroll, benefits and pension plan administration services for the Public Service of Canada. This includes: the administration of payroll, pension and insurance services for public service employees and pensioners; specialized pension services and dental plan services for the Canadian Forces, Lieutenant Governors and Diplomatic Services pensioners; payroll and dental insurance services for members of the RCMP; and pay and pension services for current and former Members of Parliament.

Public Service Compensation helps departments and agencies achieve their objectives through automated compensation services and some integration of its central pay system with their human resources systems. This integration allows them to administer pay and benefits in accordance with collective agreements and compensation policies established by the Treasury Board Secretariat and certain separate employers, as well as to fulfill the requirements of the Public Service Superannuation Act.


Key Facts*

The Receiver General:

  • Issued 252 million payments in almost 150 countries.
  • Handled more than $1.5 trillion in cash flows.
  • Issues payments on behalf of seven provinces and three territories as part of joint initiatives with federal departments.
  • Produced the Public Accounts for 175 departments, agencies, Crown corporations and other business entities.
  • Worked to reduce the annual cost of payment operations by 34% since 1995-1996, even as volume increased by 22%.

Public Service Compensation:

  • Administered centrally the pay accounts of 307,000 public servants and pension accounts of 332,000 pensioners, making it Canada's largest payroll and pension administrator.
  • Issued approximately 13 million pay and pension payments a year.
 * Source: PWGSC databases

Through the use of systems and processes and a complex and wide-ranging network of partnerships and alliances, the organization contributes significantly to the integrity, transparency and accountability of government transactions. Receiver General and Public Service Compensation are central functions that contribute to the achievement of the government's objectives of quality and cost-efficiency.

Receiver General and Public Service Compensation (RGC) supports PWGSC's two strategic outcomes through five program activities:

Quality Services

  • Receiver General Services;
  • Public Service Compensation Services;

Sound Stewardship

  • Receiver General Stewardship;
  • Public Service Pay Stewardship; and
  • Public Service Pension Stewardship.

The expenditures and actual results for 2006-2007 for the above program activities are summarized at the end of this RGC section.

Performance by 2006-2007 Priorities

The strategic change and improvement initiatives impacting the results of our program activities are presented by the PWGSC strategic priorities, as follows:

  • Strengthening Accountability and Transparency;
  • Transforming our Business; and
  • Supporting the Government's Strategic Agenda.

Strengthening Accountability and Transparency

In 2006-2007, in support of the Receiver General Stewardship Program Activity, the branch continued to improve reporting to Parliament and to the public. The Monthly Statements of Financial Operations were consistently produced according to schedule within established standards. The 2005-2006 Public Accounts of Canada were produced in compliance with the schedule established with the Office of the Comptroller General, Department of Finance and the Office of the Auditor General. For these Public Accounts, a new accounting standard regarding the government reporting entity was retroactively adopted, introducing some organizations not previously included in the financial statements.

The Auditor General of Canada commented in her observations that this results in a financial statement that presents the government's financial position more completely and fairly. Control frameworks, quality assurance programs and continuous risk management contribute to the Receiver General and Public Service Compensation's ability to maintain its core operations.

Transforming our Business

Today's pay and pension systems use outdated technology and rely on the expertise of staff due to retire in the next few years. The business processes are complex and heavily dependent on manual intervention.

Participation in two benchmarking groups, one national and one international, has confirmed that the cost of delivering public service pension services is amongst the highest of those organizations surveyed. This is attributable to the limitations of the legacy systems supporting the business.

Two pay benchmarking studies conducted in the past fiscal year identified that PWGSC falls in the bottom range of performance measures for cost (four times more costly than the benchmark median), quality/efficiency (40% worse than the benchmark) and cycle time (60% worse than the benchmark), where it is dependent upon upstream human resources processes (compensation advisor pay data input) and technology, and where there has been less investment in modern systems and automation.

Two initiatives are under way in pension administration to replace the systems and modernize the services and processes: the Government of Canada Pension Modernization Project (GCPMP) and the Centralization of Pension Services Delivery and Pay Modernization.

Pay Modernization Project

The Pay Modernization Project will renew PWGSC's pay administration business processes and legacy pay systems using a commercial off-the-shelf pay solution. The modernized pay solution will address operational sustainability issues; provide greater flexibility and improved functionality including seamless integration of the Government of Canada payroll and human resource systems; and enable operational savings from efficiencies gained with the introduction of self-service.

The business case for the Preliminary Project Approval was done with the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS). Iterative exchanges of information and analysis with TBS contributed to firm up the business case. Three other key activities were initiated: business process mapping; gathering and documenting of business requirements for the future; and conducting of two detailed benchmarking studies to compare the GC payroll administration processes, quality and costs to those of industry.

The Pay Modernization Project team has also ensured alignment with, and participation in, related GC horizontal initiatives; the Corporate Administrative Shared Services initiative and the Canada Public Service Agency's streamlining of government human resources processes.

Delivering Projects of National Importance

Pension Modernization Project (GCPMP)

In support of the Public Service Compensation Services Program Activity, the objective of the project is to replace outdated technology and business processes by a multi-plan solution based on commercial off-the-shelf software products that will ensure ongoing sustainability of pension administration and enable industry standard levels of service.

Since receiving Preliminary Project Approval we have defined 16 key business processes and developed the business renewal strategy. We have also completed the new system architecture and developed plans for implementation, including the conversion and release strategies. The project's management processes have been audited internally and are considered appropriate to the successful management of the project. Substantive cost estimates for Crown and vendor implementation activities have been developed and they have been validated by two external audits.

Further information on the Pension Modernization Project may be found in Section III — Table 12 or on our website at:
http://www.pwgsc.gc.ca/reports/text/dpr_2006-2007/rpe-cpt-e.html

Centralization of Pension Services

In conjunction with the Pension Modernization Project implementation of new technology and business processes, pension services to employees who are members of the Public Service Superannuation Act pension plan will be centralized progressively, consolidating the delivery within a centre of expertise in PWGSC. This year, the centralization of the retirement planning information sessions was completed to add the already centralized Division of Pension Benefits and Pension Transfers. The level of client satisfaction for these services has increased from 66% to an average of 79%. A business case was finalized for Effective Project Approval for centralizing the remaining nine pension services in PWGSC with associated savings.

Supporting the Government's Strategic Agenda

During the year, we expanded existing optional services related to document imaging and automated data capture. These services accounted for 29 Full-Time Equivalent positions in 2006-2007. As part of our objective to provide new cost-effective services to government departments, PWGSC set up a satellite office of its National Capital Area Compensation Services in Matane, Quebec. Furthermore, preliminary plans were initiated to establish a satellite office of PWGSC Regional Pay System operations in Matane for implementation in 2007-2008.

Foreign banking arrangements helped to improve payment processes for the Department of National Defence for paying local suppliers in Kandahar. To improve relations, the Canadian Forces needed a simple and rapid means to pay suppliers and others in Kandahar in local currency. This proved challenging because of the difficulties associated with buying Afghani currency, which is not directly available through Canadian banks.

With the objective of measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of the Receiver General's operations, we engaged an independent third party to undertake a benchmarking review against comparable operations in the public and private sectors. Although the initial analysis determined that it was not possible to find comparable benchmarks in the public and private sectors due to the complexity and uniqueness of operations, the study concluded that the Receiver General has established its operations so as to render them efficient and effective and that the vast majority of leading practices are in place.

In 2006-2007, the volume of activity continued to increase in Compensation Administration, following increases of 6% and 3.5% in the previous two years.

Although the national level of service to departments and agencies for pay and pension interventions improved by 2% over the previous year, the overall average of 88% was still below the 95% standard. This was due to a number of factors including a decrease in the quality of data received from departments, a lack of trained/qualified resources and the deployment of skilled resources to other priorities. As well, a national survey conducted at year-end indicated that client satisfaction has suffered somewhat, declining 13% (to 81%) from the 94% attained in the previous survey conducted two years ago.

Measures taken to address both of these issues include: closer monitoring of budgetary provisions to ensure funds are deployed to areas where they will have the most impact; seeking additional funding, where required, for recruitment and training; and implementing stringent quality control measures.

In the pension administration area, significant improvements have been made to meet the level of service standard for processing prior service purchase options. While the present number of non-finalized files over the 275-day objective is at its lowest for the last 10 years, reaching less than 2,000, challenges remain in closing the gap between the actual processing result of 73.2% and the 90% service standard. Means are being put in place to improve management of the workload, increase production levels and ensure that effective controls are in place to monitor and follow up on requests for required documentation.

Direct Deposit

In 2006-2007, direct deposit participation increased by an additional 5.3 million for a total of 172 million direct deposit payments. Already available in Canada and the United States, this method of payment was established in Australia, New Zealand and 12 European countries. Enrolment in the foreign direct deposit program is as high as 55.8% of eligible recipients, depending on the country. The direct deposit program eliminated requirements for some 2,500 metric tonnes of paper last year, saving approximately 50,000 trees.

Receiver General Settlement Streamlining

In 2006-2007, a new cheque format was developed that adheres to the industry-wide standard, offers increased security, and simplifies the cheque management and printing process. Testing with the financial institutions is scheduled to start in 2007-2008.

Enhancement of Current Pay Systems

Compensation Web Applications (CWA) provide employees with easy, online secure access to pay, benefits and pension information as well as tools to calculate pay and pension-related projections. Deployment of CWA continued across the Government of Canada. In departments where CWA was launched, 102,000 employees have access to the site and now have the option to choose not to receive the printed version of their pay stub. This new feature will reduce the usage of paper and, in turn, contribute to the greening of government and the environment.

Performance by Program Activity

In the following tables, we identify the commitments made in our Report on Plans and Priorities 2006-2007, as well as our performance against these commitments through five program activities: Receiver General Services; Public Service Compensation Services; Receiver General Stewardship; Public Service Pay Stewardship; and Public Service Pension Stewardship.

Receiver General Services (Strategic Outcome: Quality Services)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating (including Special Purpose Allotment) and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 11.2 10.0 10.7
Less: Respendable Revenues 2.4 3.4 3.4

Net Expenditures 8.8 6.6 7.3

Receiver General Services Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) 52 61 49


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.

The variance between the authorities and actual spending is due to an expenditure coded by error in this progarm activity instead of the Receiver General Stewardship.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Maintenance operations for the Departmental Financial Management System.

