Audit of the IM/IT Organization's Key Controls related to Finance, Procurement, and Staffing

February 2018

Table of Contents

• Executive Summary
• Statement of Conformance
  • 1. Introduction
  • 1.1. Purpose
  • 1.2. Background
  • 1.3. Audit Objective, Scope, Approach, and Criteria
    • 1.3.1 Audit Objective
    • 1.3.2 Audit Scope
    • 1.3.3 Audit Approach
    • 1.3.4 Audit Criteria
  • 1.4. Report Structure
• 2. Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations
  • 2.1. Project Management and Oversight
  • 2.2. IM/IT Professional Services
• 3. Recommendations and Management Action Plan

Executive Summary

Access to quality data and analytical tools are essential for Transport Canada to develop advice, formulate options, develop policies and regulations, deliver programs, and support decision making. Furthermore, the Government of Canada as a whole is looking to transform Information Technology (IT) and Information Management (IM) in the workplace to deliver services as effectively and efficiently as possible. This is why a robust and cohesive approach to providing IM/IT solutions is critical.

This audit was added to the Departmental Audit Plan to support a whole-of-program transformation and renewal initiative upon which the IM/IT organization within Transport Canada is embarking.  It examined key controls that are expected to be in place to ensure that IM/IT has effective processes to support the delivery of day-to-day operations and major projects/investments. Key controls related to financial management, procurement, and staffing were examined. Their relationship to governance and oversight, and project management was also considered as part of this examination.

Overall, the audit found that internal controls for finance, procurement, and staffing are in place and effective for day-to-day, non-project types of operations. Functional oversight and guidance from Corporate Finance, Contracting Services, and Human Resources are well established for day-to-day operations and are followed by the IM/IT organization.

The areas for improvements are specifically concentrated around IM/IT projects, because these projects are generally more complex than day-to-day operations and can sometime span multiple years. In this report, they are grouped under two themes: project management and oversight, and IM/IT professional services.

Project Management and Oversight

Gaps in project management oversight has led to weak project costs estimation and inaccurate project expenditures reporting, making it difficult to assess value for money of IM/IT projects.

IM/IT Professional Services

Although TC's IM/IT procurement complies with Government of Canada policies, the manner in which contracted resources were procured and managed were not effective in meeting the objectives of IM/IT projects.

In summary, the audit makes three recommendations to help senior management target its efforts to improve the management of the IM/IT organization to help ensure they continue to support effective and efficient program delivery.

Statement of Conformance

This Audit conforms to the Internal Auditing Standards for the Government of Canada, as supported by the results of an external assessment of Internal Audit's Quality Assurance and Improvement Program.

Dave Leach (CIA, MPA) Director, Audit and Advisory Services

Martin Rubenstein (CPA, CIA, CFE) Chief Audit and Evaluation Executive

1. Introduction

1.1 Purpose

This audit was added to the Departmental Audit Plan to support a whole-of-program transformation and renewal initiative which is being undertaken by the Information Management/Information Technology (IM/IT) organization within Transport Canada (TC).  As part of an initial current state assessment phase, the Director General, Technology and Information Management Services Directorate & Chief Information Officer (DG TIMSD/CIO) engaged Gartner Inc. to examine the maturity of its business domains and benchmark them against other government departments to identify areas for improvement.  To gain additional insight and assurance, internal audit assessed the business processes and management controls related to financial management, procurement, and staffing that are essential for a sound management framework to support the delivery of IM/IT functions within TC.

1.2 Background

Transport Canada (TC) uses policies, programs, legislative measures, regulations and guidelines to provide Canadians with a safe, secure, efficient and clean/sustainable transportation system. Access to quality data and analytical tools are essential for TC to develop advice, formulate options, develop policies and regulations, deliver programs, and support decision making. Furthermore, the Government of Canada as a whole is looking to transform Information Technology (IT) and Information Management (IM) in the workplace to deliver services as effectively and efficiently as possible. This is why a robust and cohesive approach to providing IM/IT solutions is critical.

TC's IM/IT services are delivered by the Technology and Information Management Services Directorate (TIMSD) located in the National Capital Region (NCR) and supported by IM/IT teams in the five regional offices who functionally report to TIMSD. IM/IT staff work closely with all TC program areas to "provide a reliable, secure, modern, sustainable IM/IT environment and through leadership and expertise, services, stewardship and solutions for clients and stakeholders in support of TC's and the Government of Canada's mandate"^{Footnote 1}.

