There have been some cases we've reported on in the past where departments had tried to over-customize programs, but I think we have to recognize as a starting point that given the complexity and size of the federal government, there are very few other public administrations that would have the kinds of systems.... For example, even with the extraction from the census, Stats Canada is the only one that does that.
So a lot of the systems are very specific or very large. For example, when you look at the system for old age security, handling $28 billion a year, there aren't many systems like that. I do believe—and perhaps this would be something to question government about—that when they go into these projects, they generally try to see what is available.
Our main concerns were with the business planning, which is obviously an aspect of this. Is the business plan complete before they start these things?