Provision of optional document-imaging services for departments.

Provision of optional payment-related printing such as tax information statements and pay statements.
Receiver General Services are timely, efficient and delivered within defined service standards.

Business development is based on growing imaging expertise.
  • Service levels for 16 clients were met or exceeded as established in Memoranda of Understanding 100% of the time. Two releases to production in September 2006 and February 2007 were delivered on time and within budget.
  • The system was available 99% of the year and 100% of transactions took less than 5 seconds.
  • In the domain of imaging, the standard for level of services was met most of the time.
  • 100% of statements were issued according to schedule.

Public Service Compensation Services (Strategic Outcome: Quality Services)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 3.6 4.6 4.4
Less: Respendable Revenues 1.9 2.6 2.6

Net Expenditures 1.7 2.0 1.9

Public Service Compensation Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) 50 56 52


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.

The variance between the authorities and actual spending is mainly due to the Corporate Management allocation.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Administration of payroll, pension and health/disability insurance processes for public service employees and pensioners.

Provision of pension services to the Department of National Defence (DND).
Communications to public service employees and pensioners via pay envelope inserts are provided in a timely manner.

Administration of pensions for Canadian Forces annuitants.
  • 29 pay inserts were distributed on time in accordance with sponsors' requirements, meeting service standards 100% of the time.
  • Pension actions for the DND pension system were successfully processed within service standards 99.5% of the time.

Receiver General Stewardship (Strategic Outcome: Sound Stewardship)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating (including Special Purpose Allotment) and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 148.2 155.8 146.0
Less: Respendable Revenues 21.3 18.0 18.0

Net Expenditures 126.9 137.8 128.0

Receiver General Stewardship Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) 520 494 423


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.

The variance between the authorities and actuals spending is due to the following factors : The reallocation of sound management cost, an expenditure coded to Receiver General Services instead of Receiver General Stewardship, and, in the Special Purpose Allotment : retroactive triennial costs not required; lower credit card volumes; lower postage requirements for the Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) program as a result of higher than anticipated enrolment in direct deposit; and lower infrastructure costs for the Receiver General Settlement Streamlining (RGSS) project. These surplus were not allocated to other priorities due to funding mechanism restrictions.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Maintenance of high-quality support for the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) and the Accounts of Canada (revenue collection, cash management operations, payment services, Public Accounts, Monthly Statement of Financial Operations, Central Accounts). The integrity of the CRF and the Accounts of Canada is preserved. Functions essential to the financial safety and security of the Canadian public are executed effectively.
  • The Monthly Statements of Financial Operations were produced on a yearly average 24.4 days after month-end, exceeding the performance target of 25 days.
  • 99.99% of payments were issued according to standard.
  • Daily authorization of the Bank of Canada for all outflows from the CRF was on schedule 96.6% of the time.
  • The 2005-2006 Public Accounts were produced as per schedule. This was the eighth consecutive year that a clean audit opinion was given by the Office of the Auditor General.
  • Cheque reconciliation was performed within 24 hours 99% of the time.
  • The reconciliation of deposits to the credit of the Receiver General was completed within two business days 95% of the time.

Public Service Pay Stewardship (Strategic Outcome: Sound Stewardship)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating (including Special Purpose Allotment) and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 31.3 41.0 39.7
Less: Respendable Revenues 3.6 7.8 7.8

Net Expenditures 27.7 33.2 31.9

Public Service Pay Stewardship Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) 379 383 422


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.

The variance between the authorities and actual spending is mainly due to the Corporate Management allocation. Other factors such as delays in staffing and revenues higher than expected explain the remaining portion of the variance.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Administration of payroll and health/disability insurance processes for public service employees and pensioners. The integrity of pay and benefits administration is assured.
  • Service-level standards for pay and pension transactions processed in the pay system were met 88% of the time, 7% below the service level standard of 95%. Results of the biennial Client Satisfaction Survey indicated that client departments were satisfied with services 81% of the time. This represents a 13% decrease since the last biennial survey.
  • Service-level agreements for systems reliability were met consistently. Minimal payroll processing disruptions were experienced while maintaining accuracy in the collection and remittance of deductions.
  • 190 collective agreements, letters of authority and pay rate changes were implemented accurately and effectively within the required timeframe.
  • Policy changes were implemented in a timely manner, meeting defined requirements and committed delivery timeframes.

Public Service Pension Stewardship (Strategic Outcome: Sound Stewardship)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating (including Special Purpose Allotment) and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 64.3 77.8 75.9
Less: Respendable Revenues 44.1 52.6 52.6

Net Expenditures 20.2 25.2 23.3

Public Service Pension Stewardship Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) 679 781 804


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.

The variance between the authorities and actual spending is mainly due to the Corporate Management allocation.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Administration of pension processes for public service pensioners. Assurance of the integrity of pension administration.
  • Initial pension payments were made within established standards 99.3% of the time (standard is 95%). Service standards for prior service purchases were not met, reaching an average of 73.2% of claims processed before the 275-days objective in 2006-2007, compared with the 90% goal. Service standards for provision of estimates of pension benefits within 5 days were met 97.3% of the time (standard is 90%).
  • Pension system service level agreements were met consistently during this reporting period. Minimal processing disruptions were experienced while maintaining accuracy of pension data.
  • Policy changes were implemented in a timely manner, meeting defined requirements and within committed delivery timeframes.

CONSULTING, INFORMATION AND SHARED SERVICES

Consulting, Information and Shared Services (CISS) has undergone significant changes since 2005 with the transfer of a number of programs (refer to Crosswalk of CISS Programs). In order to conform to the reporting structure of the Report on Plans and Priorities 2006-2007 and our approved Program Activity Architecture reporting structure, only the results of the original components of CISS (formerly Government Information and Consulting Services) are reported in this section.

CISS provides four distinct common services: government communications, public sector management, shared services and industrial security:

  • Communications Services makes government information easily accessible to Canadians and government through Public Opinion Research and Advertising Coordination, the Canada Gazette, Canadian Government Publishing and Depository Services programs, Crown Copyright and Licensing, Electronic Media Monitoring, and the Government of Canada Exhibitions Program;
  • Government Consulting Services provides public service consulting expertise that improves public sector management;
  • Shared Services Integration supports four shared corporate administrative systems, and provides HR services to small departments and agencies; and
  • Industrial Security assesses individuals and companies to ensure that they meet security requirements for government contracts involving access to sensitive information and assets, and handling of controlled goods.

Crosswalk of CISS Programs

Government Information Services

  • In the 2006-2007 Report on Plans and Priorities, commitments for CISS appeared under the transitional name of Government Information and Consulting Services.
  • In 2006-2007, the name was changed to Consulting, Information and Shared Services (CISS) and its mandate was updated as follows:

Former Public Access Programs

  • As the accountabilities for 1 800 O-Canada, Canada Site, Publiservice, and Gateways and Clusters services were transferred by an Order-in-Council on September 12, 2005, these services are addressed by Service Canada in the Departmental Performance Report of Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC).
  • Public Access Programs' spending authority will be transferred from PWGSC to HRSDC in the 2007-2008 Supplementary Estimates, as approved by the Treasury Board.

Government Consulting Services

  • 2006-2007 results and highlights for Government Consulting Services are provided in the Consulting and Audit Canada section of this report.

Former Business Integration Services

  • In February 2006, Industrial Security and Shared Services Integration were transferred to CISS. Tthese programs are discussed in the Business Integration section of this report.

Throughout 2006-2007, in addition to completing the transition of the Public Access Programs to Service Canada, the branch concluded its internal transition activities to integrate Government Consulting Services, Shared Services Integration, and Industrial Security with its existing Communications Services.

Consulting, Information and Shared Services supports PWGSC's two strategic outcomes through two program activities:

Quality Services

  • Government Information Services; and

Sound Stewardship

  • Government Information Stewardship.

The expenditures and actual results for 2006-2007 for the above activities are summarized at the end of this CISS section.

Performance by 2006-2007 Priorities

The strategic change and improvement initiatives impacting the results of our program activities are presented by the PWGSC strategic priorities, as follows:

  • Transforming our Business;
  • Strengthening Accountability and Transparency; and
  • Supporting the Government's Strategic Agenda.

Transforming our Business

At the beginning of 2006-2007, the new CISS branch was fragmented, with incomplete internal corporate support functions providing services to the branch's business lines and the Consulting and Audit functions of the now segregated Consulting and Audit Canada.

CISS successfully "right-sized" its support functions to meet the needs of its four business lines. Economies were generated by eliminating positions with overlapping responsibilities. Some support positions were transformed into revenue-generating positions for Government Consulting Services (GCS).

The branch required a strong foundation to ensure the integrity of operations. Work groups were created to target key areas to strengthen the focus on delivery during the transition. These areas included governance and organizational design, integration of support services, and strengthening the management control framework.

As part of its transition activities, CISS refocused GCS to offer services requiring public sector expertise in support of government initiatives such as sustainable development strategies, public service renewal, human resources management modernization, and program evaluations. In 2007-2008, CISS will engage key GCS clients to further refine service offerings.

Strengthening Accountability and Transparency

In response to the November 2005 Auditor General's Report, Chapter 2, "The Quality and Reporting of Surveys." Public Opinion Research and Advertising Coordination (PORAC) created an advisory panel on telephone survey quality. The panel comprised public and private sector subject matter experts. The initiative's objective is to strengthen the quality of telephone surveys conducted on behalf of the government by developing survey standards and guidelines for departments. The panel made a range of recommendations focusing on ways to address the long-term, worldwide trend toward declining response rates.

The report has been made available to the public, the marketing research industry and the public opinion research community within the federal government. Recommendations from the report will guide the development of new public opinion research contracting tools. This work contributed directly to the Government Information Stewardship Program Activity.


Key Facts*

  • The Canada Gazette met all legislated deadlines while achieving an error rate of less than 0.1%.
  • Publishing programs distributed over 1.2 million items and over 3 million publications were downloaded directly from its website.
  • 80 federal departments and organizations accessed 47 electronic news sources through Electronic Media Monitoring's (EMM) license contracts.
  • The Government of Canada Exhibitions Program coordinated 10 Canada Pavilion and 17 Federal Presence events across the county, welcoming 540,000 visitors
  • Advice and counsel were provided on over 630 registered advertising initiatives and over 560 public opinion research projects to GC communicators.
 * Source: PWGSC databases, Integrated Publications Management System, Publications.gc.ca, EMM client list, Advertising Management Information System, Research Information Management System, Financial Management System.

