PWGSC > PWGSC Reports > RPP 2004-2005 > 2004-2005 Estimates Report on Plans and Priorities Section 2 - Planning Context

Section 2 - Planning Context

• Canadian Expectations
• Opportunities and Challenges

Canadian Expectations

PWGSC, as with any significant organization, is faced with the need to respond to the key expectations of its stakeholders; Canadian citizens. Our strategic planning and management improvement efforts are based on these expectations. We do so while respecting the boundaries of our legislative and financial capacities and authorities, and the requirements of central agencies and colleague departments.

Canadian expectations push government departments to improve services, find new horizontal solutions, and develop appropriate government-wide policies. We do this with the clear understanding that the resulting improvement dividends can be reallocated to higher priorities of Canadians. Within this context, the expectations of Canadians, most important to PWGSC, include:

• highest standards of integrity, accountability and transparency;
• greater emphasis on funding for health care, child development, economic development, etc., resulting in less funding for administrative services;
• stronger government focus on results and quality services to Canadians;
• better communications and access to government services;
• greater efficiency, fiscal prudence and the elimination of waste; and,
• greater attention to environmental and urban sustainability.

Opportunities and Challenges

Stemming from Canadian expectations, the opportunities and challenges that drive PWGSC’s plans and priorities for 2004-2005 are summarized as follows:

Sponsorship Program and Building Public Trust - As government's major provider of common, central and shared services, it is critical that PWGSC delivers its services with the highest level of integrity. However, problems with the government's Sponsorship Program have recently drawn criticism from the Auditor General and challenged our sound record for integrity. Subsequent scrutiny by Parliament, and the establishment of the Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities, will continue to put pressure on our department to maintain public trust in our operations.

Although decisive action has been taken to remedy the problems related to the Sponsorship Program (i.e., the program has been discontinued), restoring public confidence will take time and is our top priority. We have already moved to strengthen our accountability through a departmental reorganization in November 2003. In response to public demand, we must face the challenge of becoming more transparent and more accountable, ensuring that everything we do rests on a solid ethical foundation. We have already started down this road with the establishment of an Integrity Action Plan. The Plan is aimed at further strengthening our existing ethical practices by developing and communicating clear expectations, guidance and standards for ethical conduct to all our employees. Our reputation for integrity and for safeguarding the public trust is fundamental to our credibility and our future, and must be the bedrock of all we do.

Accountability - PWGSC is committed to applying Modern Comptrollership principles and implementing the government-wide Management Accountability Framework (MAF). MAF provides a comprehensive approach integrating 10 key elements of management responsibility into a single model which builds on earlier initiatives, such as Modern Comptrollership and Results for Canadians. Some key areas are: a Values and Ethics Code for the public service to promote integrity and ethical conduct; improved communications and accessibility through the GOL initiative; closer links between expenditures and results; heightened risk management with performance indicators; greater savings by tightening departmental spending; and greater focus on Sustainable Development Strategies.

Savings/Economic Dividend - Our mandate places us in a strong position to help government achieve savings for Canadians. In order to meet this important challenge, we must first improve the efficiency of our own operations. We will do so by reengineering our processes and making better use of technology. Second, we must exploit opportunities to realize economies of scale, for example through greater use of bulk purchasing, promotion of shared services and encouragement of an enterprise approach to key systems. Third, we must seek opportunities for greater leverage through alternative service delivery arrangements. Fourth, we must act as a check and balance on departmental expenditures by making sure that the goods and services we purchase represent the best value for the Canadian taxpayer. In sum, the challenge is not only to make our own administration more efficient, but also to achieve savings in the cost of goods and services that we purchase on behalf of customers by adopting a more government-wide perspective in the execution of our duties.

Machinery of Government Changes - Following the reorganization of the public service, announced on December 12, 2003, a number of operational functions have been transferred to PWGSC from the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS). These include TBS' Information Management/Information Technology (IM/IT) responsibilities, including Government On-Line (GOL) and the Government Travel Modernization office. In addition, Communication Canada has been disbanded and a number of its functions have been transferred to PWGSC, under a new Branch, known as the Government Information Services Branch. While taking on these additional responsibilities presents a short-term challenge for our department, GOL and the communications functions also provide a major opportunity in supporting access to government services such as the Canada website and 1 800 O-Canada; facilitating public communications.

Government-Wide and Internal Performance Improvement Reviews - Both TBS and PWGSC recently conducted reviews of the Department's operations. In July 2003, we launched our own intensive and wide-ranging review of our mandate, accountabilities, organizational structure, management capacity and business operations. The TBS reviews were part of the five-year cycle of Expenditure and Management Reviews of all departments, launched following the December 2003 budget. Key areas being examined include the management of real property, the purchase of goods and services, the delivery of telecommunications and informatics services, as well as the management of financial, communications and human resources operations. TBS also carried out a series of horizontal reviews, some of which also involved PWGSC. TBS has recently launched a second wave of reviews.