The following table^{Footnote 2} lists the 11 cores services delivered across the four branches^{Footnote 3} within IM/IT:

Service Name	Info Mgmt	Arch & Plan	Prod Ops	AMS	Definition
Access Control			X		Infrastructure Operations resources perform the activities involved in permitting, modifying or denying the use of a system or its components on behalf of the systems owner
Application Development, Maintenance, and Support Services				X	Project management and activities that fall under the system delivery lifecycle (SDLC) (i.e. business analysis, architecture, design, coding, testing, technical writing, and implementation) as they relate to software. Application support and maintenance services include minor enhancements, bug fixes, adaptive maintenance, and end‐user support.
Data Resource Management	X				The development and execution of architectures, policies, practices and procedures that properly manage the structured data lifecycle
Desktop Productivity			X		Provide functional and technical end‐user support and documentation for desktop and mobile devices and corporate applications
Document, Records and Mail Management	X				Manage physical and electronic documents (including providing access control to RDIMS content), records, incoming and outgoing mail and parcels
IM Advice and Guidance	X				Provide advice, guidance, awareness and training on IM policy, operational, strategic and investment plans, objectives, policy instruments and IM curricula
IM/IT Security Services			X		Provide security related incident/event response, advice, guidance, security risk assessment, policy, training standards and compliance reporting. Implement and support secure communications solutions, perimeter security services and electronic media destruction
IT Advice and Guidance		X	X		Provide advice, guidance, awareness and training on IT governance, architecture, strategic planning, policy and performance measurement, project management activities and communications products
Infrastructure Administration and Maintenance	X		X	X	Provision, maintain and support technology solutions along with related documentation throughout the solution lifecycle. Activities include: installation, configuration, monitoring, troubleshooting, upgrading, patching, etc.
Business Reporting Services	X	X	X	X	The regular provision of information to decision‐makers within an organisation to support them in their work
Procurement Services			X		Manage the purchase of IT hardware and software and other purchasing contracts throughout the entire procurement process

Shared Services Canada (SSC) is responsible for delivering data center and network services to partner organizations. This creates a dependency on SSC for approval of resources to support on-going operations and new application development at Transport Canada.

TC's IM/IT organization has been in a state of transition for a number of years prior to this audit. The rapid technological evolutions in the transportation sector have created both new opportunities and challenges for TC as a regulator. As a result, there were increased demands for the IM/IT organization's support. In addition, the retirements of some long-standing TIMSD managers in 2015 created an opportunity for resetting and refocusing the IM/IT organization.

In May 2016, TC appointed the current Director General for TIMSD and TC's CIO.  The new CIO commissioned a multi-facet current state assessment to gain a better understanding of existing challenges and opportunities facing the IM/IT organization. This audit is part of the current state assessment and focuses on management practices and internal controls related to finance, staffing, and procurement activities.

1.3 Audit Objective, Scope, Approach, and Criteria

1.3.1 Audit Objective

The audit examined key controls that are expected to be in place to ensure that IM/IT has effective processes to support the delivery of day-to-day operations and major projects/investments. Key controls related to financial management, procurement, and staffing were examined. Their relationship to governance and oversight, and project management was also considered as part of this examination.

1.3.2 Audit Scope

The audit examined processes, practices and activities carried out in fiscal years 2015-16 and 2016-17. It covers day-to-day IM/IT operations in the national capital region and regions, as well as selected IM/IT projects.

1.3.3 Audit Approach

The audit approach included:

• reviewing relevant functional direction documents such as policies, guidelines, and frameworks;
• conducting interviews with delegated managers, functional staff, and other departmental stakeholders involved in IM/IT projects/activities;
• reviewing current processes, procedures and tools by following the life cycle of selected projects;
• reviewing selected sample transactions to confirm conformance to: delegation authority and segregation of duties; project management, staffing and procurement requirements and restrictions on the use of Vote 5 (Capital) funding; and,
• Identifying potential alternative practices used by other federal organizations.

1.3.4 Audit Criteria

The following criteria were used to assess the key controls related to financial management, staffing, and procurement:

Financial management

We expected:

• Costing for IM/IT day-to-day operations and major projects/investments is based on reliable data and methodologies to estimate cost and level of effort.
• Approvals, processes, monitoring and reporting respect restrictions on the use of Vote 5 funding.
• Planning, approvals, processes, monitoring and reporting of finances for core service delivery and maintenance activities support timely management, decision making and the effective oversight of IM/IT activities.
• Tools exist for delegated managers and functional support offices to forecast and monitor overtime, and awareness exists regarding how to use these tools effectively.

Staffing

We expected:

• Staffing actions, including those for new hires and acting appointments, adhere to Government of Canada processes and values. For example, non-competitive staffing actions are justified and approved by the appropriate level of management.

Procurement

We expected:

• Procurement for goods and services complies with contracting vehicle requirements and respect the delegation of authorities. For example, non-competitive procurement is justified and approved by an appropriate level of management.
• Delegated managers and functional support offices have effective tools to support procurement and are fully engaged as part of the management and close-out of contracts to ensure compliance with the terms identified (e.g. for budget, deliverables, timeliness).
• Practices/processes are in place for effective vendor management within IM/IT, including mechanisms to assess and measure the performance of contracted resources.

In support of the key controls related to financial management, staffing, and procurement, the following additional criteria were also examined:

Project Management

We expected:

• Information, processes, and tools are available to support the effective and efficient planning and selection of IM/IT major projects/investments.
• Project management processes, tools, monitoring and reporting facilitate communication between IM/IT and their clients and support the completion of major IM/IT projects/investments in a timely, economical and effective manner.