In support of the Federal Accountability Act and Action Plan, PORAC provided advice and support to the Treasury Board Secretariat that assisted in developing amendments to the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada by:

  • adding a statement emphasizing that the bidding process for contracting of public opinion research and advertising activities be open, fair and transparent;
  • including a new definition of advertising to distinguish it from non-paid messages such as public service announcements, and from supporting services such as public relations and event management; and
  • requiring departments to provide written public opinion research reports and to make them available to the public through the Library of Parliament and Library and Archives Canada within six months of completion of field work.

With continual improvement to management controls and processes over the past three years, PORAC received a favourable assessment in the February 2007 Auditor General's Report, Chapter 1, "Advertising and Public Opinion Research." The report made no critical observations or recommendations for improvement.

Supporting the Government's Strategic Agenda

Through its commitment to the Government Information Services Program Activity, CISS provides communications services to citizens and other government departments based on the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada.

CISS carried out client satisfaction surveys in 2006-2007. Client satisfaction ratings for CISS communications services were high, ranging from 77% to 97%.

CISS is responsible for publication of the Canada Gazette within legislated timelines. In 2006-2007, the Canada Gazette met all legislated deadlines and maintained an error rate of less than one tenth of a percent.

The Canada Gazette initiated a pilot project to gauge the feasibility of and interest in an interactive online tool to educate future Canadian voters. Focus group sessions led to a realignment of the initiative. The Canada Gazette will now partner with Library and Archives Canada to develop a fully digitized, indexed online research tool to chronicle the history of the Canada Gazette. This tool will assist the work of researchers, librarians, genealogical associations and the legal community. One section will be dedicated to educational resources for secondary school curricula.

Publishing and Depository Services (PDS) continued to make government publications accessible to Canadians in print and electronic versions. In 2006-2007, PDS:

  • increased the number of downloadable titles available on its website from 25,000 to 40,000. The publications website and database now contain over 120,000 records; and,
  • launched the "Client Care Module" on the publications website enabling Canadians to access their account information online. In addition, PDS can now send e-notifications to clients, thus reducing some processing, printing and distribution costs.

The Government of Canada Exhibitions Program (GCEP) informs Canadians about government priorities, programs, services and access channels at exhibitions and events across Canada. Coordination of government participation at events ensures economies of scale by co-locating individual departments and programs at events in all parts of Canada. Through the Canada Pavilion, the program provides Canadians with one-stop access to a broad range of government programs and services and how to access them.

In 2006-2007, GCEP:

  • coordinated 10 Canada Pavilion and 17 Federal Presence events across the country;
  • coordinated the participation of 19 programs from 10 departments at Americana 2007, a high-profile, international environmental technology conference; and
  • coordinated a Government of Canada presence at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference held in Montreal.

Performance by Program Activity

In the following tables, we identify the commitments made in our Report on Plans and Priorities 2006-2007, as well as our performance against those commitments through two program activities: Government Information Services; and Government Information Stewardship.

Government Information Services (Strategic Outcome: Quality Services)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating, Grants and Contributions and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 43.6 40.9 40.0
Less: Respendable Revenues 11.3 9.2 9.2

Net Expenditures 32.3 31.7 30.8

Government Information Services Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) 201 216 180


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.

Consulting, Information and Shared Services Branch (CISSB) includes activities for Government Information Services and Stewardship, as well as Business Integration Services and Consulting Services. CISSB ended the year at almost breakeven (0.8% variance overall) because, in accordance with the Policy on Special Revenue Spending Authorities, the Branch covered the Consulting shortfall under the Consulting and Audit Canada Revolving Funds.

This table also includes $14.1 million of net actual expenditures relating to the Public Access Programs Sector that was transferred to Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC) by Order in Council Sept 12, 2005.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Management of the Government of Canada's (GC) communications platform by providing multi-channel access to information on government programs and services. Information about federal government programs and services is provided effectively and cost-efficiently using a broad range of communications channels and services that are fairly and transparently obtained.
  • The activity and associated planned results were originally defined to include the activities of the Public Access Programs. PWGSC is currently working to amend the Program Activity Architecture to more accurately reflect the activities of CISS.
  • 90% of surveyed visitors said that the Canada Pavilion increases their awareness of GC services available to them.
  • 81% of surveyed visitors said that the Canada Pavilion helped to provide them with information that might otherwise have been difficult to find.
  • 2006-2007 client satisfaction levels:
    • Canada Gazette 97%
    • Crown Copyright and Licensing 93%
    • Publishing 77%
    • Depository Services 79%
    • Public Opinion Research and Advertising Coordination 80%
  • Government Publishing achieved its cost-recoverable financial objectives in 2006-2007.
  • 84% cost savings were achieved by the aggregate purchase of news sources through a centralized program.
  • Library community can now access Statistics Canada publications and an increased number of Natural Resources Canada maps and publications through the Depository Services Program. Savings for GC will be generated by consolidation of these orders.
  • The Canada Gazette met all legislated publication dates in accordance with the Statutory Instruments Act and provided simultaneous access to both print and electronic official versions. An error rate of less than one tenth of a percent was achieved.

Government Information Stewardship (Strategic Outcome: Sound Stewardship)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating, Grants and Contributions and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 18.2 18.6 20.3
Less: Respendable Revenues 0.1  -   - 

Net Expenditures 18.1 18.6 20.3

Government Information Stewardship Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) 64 61 55


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.

Consulting, Information and Shared Services Branch (CISSB) includes activities for Government Information Services and Stewardship, as well as Business Integration Services and Consulting Services. CISSB ended the year at almost breakeven (0.8% variance overall) because, in accordance with the Policy on Special Revenue Spending Authorities, the Branch covered the Consulting shortfall under the Consulting and Audit Canada Revolving Funds.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Provision of government-wide strategic management, coordination and monitoring in the areas of advertising, public opinion research and electronic media monitoring, activities that are detailed in the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada and its associated procedures. Government information services are provided from a whole-of-government perspective with transparency and accountability, and their finances are managed soundly.
  • Annual reports for Public Opinion Research (POR) and Advertising Coordination were published. http://www.pwgsc.gc.ca/por/text/rpt05-06-01-e.html and http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/advrptpub/text/annrpt-05-06-e.html
  • 80% of Public Opinion Research and Advertising Coordination public servant clients said they were satisfied with the level of service received.
  • 90% of Public Opinion Research course participants and 89% of Advertising Coordination course participants indicated that the information received during information sessions would be useful to them in their duties.
  • More than 88% of surveyed sector clients are aware of policies and procedures relating to advertising and public opinion.
  • Public Opinion Research provided advisory services to 45 departments resulting in 562 research initiatives.
  • Advertising Coordination provided advisory services to 53 departments resulting in 636 media placement approvals.
  • Electronic Media Monitoring hosted five community practice sessions with representatives from over 20 departments.

BUSINESS INTEGRATION

Prior to February 2006, PWGSC's program activities associated with Business Integration were the responsibility of the Service Integration Branch. This branch no longer exists, and its four Business Integration functions have been reassigned: two across the department and two to the Consulting, Information and Shared Services Branch.

Until a new Program Activity Architecture has been approved by the Treasury Board Secretariat, we will report the strategic plans and initiatives of these functions against the Business Integration program activities.

Business Integration supports PWGSC's two strategic outcomes through two program activities:

Quality Services

  • Business Integration Services; and

Sound Stewardship

  • Business Integration Performance Management.

The expenditures and actual results for 2006-2007 for the above program activities are summarized at the end of this Business Integration section.

Performance by 2006-2007 Priorities

The strategic change and improvement initiatives impacting the results of our program activities are presented by the PWGSC 2006-2007 strategic priorities, as follows:

  • Transforming our Business;
  • Strengthening Accountability and Transparency; and
  • Supporting the Government's Strategic Agenda.

Transforming our Business

Client Relationship Management and Engagement

The centralized PWGSC client consultancy unit in the former Service Integration Branch was phased out in 2006, with the client consultancy resources moving to Acquisitions and Real Property. This arrangement contributed to the continued support of the Business Integration Performance Management Program Activity.

We developed a client relationship management tool, Client Data Integration Plus (CDIPlus), to track key client issues and create a central repository of client information in PWGSC. Centralizing this information is all the more important with the phase-out of the central client consultancy unit. The various branches and regional offices will enter client information into CDIPlus.

Centralizing the client information will permit analysis across business lines and regions with client departments. That information will be supplemented by a client survey to collect key information for measuring results and, ultimately, establish performance targets.

Strengthening Accountability and Transparency

Menu of Products and Services

To give PWGSC's clients ready access to product and service details, including fee structures, a menu of products and services was drafted and installed on the CDIPlus application.

Listings for the Office of Greening Government Operations; Consulting, Information and Shared Services; and Information Technology Services are being added to the menu. Updates planned for the coming year include the revised performance measures and fee schedules being developed.

The Treasury Board Secretariat's Service Policy Framework is resulting in a new policy suite that requires organizations to have an inventory of the services they offer. In PWGSC's case, the menu of products and services will fulfil this requirement and contribute to the Business Integration Services Program Activity. We will also meet the Treasury Board Secretariat's requirement to access interdepartmental service agreements by housing these agreements in CDIPlus.

Supporting the Government's Strategic Agenda

Industrial Security Sector

The Industrial Security Sector (ISS) has two main functions, both of which contribute to the Business Integration Services Program Activity:

  • contract security clears individuals and companies for government contracts requiring access to sensitive information and assets; and
  • controlled goods assesses individuals and companies who handle controlled goods to ensure that they meet security requirements.

