Thank you, Madam Chair.
We are pleased to be here with our colleagues from PSPC, SSC and ESDC to discuss the 2021 report of the Auditor General on complex IT procurement.
After my opening statements, my colleagues and I will be available to answer the committee's questions.
I will begin by explaining how the Treasury Board Secretariat supports agile IT procurement while providing oversight to major IT projects as part of the government's overall efforts towards more digitally enabled government programs and services.
The Office of the Comptroller General is responsible for providing functional direction and assurance government wide for financial management, the management of our acquired services and assets, and of internal audits. Specifically, as it relates to acquired services and assets, the OCG sets out the policies and directives for investment planning, projects and procurement.
The Office of the Chief Information Officer and the Canadian Digital Service support departments as they transition to a more digital government.
Through the office of the chief information officer, the TBS also participates in IT governance committees to provide guidance and oversight throughout the development of an IT project. The office of the chief human resources officer oversees policies and regulations aimed at driving excellence in people management across Canada's core public administration.
Agile or outcomes-based procurement is one of many kinds of procurement strategies that departments can use as long as they are fair, open, and transparent and provide the best value. Indeed, the current procurement policy allows for departments to procure in an agile way.
In her report, the Auditor General recognizes the government's progress on adopting agile procurement practices. However, we realize that there is always room for improvement, which the AG pointed out in her recommendations.
Recommendation 1.47 states that the Treasury Board, PSPC and SSC “should develop more comprehensive guidance and training for employees”. Recommendation 1.53 states that TBS, ESDC and SSC “should ensure that governance mechanisms are in place...for each of the complex IT procurements” that she audited.
TBS agrees with these recommendations, Madam Chair, and we are following up with concrete steps. I am pleased to announce that just a few weeks ago, consistent with our proposed actions under the management action plan, Treasury Board has approved a new directive on the management of procurement. This reset modernizes and streamlines policy requirements and includes new requirements to better enable outcomes-based, agile procurement approaches, and importantly, this work is not being done alone.
We have been working and will continue to work collaboratively with departments to build supporting guidance for the new directive as departments transition to it over the coming year. In addition, we are working with SSC and PSPC to make sure that procurement professionals are aware of agile procurement and how to apply collaborative methods.
Lastly, we will work with key partners across federal departments to review our existing procurement competencies to determine whether they specifically support agile procurement and whether they can be applied collaboratively.
As with any modern organization, the Government of Canada requires secure, reliable and effective IT solutions to deliver on its mandate. The recommendations put forward by the Auditor General and the actions we are taking in response will help us improve.
I am looking forward to your questions.
Thank you.