While these reviews confirmed PWGSC's essential role as a provider of common, central and shared services, with an emphasis on the efficiency and effectiveness of government operations, they also identified a number of areas where there was room for improvement, including:

• stronger accountability in the use of taxpayer dollars;
• increased use of a government-wide perspective in program and service delivery;
• higher savings through enhanced operational efficiency and opportunities for greater economies of scale solutions;
• greater responsiveness to government priorities;
• better service to customers through improvements in planning, forecasting, customer relations, service standards and charging practices;
• improvement of key financial, management information and performance tracking systems; and
• stronger strategic management capacity in human resources to address the ongoing departmental and government-wide needs for knowledge and expertise.

In short, the reviews found that we have not fully capitalized on the potential of our mandate as a provider of common, central, and shared services. They also noted that, in order to realize our potential, we would have to strengthen our management capacity and adopt a more strategic and less process-driven culture.

Supporting the Government's Horizontal Agenda - Adopting a more government-wide perspective in our operations not only helps us to achieve savings, but also helps us to support the government's horizontal agenda. The environment and urban sustainability are two horizontal areas in which we already play an active role. We have also been an active player in the new deal for communities and are helping the government in its efforts to build stronger and healthier communities. Our challenge will be to find new ways of adding social and environmental value. In addition, promoting shared systems and services across government is a priority.

Improving Service - PWGSC faces the challenge of improving services to its customers, while at the same time adopting a more government-wide approach that will require us to exercise a more vigorous check and balance role. We can more effectively manage relations with our colleague departments and agencies by taking steps to better anticipate their needs using collaborative planning and demand forecasting. This, along with the opportunities afforded by information technology, should help us to reduce the response time for many of our services and to improve their quality. A further challenge will be to develop clear service standards and to establish agreements with our colleague departments and agencies that spell out our mutual responsibilities, including our check and balance role. Our recent reorganization laid the foundation for improved service by establishing a Service Integration Branch (SIB) to act as the principal interface between customer organizations and PWGSC and to help manage client relations more effectively.

Building and Maintaining Our Workforce - PWGSC has a large workforce with a mix of professional expertise and specialization. Ensuring that we have the right professional and technical skills will continue to be a priority, especially given the demographic challenges ahead coupled with the probable changes in the department's business agenda. Identifying current and future human resources needs will be key to the department's success in achieving its goals.

To maintain and replenish the workforce we need, the department's human resources management will reflect the government's strategy to modernize public service management. The Public Service Modernization Act (PSMA) is designed to promote more collaborative labour-management relations, to increase flexibility in staffing, to focus on learning and training for employees at all levels, and to clarify roles and strengthen accountability. In addition to the PSMA impacts, PWGSC will continue to develop innovative strategies and mechanisms to create a more representative workplace, strengthen a core learning agenda, and renew our official languages program.

Improving Government On-Line, IT and Real Property Infrastructure - A major challenge facing our department is the pressing need to modernize our key systems in areas such as pensions and pay. To help enhance our management capacity, we also need to develop improved management information, including financial management and performance tracking systems. We also face the need to recapitalize certain physical assets, such as Crown-owned buildings and central heating plants. We have already taken steps to replace some of our outdated systems. The Government of Canada Pension Modernization Project is a case in point. In addition to these priorities, the strategic importance of PWGSC's role in developing our GOL infrastructure is critical to keeping Canada number one in the world for e-government, particularly our secure channel for advanced electronic transactions with Canadians.

Strengthening Management Capacity - A fundamental challenge will be to strengthen our management capacity and to promote a more strategically oriented culture that will enable us to respond to the opportunities and challenges ahead. This will include improved performance, risk and financial management. It will also include closer integration of strategic planning and priority setting with financial management, proactive internal communications and clear accountabilities. The MAF will help to guide our efforts in these areas. We have already started to address this challenge through our recent reorganization, which has enabled us to consolidate our expertise in core areas.

New Approaches to Risk and Performance Management - Management of risk and performance is a priority for PWGSC. We are taking action to improve the way we manage risk and monitor our performance. Our improved approach includes an early warning system to let us know if we are heading for trouble in any of our operations. We will be able to monitor our progress against clear guideposts and expectations and take timely steps to remedy any potential problems. Finally, we also need to continue benchmarking against similar services in provinces, industry and other countries in order to identify further opportunities for improvement.

Engaging Central Agency and Departmental Support - Our final challenge will be to engage the support of TBS and our colleague departments, which is essential if we are to reach our full potential as a provider of common, central and shared services. This includes ensuring that departments do not replicate our services internally without taking into account full costs, and responsibility to act in the interests of the government as a whole.

In summary, public expectations, demographic pressures, findings of government reviews, requirements of customers, and the additional responsibilities allocated to PWGSC, together present our department with significant opportunities and challenges. Our department is poised to fully realize our potential and our responsibility as the Government of Canada's provider of common, central and shared services. We will do this by demonstrating integrity and accountability, saving taxpayer dollars, providing better service to our customers, promoting environmental sustainability, building the skills we need for the future, modernizing our systems, and strengthening our management capacity to adopt a more strategic culture to provide optimum value for Canadians.

It will clearly not be business as usual. PWGSC has an opportunity to lead the way in meeting public expectations for improved government operations. In partnership with our colleague departments we can achieve our ultimate goal of delivering greater social, economic and environmental benefits for Canadians.