In 2006-2007, ISS worked to improve and streamline services, facilitate access to foreign government contracting opportunities for Canadian industry, and strengthen stakeholder relationships. For example, ISS:

  • completed the design and development of the Online Industrial Security Services portal, and developed the prototype for the Online Inquiry Service; once operational, authorized users from both the public and private sectors will be able to access the Online Inquiry Service to confirm the security clearance status of their employees;
  • streamlined services:
    • 85% of security requirements checklists, part of the contracting process, processed within 21 days, and
    • 98% of new or renewal registrations for the Controlled Goods Program processed within 30 days;
  • developed an Industrial Security Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Canada and Finland in November 2006 that is expected to generate millions of dollars in trade opportunities for Canadian industry. This agreement allows companies in Canada and Finland to bid on each other's sensitive government contracts and projects and is the first Canadian international agreement to cover both military and non-military contracts; and
  • coordinated a joint meeting between the Industrial Security Advisory Board (ISAB), and the Government Industrial Security Advisory Board (GISAB). The session created a two-way forum, enabling industry associations to express their concerns, and provided the government security and intelligence community with an opportunity to communicate their challenges, priorities and long-term plans:
    • ISAB comprises representatives from ISS and nine key industry associations including the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada, Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries, and the Canadian Construction Association.
    • GISAB is the government's primary industrial security forum and is made up of representatives from ISS and 19 government departments including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Industry Canada and the Department of National Defence.
Shared Services Integration

Shared Services Integration (SSI) is a full cost-recovery program dedicated to reducing government's investment in corporate administrative systems and processes, thereby reducing overall costs.

SSI provides services to clusters of departments and agencies using four corporate administrative shared systems:

  • Human Resources Information System to 29 departments and agencies;
  • Automated Materiel Management Information System to 14 departments and agencies;
  • Integrated Financial and Materiel System (IFMS) — SAP to 16 departments and agencies; and
  • Government of Canada Human Resources Management System PeopleSoft to 21 departments and agencies.

In 2006-2007, PWGSC used a common approach to move Oracle/PeopleSoft and IFMS members to new government standards. Standardization will allow for common data capture; horizontal integration of administrative support activities, including finance, human resources and materiel management; significantly more informed and better decision-making; and cost reductions.

SSI also provides full cost-recovery transaction-based Shared Human Resources Services (SHRS) for 20 small departments and agencies. In 2006-2007, plans were made to move SHRS to a cluster model of operations to maximize economies of scale. As a first step, MOUs were standardized for SHRS clients and a revised costing model was created.

Performance by Program Activity

In the following tables, we identify the commitments made in our Report on Plans and Priorities 2006–2007, as well as our performance against those commitments through two program activities: Business Integration Services and Business Integration Performance Management.

Business Integration Services (Strategic Outcome: Quality Services)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 22.2 39.8 38.3
Less: Respendable Revenues 12.2 22.9 22.9

Net Expenditures 10.0 16.9 15.5

Business Integration Services Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) 133 159 167


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.

Consulting, Information and Shared Services Branch (CISSB) includes activities for Government Information Services and Stewardship, as well as Business Integration Services and Consulting Services. CISSB ended the year at almost breakeven (0.8% variance overall) because, in accordance with the Policy on Special Revenue Spending Authorities, the Branch covered the Consulting shortfall under the CACRF.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Identification and development of strategic business and process opportunities to integrate services provided by PWGSC, and to take advantage of economies of scale with colleague departments, the Government of Canada and all other interjurisdictional agencies and organizations, including regions. PWGSC is an organization that fosters a harmonized environment, including:
  • improved access to PWGSC services;
  • improved communication with colleagues and other government departments;
  • increased horizontal initiatives; and
  • added value for resources expended.

Results for Industrial Security Sector

  • 94% of Canadian and international visit requests processed in 15 working days.
  • 94% of contract-related document control requests processed within 15 days.
  • 85% of security requirement checklists processed within 21 days.

Results for Shared Services Integration Sector

  • 77 departments and agencies participated in system cluster groups.
  • 20 small departments and agencies used Shared Human Resources Services.

Business Integration Performance Management (Strategic Outcome: Sound Stewardship)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 43.9 40.7 40.7
Less: Respendable Revenues 38.5 34.6 34.6

Net Expenditures 5.4 6.1 6.1

Business Integration Performance Management Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) 459 449 449


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.

Note 1: Business Integration Performance Management program activity figures reflect internal recoveries that cannot be charged to other program activities


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Establishment of client service expectations and monitoring of overall service performance of PWGSC. This will include ensuring that customer satisfaction is effectively measured, and contribute to the thought process for branch initiatives on strategic process improvements. PWGSC is an organization that:
  • has a sound results-oriented framework using PWGSC's Management Accountability Framework;
  • acts in the best interests of the department, its program branches, colleague departments and Canadians;
  • has an integrated quality assurance framework and processes; and
  • ensures that all services are timely and cost-effective for Canadians.
When the Service Integration Branch (SIB) was dismantled in February 2006, this program activity was changed to focus on changes to revolving funds for Internal Services for transparency purposes. Due to the complex financial reporting structure of PWGSC, a portion of the internal services related to our revolving funds cannot be allocated department-wide and must therefore be captured under this program activity.

Business Integration - Client Relations Management

The financial expenditures for Business Integration Client Relations Management are not shown because, for the Treasury Board Secretariat’s financial reporting purposes, these costs have been re-allocated to the other program activities as departmental overheads.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Strategic management of client relationships at an enterprise level with the goal of generating high levels of sustainable client satisfaction through the most efficient and effective means possible, including regular performance measurements. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) will focus on a strategy that is enabled by technology in improving efficiency for taxpayers and the Government of Canada. PWGSC is an organization that:
  • is client focused;
  • has an integrated CRM framework; and
  • exhibits and reinforces a culture that fosters ethical values and behaviour.
  • The former SIB had only developed some elements of a CRM framework; these included 20 client strategies, the development of a menu of PWGSC products and services, and an issues tracking process.
  • Client Focus has been decentralized to the branches through their client consultancy units, as part of PWGSC's transformation activities.

SPECIAL OPERATING AGENCIES

PWGSC has two special operating agencies (SOAs): The Translation Bureau and Consulting and Audit Canada (CAC) which is made up of two distinct entities: Audit Services Canada (ASC) and Government Consulting Services (GCS), the latter being integrated within Consulting, Information and Shared Services (CISS). Since the two entities continue to share the CAC revolving fund, and to comply with reporting requirements, Government Consulting Services forms part of the current subsection.

Consulting and Audit Canada

17 years ago, the Bureau of Management Consulting was merged with the Audit Services Bureau to create Consulting and Audit Canada (CAC), a Special Operating Agency (SOA) financed by a revolving fund with a mission to contribute to public sector management and operations and the achievement of the Government of Canada's (GC) priorities. It does so by providing consulting, audit and assurance services to public sector managers in Canada and abroad.

Based on reviews of CAC in 2005 and the industry trend to segregate consulting and audit functions in firms involved in both these business lines, it was decided to restructure CAC. Audit Services Canada (ASC) was created and Government Consulting Services (GCS) was integrated with Consulting, Information and Shared Services. ASC and GCS both operate under a fee-for-services structure.

CAC supports PWGSC's Quality Services strategic outcome through one program activity:

  • Consulting and Audit Canada Revolving Fund.

The expenditures and actual results for 2006-2007 for the above program activity are summarized at the end of this CAC section.


Key Facts*

Audit Services Canada

  • Received 92% client satisfaction for audit services provided to clients.
  • Employed roughly 150 professionals, with two-thirds located in regional offices outside the National Capital Region.
  • Engaged in approximately 300 projects across Canada.
  • Played strategic role in the implementation of the Treasury Board Policy on Internal Audit.
 *Source: PWGSC databases, Client Satisfaction Survey.

Performance by 2006-2007 Priorities

The strategic change and improvement initiatives, impacting the results of the Consulting and Audit Canada Revolving Fund Program Activity, are presented for ASC and GCS.

Audit Services Canada

ASC's mission is to contribute to improving public sector management, accountability and operations by providing assurance, audit and accounting services. ASC has a large group of professionally qualified auditors with excellent knowledge of government. The services have been provided for over 60 years.

In 2006-2007 ASC conducted more than 300 assignments in the areas of:

  • contract cost audits;
  • contribution (transfer payment) audits;
  • regulatory compliance audits;
  • project and program audits;
  • internal audits;
  • operational audits;
  • performance and value-for-money audits;
  • compliance audits
  • lease audits; and
  • risk-based audit frameworks.

ASC achieved this year's business goals of:

  • providing high-quality audit services to clients (92% of clients surveyed said they were satisfied) supported by quality assurance undertaken by the newly established Professional Practices Group;
  • developing new business opportunities and relationships, including three Memoranda of Understanding to support the Office of the Comptroller General (OCG) in its small department and agency audits, large horizontal audits, and liaison with other large departments and agencies;
  • modernizing its workplace by making optimal use of technologies and promoting knowledge-sharing among staff members; and
  • enhancing the skills and competencies of its workforce through professional audit training.

For ASC to be officially recognized, it needed a new charter, which has been developed and is awaiting approval. We also developed and maintained a strategic partnership with the OCG in order to support and enhance the internal audit capacity within the federal government.

During 2006-2007, ASC created the Professional Practices Group to provide a robust quality assurance process, including peer reviews and practice inspections. All ASC offices were subject to inspection of their internal practices to determine what improvements are required to meet Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants standards. The Group developed an action plan that is being implemented.

ASC also developed human resources and succession plans, which were approved and are being implemented. Internal and external competitions have been launched to fill vacant positions, but an acute shortage of audit professionals has made it impossible to do so quickly. Where there were critical staff shortages, ASC closely supervised the use of private sector resources on a limited basis.

In compliance with the new Public Service Employment Act, ASC evaluated and renewed the Audit Professional Development Program to ensure its auditors' skills and knowledge are kept up to date. In 2006-2007, the program reached its target of five training days per Full-Time Equivalent.

In 2006-2007, ASC maintained its regional delivery network to minimize travel costs and to ensure that regional clients have every access to ASC's services. On a limited basis, ASC used private sector resources, working under supervision, where there were critical staff shortages and time constraints.

Government Consulting Services

Serving as the government in-house management consulting group, GCS provides specialized advice and solutions to improve public sector management in Canada and abroad. GCS recently realigned its activities to focus on the core consulting services most relevant to managers in government departments and agencies.

GCS provides a wide range of expertise and knowledge to support public sector managers in responding to government-wide and program-specific priorities and challenges. Federal departments seek GCS services to obtain advice and identify solutions that allow them to meet their program objectives and accountabilities. Services offered by GCS support government operations in areas such as:

  • financial and risk management;
  • quantitative analysis;
  • strategic planning;
  • integrated human resources and business planning;
  • Public Service Renewal initiatives;
  • information security advice and business continuity planning;
  • information management;
  • litigation support;
  • web-based service delivery (e-services);
  • business case development;
  • regulatory impact analysis statements;
  • program evaluation;
  • performance measurement frameworks;
  • results-based management and accountability frameworks;
  • sustainable development strategies and environmental management planning; and
  • international services, which focus on acting as an executing agency on behalf of the Canadian International Development Agency.

Overall in 2006-2007, GCS met its planned business objectives. It carried out more than 200 projects, with a total value of $54 million. About half of these projects addressed government priorities in the areas of:

  • health and food safety (35 projects);
  • crime and security (35 projects); and
  • environment (32 projects).

The remainder of the projects supported departmental priorities and management issues.

GCS maintained a consistently high level of client satisfaction, achieving an overall rating of 91%, surpassing its target of 85%. However, the continuing impact of the reorganization of GCS created instability with personnel. In addition, the decision to accelerate the divestiture of project/contract management services affected GCS 2006-2007 financial results.


Key Facts*

Government Consulting Services

  • 91% client satisfaction rating
  • 83% of clients indicated that using GCS resulted in improved management and operations for their organizations
  • Over 200 projects undertaken for 55 federal organizations
 *Source: PWGSC databases, Client Satisfaction Survey System database, Assignment Management System.

In response to a 2005 KPMG report that identified deficiencies related to the procurement and the project and contract management processes in CAC's consulting arm, GCS has been undertaking several activities to enhance internal controls and realign key contracting activities. Activities in 2006-2007 included:

  • completing the integration of the organization and its operations with the Consulting, Information and Shared Services Branch;
  • restructuring GCS services to focus on core management consulting business lines that are best carried out by public servants, and realigning consulting teams and their work to better respond to new government priorities;
  • accelerating the transfer of activities related to contracting of private sector expertise, primarily small and medium enterprises, to PWGSC's Acquisitions Branch. This was an integral part of the initiative to accelerate the divestiture of project and contract management services that were previously performed by GCS on behalf of other federal departments and agencies
  • administering an internal survey, resulting in recommendations that the GCS Code of Ethics and Conduct be updated and that employees receive additional information on recourse mechanisms; and
  • continuing to increase GCS’s bilingual capacity as more consultants attended full-time language training, and placed increased emphasis on hiring bilingual consultants who meet the operational requirements of GCS and client departments.

Performance by Program Activity

In the following tables, we identify the commitments made in our Report on Plans and Priorities 2006-2007, as well as our performance against those commitments through one program activity: Consulting and Audit Canada Revolving Fund

Consulting and Audit Canada Revolving Fund (Strategic Outcome: Quality Services)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Statutory Vote  
Gross Expenditures 98.7 98.7 71.4
Less: Respendable Revenues 99.2 99.2 71.9

Net Resources (Provided) Used (Note1) (0.5) (0.5) (0.5)

Consulting and Audit Canada Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) 390 390 285


Note: Please note that this financial table has not been audited.

The reduction in business volume is mainly attributable to a decrease of staff fee revenue due to difficulties encountered with the staffing process, resulting in 105 fewer FTEs than planned. In accordance with the Policy on Special Revenue Spending Authorities, the Consulting and Audit Canada Revolving Fund received $5.4 million from the Operating Vote to cover the shortfall. The Consulting Services portion of $2.1 million was absorbed by Government Information and Business Integration Services while the Audit Services deficit of $3.3 million was funded through internal reallocations.

Note 1: The amounts reported for the Consulting and Audit Canada Revolving Fund are on a modified cash basis.


Program Activity Planned Results Audit Services Canada Actual Results
Provision, on an optional and fee-for-service basis, of consulting and audit services to federal departments and agencies and, on request, to provincial, territorial, municipal and Aboriginal governments in Canada and to foreign governments and international organizations. Improved public sector management and operations.

High-quality and professional services.

Cost-effective delivery of services.

Cost-effective delivery of services.
  • Overall client satisfaction rate: 92%
  • Increase in number of clients: 10%
  • Training days per full-time equivalent (FTE): 5
  • Invested $2.5 million in staff training and the establishment of the Professional Practices Group.
    Government Consulting Services Actual Results
   
  • Client feedback on improvement of management and operations: 83%
  • Overall level of satisfaction: 91%
  • Utilization rate of staff: 73.5%
  • Training days per FTE: 4.9 days

TRANSLATION BUREAU

The Translation Bureau is a key component of the government's service delivery infrastructure. It helps the government serve Canadians and communicate with them in the official language of their choice, as well as in Aboriginal and foreign languages, by standardizing terminology within the public service and providing translation, revision, interpretation, terminology and technolinguistic services for Parliament, the judiciary, and federal departments and agencies.

The Bureau ensures that a critical mass of skilled language professionals—employees and suppliers—is available. Thus it enables the government to operate smoothly, meet its official languages obligations, and promote the values of linguistic duality and multiculturalism that make up the Canadian identity. The Bureau provides services in more than 100 languages to support the government in its international relations and in its communications with those Canadians who have difficulty communicating in either official language.

The Translation Bureau supports PWGSC's two strategic outcomes through three program activities:

Quality Services

  • Translation and Interpretation to Parliament, Conference Interpretation, Terminology;
  • Translation Bureau Revolving Fund; and

Sound Stewardship

  • Translation Stewardship.

The expenditures and actual results for 2006-2007 for the above program activities are summarized at the end of this Translation Bureau section.

Performance by 2006-2007 Priorities

The strategic change and improvement initiatives impacting the results of our program activities are presented by the PWGSC 2006-2007 strategic priorities, as follows:

  • Transforming our Business; and
  • Supporting the Government's Strategic Agenda.

Key Facts*

  • Translated 1.5 million pages at 60 service centres.
  • Manages TERMIUM®, the Government of Canada's terminology and linguistic data bank.
  • Federal government's centre of expertise for translation, revision, interpretation and technolinguistics.
  • Public service authority on language and terminology standards.
  • Provided translation services 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
  • Made it possible for some 3,700 small and medium linguistic services firms to obtain government contracts.
 *Sources: Departmental databases, Translation Integrated Ordering System

Transforming our Business

During the fiscal year, the Bureau continued its adoption of a strategic, value-added approach rather than a transactions-based approach for its operations. It accelerated the implementation of its new business model by assigning 47 on-site translators and designating 243 dedicated translators to serve clients better. It began implementing a translation memory in its points of service. This initiative will ultimately increase the efficiency of the translation process and help to more effectively manage the knowledge contained in the body of translations provided for the government. The Bureau also introduced electronic billing, making its operations more environmentally friendly. All of this contributed to the Translation Stewardship Program Activity and Translation Bureau Revolving Fund Program Activity.

The Bureau reviewed its roles and responsibilities and drew up an action plan for carrying out its mandate more fully, while providing additional benefits for the government through its operational expertise. The Bureau continued to improve the quality and uniformity of government communications by assigning additional resources to revision and quality control. It began developing standards and common practices for the purchase of linguistic services. The Bureau also initiated discussions with Acquisitions to set up a commodity council for translation services and develop a linguistic services strategy for the government.

The Bureau maintained a satisfaction rate of 94% for its interpretation services and 84% for its translation services. It increased its market share to 64% while remaining focused on its objective of generating savings for its clients. As of April 1, 2006, the rate charged for administrative translation was reduced by 17%.

Supporting the Government's Strategic Agenda

As a bilingual nation whose prosperity is closely tied to international trade, Canada needs a reliable source of efficient, high-quality linguistic services. However, Canada faces a shortage of qualified language professionals. The labour shortage affects not only the government, but also the provinces and territories. It is particularly serious in the areas of interpretation and foreign languages because of a lack of university programs and already scarce qualified resources.

The Bureau, together with the Language Industry Association, produced a brochure to provide young people with information on language professions. It actively promoted these professions to young people in colleges and secondary schools in provinces with universities offering language study programs. It also increased and diversified its participation in a variety of recruiting forums and intensified its cooperation with colleges and universities. As part of its succession planning, the Bureau maintained its partnership with the University of Ottawa, notably with respect to the master's degree in interpretation.

To further strengthen the industry and ensure a secure supply of linguistic services for the government and Canada as a whole, some measures were implemented in partnership with other industry players. As a result, 57% of the total value of linguistic services contracts awarded by the Bureau were made up of contracts worth $200,000 or more. This helps to ensure the viability and competitiveness of small and medium-size translation and interpretation services firms. The Language Technologies Research Centre, resulting from a partnership between the Translation Bureau, the National Research Council of Canada and the Université du Québec en Outaouais, opened in June 2006.

The Bureau continued to provide Canada's Parliament with quality translation and interpretation services while handling a substantially greater workload resulting from an upsurge in parliamentary activities and increasingly tighter deadlines. This was carried out in support of the Translation and Interpretation to Parliament, Conference Interpretation, Terminology Program Activity.

It continued to set up the necessary infrastructure for meeting the new delivery timeframes for House of Commons and Senate committee deliberations. It participated in a House of Commons review of the production of committee reports and developed a solution for French-language captioning of House debates, which will go into service when Parliament reconvenes in the fall of 2007. The Bureau also provided interpretation services during large-scale conferences and visits by foreign heads of state.

In fulfilling its terminology standardization mandate and making tools available to public servants to enable them to work in English and French, the Bureau contributed to the effectiveness of government communications and the maintenance of an exemplary public service from the official languages standpoint. During 2006-2007, it developed a program to promote the use of plain language, providing an increasing number of public servants with resources such as Language Nook, and launching a new series of linguistic recommendation notices. The Bureau published various lexicons, for example, the Diamond Cutting Vocabulary, which was compiled at the request of the Northwest Territories and adjoining provinces. It also strengthened its multilingual capacity; it hired two specialized terminologists for Spanish and Portuguese to provide support for projects related to Free Trade Area of the Americas activities, and it launched the Portuguese version of its terminology educational software, which alread enjoys an international reputation.

The Bureau completed the design of a Linguistic Portal project that will enable all Canadians to benefit from its terminology and linguistic resources. It is developing the next generation of TERMIUM®, which will help client departments and organizations store and update their own terminology.

The Bureau continued to represent Canada at major national and international language forums and standardization networks and committees. At the national level, the Bureau coordinated the activities of the Joint Committee on Terminology in Canada, which published the Directory of Terminologists in Canada, and worked with the Université du Québec en Outaouais and the Office québécois de la langue française to organize the international symposium Terminologie et approches transdisciplinaires, held in Gatineau in the spring of 2007. Internationally, Bureau representatives attended meetings of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in Beijing and helped develop new international standards. It obtained the authorization of the European Association for Terminology to hold the 4th World Terminology Summit in Gatineau in October 2008, and it signed five new international cooperation agreements. The Bureau also continued to store in TERMIUM® the information technology terminology of the ISO's International Electrotechnical Commission.

Performance by Program Activity

In the following tables, we identify the commitments made in our Report on Plans and Priorities 2006-2007, as well as our performance against those commitments through three program activities: Translation and Interpretation to Parliament, Conference Interpretation, Terminology; Translation Bureau Revolving Fund; and Translation Stewardship.

Translation and Interpretation to Parliament, Conference Interpretation, Terminology (Strategic Outcome: Quality Services)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 51.9 57.1 58.2
Less: Respendable Revenues  -   -   - 

Net Expenditures 51.9 57.1 58.2

Translation and Interpretation to Parliament, Conference Interpretation, Terminology Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs)  -   -   - 


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.

The variance between the authority of $57.1 million and the actuals of $58.2 million is due to the $1.1 million technical adjustment of the transfer of the collective bargaining amount funding received from TB in salaries expenditures into operating that has not been reflected in the authority.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Provision of translation and interpretation services to Parliament, of conference interpretation and of terminology services.
  • Parliament, the judiciary and other government organizations receive best value service to ensure the government's ability to function in both official languages, and other languages as required.
  • Percentage of sessions of both Houses of Parliament covered: 100%
  • Percentage of clients satisfied with service: Based on a formal, independent survey, the satisfaction rates were 84% for translation services and 94% for interpretation services.1
  • Number of hits on Translation Bureau's Terminology site (TERMIUM®): More than 640 million queries, including 66,440,109 searches.

1 The data are taken from a survey on federal public sector client satisfaction with suppliers of translation and interpretation services (Sondage sur la satisfaction des clients du secteur public fédéral envers les fournisseurs de services de traduction et d'interprétation) conducted by TNS/Groupe ANTIMA on behalf of the Translation Bureau. The firm selected a stratified, disproportional random sample of federal government employees who have used the Bureau's services since April 1, 2006. For translation services, the data were gathered from 832 respondents between September 5 and September 27, 2006. The response rate was 45% and the margin of error (higher in the case of sub-samples) was +/-3.4%, 19 times out of 20. For conference interpretation services, the data were gathered from 100 respondents between September 5 and 15, 2006. The response rate was 31% and the margin of error (higher in the case of sub-samples) was 9%, 19 times out of 20. In both cases, a posteriori weighting was used to correct the results so that they were representative of the entire targeted population.

Translation Bureau Revolving Fund (Strategic Outcome: Quality Services)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 205.9 211.9 211.7
Less: Respendable Revenues 205.9 205.9 207.1

Net Resources (Provided) Used (Note1)  -  6.0 4.6

Translation Bureau Revolving Fund Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) 1,684 1,584 1,580


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.

The increase of $1.2 million in respendable revenue is mainly due to a decrease in translation revenues (a 17% price decrease of general texts) and an increase mainly due to $6.0 million of funds received from Treasury Board to offset increased payroll with new collective bargaining agreement. Gross expenditures increase is mainly due to outsourced translation contracts higher than planned and strategic investments as approved by Treasury Board.

Note 1: The Bureau's revolving fund provides services to Parliament and collects the related revenues from its own operating vote. Accordingly, the revolving fund's gross expenditures and respendable revenue include the net expenditures reported in Translation and Interpretation to Parliament, Conference Interpretation, Terminology and Translation Stewardship Program Activities.

Note 2: The amounts reported for the Translation Bureau Revolving Fund are on a modified cash basis.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Provision of translation, technolinguistic and other linguistic services to the judiciary and federal departments and agencies on a cost recovery basis.

Upon request, provision of translation, technolinguistic and other linguistic services to other governments in Canada and international organizations on a cost-recovery basis.
The Translation Bureau is a financially viable organization offering best value service to the judiciary and other government organizations to ensure the government's ability to function in both official languages, and other languages as required.
  • Percentage of revenue objectives met:94%
  • Percentage of clients satisfied with service: Based on a formal, independent survey, the satisfaction rates were 84% for translation services and 94% for interpretation services.1

The data are taken from a survey on federal public sector client satisfaction with suppliers of translation and interpretation services (Sondage sur la satisfaction des clients du secteur public fédéral envers les fournisseurs de services de traduction et d'interprétation) conducted by TNS/Groupe ANTIMA on behalf of the Translation Bureau. The firm selected a stratified, disproportional random sample of federal government employees who have used the Bureau's services since April 1, 2006. For translation services, the data were gathered from 832 respondents between September 5 and September 27, 2006. The response rate was 45% and the margin of error (higher in the case of sub-samples) was +/-3.4%, 19 times out of 20. For conference interpretation services, the data were gathered from 100 respondents between September 5 and 15, 2006. The response rate was 31% and the margin of error (higher in the case of sub-samples) was 9%, 19 times out of 20. In both cases, a posteriori weighting was used to correct the results so that they were representative of the entire targeted population.

Translation Stewardship (Strategic Outcome: Sound Stewardship)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 2.5 2.4 2.4
Less: Respendable Revenues  -   -   - 

Net Expenditures 2.5 2.4 2.4

Translation Stewardship Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs)  -   -   - 


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Program management, strategy, governance, monitoring and support activities, also encompassing activities that are necessary to:
  • ensure the security of supply of linguistic services to Parliament, the judiciary and the federal government;
  • foster the development and growth of the Canadian language industry;
  • ensure the development and dissemination of translation, terminology and technolinguistic standards in Canada; and
  • exercise the role of functional specialist in the translation, terminology, interpretation, linguistic and technolinguistic domains for other departments and agencies.
The Translation Bureau has the capacity to effectively manage and deliver its translation and terminology functions and ensure Canada's representation and leadership at national and international levels.
  • Number of outreach activities that enhance leadership role in the industry, professional associations and universities:Participation in about 50 awareness activities related to terminology standardization and promotion of the Bureau's expertise in interpretation.
  • Number of students registered in training and development programs (partnership with universities, CO-OP, Federal Student Work Experience Program): 123 participants in Bureau practicum programs (university partnership and co-op programs); 53 participants in the Federal Student Work Experience Program.
  • Number of national and federal terminology standardization committees and international forums at which the Bureau participates: 19.

GREENING GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS

To help the government become a model of environmental excellence in its operations, the Office of Greening Government Operations (OGGO) was created within PWGSC in 2005. OGGO works closely with other federal departments and agencies, particularly with the Treasury Board Secretariat and Environment Canada, to provide government-wide leadership, guidance and services related to the greening of government operations and sustainable development.

The Office of Greening Government Operations supports PWGSC's two strategic outcomes through two program activities:

Quality Services

  • Office of Greening Government Operations Services; and

Sound Stewardship

  • Office of Greening Government Operations Stewardship.

The expenditures and actual results for 2006–2007 for the above program activities are summarized at the end of this OGGO section.

Performance by 2006-2007 Priorities

The strategic change and improvement initiatives impacting the results of our program activities are presented by the PWGSC strategic priorities, as follows:

  • Transforming our Business;
  • Delivering Major Projects of National Importance; and
  • Supporting the Government's Strategic Agenda.

Transforming our Business

OGGO is taking a strategic approach to help green government operations, in order to ensure that "thinking green" becomes an automatic and integral part of government-wide business transformation, and that the intended results are lasting and far-reaching. During 2006-2007, OGGO met its commitments to greening government operations and its Office of Greening Government Operations Services Program Activity by:

  • providing government-wide leadership and being the centre of expertise for the greening of government operations initiative;
  • providing a range of high-quality, affordable environmental services to PWGSC and other departments and agencies;
  • leading and working with other departments and agencies in the Contaminated Sites Management Working Group;
  • consulting and coordinating the development of PWGSC's fourth Sustainable Development Strategy, monitoring and reporting on sustainable development performance; and
  • responding in a timely manner to environmental petitions and audits.

Key Facts*

  • Office of Greening Government Operations worked with Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) and Environment Canada to help refine the Performance Management Framework (PMF) for OGGO.
  • Helped with the government-wide implementation of the Policy on Green Procurement by developing training and tools with colleagues. Green procurement training is now provided at the Canada School of Public Service and online Campus Direct.
  • OGGO played a lead role in coordinating the activities of six interdepartmental steering groups and a Federal-Provincial-Territorial Sub-committee on Sustainable Development.
  • Provided a range of environmental services to government departments and agencies, including PWGSC.
  • Drafted PWGSC's Sustainable Development Strategy, monitors performance against it and drafts the department's annual Sustainable Development Performance Report.
* Sources: PWGSC databases.

Delivering Projects of National Importance

Management and Remediation of Contaminated Sites

The Government of Canada Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan (FCSAP) contains commitments of $3.5 billion over the next 15 years for the remediation of federal contaminated sites and $500 million to be directed toward shared responsibility sites. This money is currently directed at 188 FCSAP projects involving more than 600 sites. PWGSC is the custodian for 209 known contaminated sites. PWGSC, and OGGO in particular, provides optional environmental services to other government departments, and offers the FCSAP Secretariat expert support.

To help custodian departments with remediation projects, PWGSC has developed project management tools and best practices. We are collecting and disseminating information on innovative technologies employed through the FCSAP program and working with the environmental industry to ensure that it is aware of, and can build adequate capacity to respond to, future demand arising from the FCSAP program.

The Sydney Tar Ponds project is one of the most high-profile Government of Canada remediation projects. PWGSC is leading, federal participation in this project as manager of the federal-provincial cost-sharing agreement and as responsible authority at the federal level, liaising with First Nations, the contractor and provincial authorities.

In July 2006, the ministers of environment of the governments of Canada and Nova Scotia received an independent review panel report of the Sydney environmental assessment. In January 2007, the governments jointly released their formal response. Their support for proceeding with the full remediation concluded a successful collaboration and preliminary construction has now commenced.

For more information on the remediation of the Sydney Tar Ponds, see Section III — Table 20 or visit our website at:
http://www.pwgsc.gc.ca/reports/text/dpr_2006-2007/ih-hi-e.html.

Supporting the Government's Strategic Agenda

Resource Consumption and Air Pollution Emissions

PWGSC's approach to reducing energy consumption and related air pollutants, including greenhouse gas emissions, has been to focus on two major opportunities: sustainable buildings and vehicle fleets. Both of these are an integral part of the Office of Greening Government Operations Stewardship Program Activity.

Sustainable Buildings: The adoption of industry-developed assessment tools by PWGSC and the government as a whole is helping to ensure that all federal office accommodations, whether Crown-owned or leased, adhere to high standards of environmental performance, particularly with regard to energy consumption and the emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants.

PWGSC continued to lay the foundation for greening the real property portfolio in 2006-2007. We developed guidance for all Crown-owned office buildings for implementing BOMA Go Green Plus assessments (BOMA is the Building Owners and Managers Association). This assessment tool identifies the most cost-effective options to improve the management, operation and environmental performance of existing buildings.

For new construction projects across government, OGGO provided advice and guidance to departments on the application of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED® – Canada) – Gold standard.

The department also made a commitment during 2006-2007 with respect to the government's extensive portfolio of leased office buildings. By revising lease documents, PWGSC will require private sector landlords with buildings of more than 10,000 square metres to complete the BOMA Go Green Plus (or equivalent) assessment of these buildings and share the results with PWGSC before arrangements are finalized. This will provide PWGSC with the tools to make more environmentally sensitive leasing decisions.

The standards adopted by government and PWGSC are helping to shape the Sustainable Building Policy that OGGO is currently developing for implementation by 2010. The Sustainable Building Policy will further integrate environmental considerations into PWGSC's standard building planning processes and contracts.

The objective of PWGSC's approach is to not only improve the environmental performance of its own inventory, but in doing so, to also lay the groundwork for other custodial departments and jurisdictions to do the same, and to help influence the market in which we do business. Already, PWGSC's lead in sustainable buildings has helped Manitoba and Quebec adopt BOMA Go Green for their buildings.

Vehicle Fleets: PWGSC works with departments and agencies to develop guidance for vehicle fleets, encourage the ongoing review of vehicle fleets and help to integrate environmental considerations into the federal vehicle procurement process.

The guidance for vehicle fleets was taken up by 22 of 28 departments that tabled their Sustainable Development Strategies in December 2006. The proposed initiatives include increasing the use of ethanol-blended gasoline; purchasing more hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles; conducting regular fleet reviews; encouraging defensive driver training; and using fleet management systems to analyze driving behaviours.

For its own fleet, PWGSC has been promoting the use of renewable fuels. Further, over the past 10 years, PWGSC has reduced its fleet from 438 to 254 vehicles, of which 41 are hybrid and 89 use alternative transportation fuels (primarily E85 alcohol fuel).

Green Procurement

During 2006-2007, OGGO helped with the government-wide implementation of the Policy on Green Procurement by developing green procurement training and tools in cooperation with colleagues at Environment Canada and Natural Resources Canada. Green procurement training is now being provided through the Canada School of Public Service and the school's online Campus Direct.

OGGO held interdepartmental workshops on implementing the Policy on Green Procurement across Canada. It developed a guidance document and several other tools during 2006-2007 to help departments and agencies set their own green procurement targets, and integrate environmental considerations into day-to-day procurement decision-making.

During 2006-2007, OGGO took the first steps to develop a strategic government-wide approach to managing the electronic waste from federal operations by coordinating stakeholder input into the issue. The approach will continue to be developed in fiscal year 2007-2008.

Leadership and Centre of Expertise for Greening Government Operations

More than 75% of the Sustainable Development Strategies tabled by departments and agencies in December 2006 incorporated recommendations of the overarching goals set out in the Greening Government Operations Guidance for Organizations Developing Sustainable Development Strategies (2007-2009). This demonstrates OGGO's success in focusing the efforts of departments on government-wide environmental priorities: sustainable buildings, vehicle fleets and green procurement.

During 2006-2007, OGGO helped integrate the guidance document into Environment Canada's overall guidance for federal Sustainable Development Strategies. OGGO also worked with interdepartmental steering groups to provide direction and support for common approaches and tools, including the refinement of a performance measurement framework that would facilitate government-wide reporting on greening government operations. Although interdepartmentally agreed, the performance indicators were not widely adopted, due, among other things, to a lack of consistent data.

PWGSC's Sustainable Development Strategy

OGGO led the department in drafting the PWGSC Sustainable Development Strategy during 2006-2007. A key consideration was the way PWGSC's own targets and commitments could assist and influence the greening of operations in other departments and agencies.

Partnerships

In 2006-2007, OGGO continued to strengthen partnerships interdepartmentally and interjurisdictionally to promote collaboration on and sharing of best practices and environmental management tools. OGGO played a lead role in coordinating the activities and work of six interdepartmental steering groups for greening government operations, and the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Sub-committee on Sustainable Development.

Aligning Resources

During 2006-2007, OGGO commissioned an operational review of its environmental services with the aim of consolidating and strengthening financial and human resources to improve service delivery. The review recommended a strengthened organizational model, and concluded that supporting the department's due diligence requirements and addressing service delivery issues were key opportunities for improvement. This is key in our contribution to the Office of Greening Government Operations Stewardship Program Activity.

Environmental Regulatory Compliance and Support for Sustainable Development Strategies

OGGO provided assistance to PWGSC and other government departments throughout the year on a nation-wide basis.

In the National Capital Area, OGGO provided services to 28 departments and agencies. This included support in areas such as indoor air quality, environmental assessment, waste water, hazardous waste and recycling among others.

OGGO supported Real Property in PWGSC, in: developing commitments for the Sustainable Development Strategy; providing national and regional leadership on numerous environmental aspects of building management; and updating and delivering a renewed training program on environmental liabilities and responsibilities for operational and management staff.

Green Stewardship

In support of the Office of Greening Government Operations Stewardship Program Activity, the overall goal of the Green Stewardship Program is to provide employees with a meaningful opportunity to reduce the environmental impacts of their day-to-day activities. In 2006-2007, OGGO supported green stewardship by serving as co-chair of the interdepartmental Green Stewardship Steering Group, and working with client departments to implement a range of Environment Week activities and special programs such as vermi-composting in the Parliamentary Precinct. OGGO also began to lay the foundation for a strengthened and reinvigorated government-wide Green Stewardship Program that will be instrumental in developing and implementing national goals and targets to support the Greening of Government Operations priorities: sustainable buildings, vehicle fleets and green procurement.

Performance by Program Activity

In the following tables, we identify the commitments made in our Report on Plans and Priorities 2006-2007, as well as our performance against those commitments through two program activities: Office of Greening Government Operations Services, and Office of Greening Government Operations Stewardship.

Office of Greening Government Operations Services (Strategic Outcome: Quality Services)

The Office of Greening Government Operations Services has no financial expenditures to report. Although this program activity was not funded, OGGO remained committed to achieving actual results.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Provision of environmental services at the established service standards, to federal departments and agencies. Government departments and agencies receive high-quality, affordable and timely environmental services.
  • Client satisfaction: The Office of Greening Government Operations (OGGO) worked with Real Property to integrate its client satisfaction survey into the department-wide client satisfaction survey and monitoring process. This tool will help assess the quality, timeliness and affordability of all services provided by the organization.
  • Operational review: The operational review of OGGO's environmental services was completed. It recommended a strengthened organizational model, and identified key opportunities and areas for improvement.

Office of Greening Government Operations Stewardship (Strategic Outcome: Sound Stewardship)


(In millions of dollars)

Net Expenditures 2006-2007 Planned
Spending
Total
Authorities
Actual

Operating and Statutory Votes  
Gross Expenditures 1.3 7.5 6.2
Less: Respendable Revenues  -  5.4 5.4

Net Expenditures 1.3 2.1 0.7

Office of Greening Government Operations Stewardship Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs) 3 3 3


Note : Please note that this financial table has not been audited.

The variance between Office of Greening Government Operation's total authorities and the actuals are due mainly to the fact that there were delays in staffing senior positions in the Contaminated Sites unit that led to a lapse of approximately 25 % of the total funding received for the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan (FCSAP) as well as unanticipated funding received from the Real Property Branch through the annual Memorandum of Understanding process.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Provision of government-wide leadership and expertise on the greening of government operations (GGO).

Leadership and guidance in achieving on the greening of government operations is provided to other federal departments and agencies.

The whole-of-government ability and capacity to reduce the environmental impact of its operations is increased, and improvement of its overall performance for key priority areas is achieved.

The development and implementation of PWGSC's sustainable development strategy and the governance of environmental management frameworks demonstrate excellence.

  • Guidance: OGGO provided government-wide guidance on GGO to help focus government's greening efforts on three environmental priorities: buildings, vehicles and procurement. The guidance was taken up by over 75% of departments, whose results will be demonstrated over the next few years in these key areas.
  • Performance Management Framework: OGGO worked with the Treasury Board Secretariat and Environment Canada (EC) to help refine the Performance Management Framework (PMF) for GGO. Actual results will be determined after the PMF is finalized by EC, formally issued and implemented.

CORPORATE MANAGEMENT

The Corporate Management function provides internal support to all of PWGSC's branches and special operating agencies through: Corporate Services, Policy and Communications; Human Resources; the Office of the Chief Risk Officer; Audit and Evaluation; Finance; the Investigations and Litigation Office; Legal Services; and offices in the Pacific, Western, Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic regions.

The expenditures and actual results for 2006-2007 for our program activities are summarized at the end of this Corporate Management section.

Performance by 2006-2007 Priorities

The strategic change and improvement initiatives impacting the results of our activities are highlighted by the PWGSC 2006-2007 strategic priorities, which are as follows:

  • Transforming our Business;
  • Strengthening Accountability and Transparency; and
  • Supporting the Government's Strategic Agenda.

Transforming our Business

In February 2007, the duties and responsibilities of the Strategic Transformation Branch, which was responsible for planning, coordinating and monitoring the Business Transformation Agenda, were integrated into the Finance, Human Resources and various program branches. This was a reorganization brought about as a result of the successful integration of much of the Way Forward plans and strategies into normal branch operations. During the past year, Strategic Transformation Branch:

  • provided corporate support to the transformation agenda in the areas of Acquisitions, Real Property and Information Technology Services;
  • liaised with central agencies to ensure alignment with the government-wide service transformation agenda;
  • conducted financial, economic and business analyses on key transformation proposals and advised senior management via the Business Transformation Committee; and
  • supported a coordinated national strategy to manage and communicate change within PWGSC, with emphasis on people and cultural issues.

Strengthening Accountability and Transparency

Investigations and Litigation Office

In April 2006, the Inquiry Liaison Office refocused its efforts towards investigations and litigation. This reflected the cessation of support to the Gomery Commission and related post-inquiry activities. PWGSC is providing strategic direction and supporting activities related to the recovery of Sponsorship funds and the criminal trials, ensuring full transparency regarding the management of these activities. In 2006-2007, the government recovered $1 million of improperly received funds, for a total recovery of $3.8 million, as of March 31, 2007.

Ethics and Risk Management

In 2006-2007, the Office of the Chief Risk Officer:

  • aided in the implementation of the Integrated Risk Management Framework (IRMF) through the development of an evergreen risk management guide and a corporate risk profile on the Executive Dashboard;
  • continued to develop the IRMF methodology and applied it to obtain statistically sound data on Acquisitions activities, completing one pilot control and risk assessment with commencement of two others;
  • advanced the Ethics Program, including clarifying its roles and responsibilities, establishing an Ethics and Risk Committee, training all officers in positions at risk, giving ethics and values orientation to new employees, presenting 123 ethics training sessions (56 of them in the regions), and undertaking a full evaluation of the Introduction to Ethics course to improve the course contents;
  • implemented a Fairness Monitoring Program by engaging 12 fairness monitors to monitor selected acquisitions with respect to their fairness, openness and transparency;
  • responded to disclosures of potential wrongdoing under the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act;
  • administered an Alternate Dispute Resolution Program and developed a draft dispute resolution strategy that incorporates changes as a result of the creation of a Procurement Ombudsman for the Government of Canada that will be finalized after a Procurement Ombudsman is appointed; and
  • completed the implementation of PWGSC's Ten-Point Integrity Plan.
Audit and Evaluation

The Audit and Evaluation Branch continued to strengthen the internal audit and evaluation functions and to implement the new Treasury Board Policy on Internal Audit.

In 2006-2007, Audit and Evaluation moved forward towards this goal with many initiatives, for example:

  • A new Audit and Evaluation Committee Charter aligned with the new Treasury Board policy and its directives was approved. One committee member is from the private sector and a second private sector member will be recruited in 2007-2008.
  • The Audit and Evaluation Committee approved a Risk-based Multi-year Audit and Evaluation Plan using a comprehensive planning methodology that provides appropriate audit and evaluation coverage.
  • The branch identified milestones and developed a system to track them for each audit project.
  • The branch established a quality control function to ensure that the quality of all internal audit reports meets professional standards.
  • The branch began developing a new approach for monitoring and following up on the implementation of management action plans. This new approach will improve the reliability of information reported to the Committee.
  • To build capacity, the branch has implemented a Human Resources Stabilization Plan and is developing a recruiting and retention strategy that includes the creation of an Internal Auditor Professional Development Program.
Communications

In 2006-2007, PWGSC produced a variety of materials for Canadians, Parliamentarians and other government departments to build greater awareness of PWGSC's programs and services. We achieved more than 85% of planned communications activities in support of the Way Forward business transformation and expanded the Outreach Program to better communicate with suppliers and associations.

Access to Information

The Access to Information and Privacy program administers the Access to Information Act (ATIA) and the Privacy Act (PA) within PWGSC. Subject to certain specific and limited exceptions, these acts give Canadians, and people present in Canada, the broad legal right to information recorded in any form and controlled by most federal government institutions. The PA deals with personal information and the ATIA deals with all other information. In 2006-2007, one of PWGSC's objectives was to complete the processing of 95% of access to information requests within their legislated timelines. Due to resource constraints, which reduced the department's capacity to reach this objective, 81% of access requests were completed on time.

Supporting the Government's Strategic Agenda

In 2006-2007, we improved our management practices and delivery of corporate services, in particular through:

  • continued integration of the Management Accountability Framework (MAF) into internal business planning and accountability processes (the Treasury Board Secretariat Assessment, released in May 2007 indicated that 11 MAF indicators have improved since 2004-2005);
  • use of the Executive Dashboard (a web application) for the first time for internal business planning and reporting, resulting in a more consistent planning and reporting approach;
  • enhancement of security with the installation of access turnstiles and elevator card readers, as well as with the centralization of the monitoring of the seven central heating and cooling plant alarm systems, resulting in significant cost savings;
  • completion of the upgrade to a web-based version of the electronic records management system; and
  • ongoing greening of PWGSC's vehicle fleet to enviro-friendly vehicles, most of which use hybrid gasoline-electric technology or can run on an alternative transportation fuel.
Health and Safety

In 2006-2007, PWGSC:

  • promoted a seamless integration/implementation of federal and provincial Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) acts, regulations, policies, standards and procedures governing federal workers and non-federal workers occupying PWGSC workplaces;
  • developed a site-specific Workplace Profile Program in response to the Hazard Prevention Program Regulation (Canada Labour Code, Part II, Reg. XIX);
  • increased awareness of the Case/Claims Management Program to provide return to work services for both occupational and non-occupational injuries and illnesses;
  • established and maintained a national network of Health and Safety committees. The result has been a reduction in the frequency and severity of accidents, injuries and illnesses to employees, as well as a nil report on work refusals; and
  • completed a Pandemic Influenza Contingency Plan including workshops and a number of awareness briefings on flu preparedness.
Financial Services

PWGSC's financial management capacity was enhanced through:

  • implementation of the Financial System Transformation Project, which is on schedule to be operational in 2008;
  • improvements in costing policy and practices, including production for a second year of the PWGSC Activity Costing Report, providing useful information for decision making;
  • improved tools to support the management of business results, including monthly branch management reports;
  • completion of service-level agreement negotiations for the provision of financial services and enhanced advisory support with all branches; and
  • renewal of the financial management workforce through the implementation of the Human Resources Plan, the completion of internal and external recruitment initiatives, and the development of competency profiles and learning and development strategies.
Human Resources

PWGSC continued with the implementation of Human Resources Modernization in support of our business transformation and ongoing business agendas. Building on the results achieved will contribute to continued capacity-building efforts for dealing with demographic challenges and meeting the needs of the business transformation agenda. Our Human Resources Branch:

  • contributed to the stabilization of the department through staffing seven out of 10 ADM-level positions, making 110 indeterminate EX appointments and reducing long-term acting positions in the department by 36%;
  • launched the Human Resources Development Program for human resources professionals;
  • restructured Compensation Services and recruited 64 new compensation advisors, 41 of whom were assigned to the newly established compensation satellite office in Matane, Quebec;
  • continued to implement the PWGSC Integrated Human Resources Management Plan, by completing a succession planning pilot, analyzing the results of the Public Service Employment Survey, developing strategies to address employee concerns, and aligning human resources reporting with the People Component of the Management Accountability Framework;
  • reduced the compensation backlog, identified in the fall of 2006, by 85% through implementing a new service delivery model in the National Capital Area, establishing a satellite office in Matane, improving recruitment and training of compensation advisors, and hiring new staff;
  • received recognition for its support of the National Council of Aboriginal Federal Employees, although more work needs to be done on advancement opportunities for women to senior positions as well as on recruitment of persons from the visible minority designated group;
  • supported a work environment conducive to the use of both official languages and led in the application of the Official Languages Act (PWGSC received recognition from the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages for improving its rating from poor to average during 2006-2007. The PWGSC Official Languages Policy and Official Languages Accountability Framework were adopted to support the effective use of both official languages);
  • continued to consult meaningfully and work with unions;
  • effectively managed labour relations and conflict management;
  • focused on learning through the implementation of the Continuous Learning Policy; and
  • focused on ethics and management accountability under the Public Service Modernization Act.

Performance by Strategic Outcomes

In the following table, we identify the commitments made in our Report on Plans and Priorities 2006-2007, as well as our performance against those commitments.

Strategic Outcome: Sound Stewardship

The financial expenditures for Corporate Management are not shown because, for Treasury Board Secretariat's financial reporting purposes, those costs have been re-allocated to the other program activities as departmental overheads.


Program Activity Planned Results Actual Results
Support for the transformation of PWGSC to deliver the government's agenda.

Establishment of strategic priorities and development of tools for sound, integrated management practices.

Enhancement of human resources management and maintenance of strong labour relations.

Delivery of a suite of corporate services.





Timely and effective administration of compensation and benefits.
PWGSC programs are provided with corporate functions that are ethical, cost-efficient and delivered within agreed service levels and standards with respect to public service values.
  • Number of corporate management employees as a percentage of total population: 16.3%.
  • Cost of corporate management as a percentage of total departmental costs: 13.5%.
  • Percentage of elements of the PWGSC Ten-Point Integrity Plan successfully completed: The Plan was completed.
  • Percentage of approved internal audit projects completed within committed timeframes and internal standards: 75%.
  • Number of internal service-level agreements (SLAs) in place between other branches and the Corporate Services, Policy and Communications Branch and the Human Resources Branch: Corporate services continued to be provided as per SLAs to branches/clients within the department. As an example, the Health, Safety, Security, Emergency and Administration Sector has 24 SLAs in place with other branches and departmental organizations to provide ongoing maintenance and support services for the Enterprise Document and Records Management Information Management Suite, and the Communications Sector has SLAs for communications advisory services with other branches.
  • Approved financial system strategy implementation: 100% against project plan timeline
  • Implemented Human Resources Management Plan.
  • Integrated decision-making processes: Developed an enhanced capacity to provide financial analytical support to business lines to ensure integrated decision-making processes were achieved in support of merging priorities of the Way Forward and the department's ongoing business.
  • High-quality financial products: 100% of SLA transition plans approved with each branch. Directorate management & branch management reporting on target sixth working day of the month.
  • Streamlined delivery of transactions: Fully implemented standardized financial processes and procedures, as well as operationalized SLAs to ensure compliance with approved service delivery.
  • Embedded costing processes: 100% of Cost Management Policy approved-developing implementation plan to address recommendations for the department.
  • Branch management reports implemented: 100% completed, being delivered on the sixth working day of each month.
  • Number of compensation complaints: Reduced backlog of employee complaints related to compensation by 85%;
  • Number of outstanding promotion and acting payments: Reduced by 50%.