Governance and Oversight

We expected:

• Accurate and timely information is available to departmental oversight bodies including TMX, the Resource Management Committee (RMC), the Program Business Committees (PBC), the Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO), the Project Oversight Secretariat (POS), the Senior Procurement Review Committee (SPRC) and IM/IT senior management. Information that is provided to these bodies effectively supports the oversight and resourcing of IM/IT day-to-day operations and major projects/investments.
• The roles and responsibilities of managers and functional support offices (POS, IM/IT acquisition, Financial Management Advisor, Human Resources advisor, Contracting) are clearly defined, documented, communicated and understood within IM/IT.

1.4 Report Structure

For each level of findings, we have included contextual information, a summary of what we expected to find, what we found, and where appropriate recommendations. The last section of the report contains management's action plan to address the audit recommendations.

2. Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations

Overall Conclusion

The audit found that internal controls for finance, procurement, and staffing are in place and effective for day-to-day, non-project types of operations. Functional oversight and guidance from Corporate Finance, Contracting Services, and Human Resources are well established for day-to-day operations and are followed by the IM/IT organization^{Footnote 4}. The areas for improvements are concentrated around IM/IT projects specifically, because these projects are generally more complex than day-to-day operations and can sometime span multiple years. The table below provides a summary of Internal Audit's findings against assessed criteria:

Process in place	Meets expectation?
Financial Management
Costing of day-to-day operations and major projects	N
The use of Vote 5 capital funds	Y
Planning, budgeting and forecasting of non-project activities	Y
Management of overtime	Y
Procurement
Adherence to procurement rules	Y
Contract Life Cycle Management	Y
Vendor Management	N
Staffing
Adherence to staffing rules	Y
Project Management
Planning and approval	N
Managing IM/IT projects	N
Governance
Information for decision making	N
Roles and responsibilities	N

Since many of the findings are interconnected, this report groups them under two themes: project management and oversight, and IM/IT professional services.

2.1 Project Management and Oversight

Context

IM/IT projects involve designing, developing and deploying new, revised or off the shelf applications. These projects aim to achieve defined business outcomes within a set period of time. They typically involve a minimum of two parties: an internal "client" organization responsible to define its business needs, and an IM/IT organization responsible for translating the client's needs into IM/IT capabilities to be acquired externally or built in-house. IM/IT projects are integral to the success of government organizations because access to quality data and analytical tools are key to delivering services to the public. They are different from day-to-day operations and present the following challenges since they generally:

• Involve pervasive business change across entire organizations;
• Impact numerous stakeholders across departmental and jurisdictional boundaries due to the project's horizontal organization and are implemented into complex existing operations;
• Require timely executive decisions to be made in "project time" because of significant project operating costs; and
• Depend on a high level of management oversight and business rigor.

Due to these challenges, IM/IT projects usually require significant time and energy from both the IM/IT organization and its business clients to ensure success. A high-pressure environment may create incentives for a project team to report a project's status more favorably than the real situation^{Footnote 5}. Yet, business clients typically do not have the required knowledge and experience in IM/IT project management to identify discrepancies, errors or assumptions in the information they receive. For that reason, a Project Management Office (PMO) is often involved to play an important role of instilling disciplines in the project planning, monitoring and reporting aspects of IM/IT projects and allowing clients to focus on their business needs.

There are currently two PMO-like organizations within TC that are involved in IM/IT projects. The Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO) under Corporate Finance is responsible for overseeing all projects (e.g. IM/IT, real property, procurement of aircraft etc.) included in TC's investment plan. Meanwhile, TIMSD's Project Oversight Secretariat (POS) is responsible for overseeing projects included in TC's IM/IT Strategy.

What We Expected

We expected that information, processes, tools and oversight structures are in place to support effective, efficient and timely planning, selection, management, and monitoring of IM/IT projects.

What We Found

TC's project management office functions are limited in their oversight responsibility and do not facilitate accurate reporting and estimation of project costs, hence reducing the ability to determine the value for money of IM/IT projects.

Gaps in TC's PMO function

The EPMO's main responsibility is to facilitate TC's annual investment planning activities. This includes developing a project ranking approach based on corporate priorities, allocating funding to different investment strategies (e.g. IM/IT, Safety and Security), and compiling the list of projects from investment strategy owners for senior management approval. Due to the horizontal nature of its work, EPMO is not positioned to question the accuracy of information provided for individual projects within the IM/IT strategy.

In contrast to the EPMO, TIMSD's POS is set up specifically to oversee IM/IT projects. However, it has seen a substantial reduction in its IM/IT project oversight responsibilities over the last number of years. Pressures from both business clients and previous TIMSD management to streamline the project approval process has nearly eliminated POS's role in providing checks and balances on IM/IT projects. Today, the POS mostly serves as TIMSD's body of knowledge on project management practices only; it no longer has the power to enforce TIMSD's project management framework or to challenge the validity of project information in planning and reporting documents.

In addition to the EPMO and POS, there are usually other oversight bodies involved in monitoring the status of an IM/IT project (e.g. project steering committee, TIMSD projects committee). These committees may consist solely of members from TIMSD or a mix of TIMSD and business clients. However, they are mainly decision-making bodies and are not positioned to provide project management guidance or to ensure the quality and accuracy of project information.

The audit reviewed a small number of IM/IT projects to examine the linkages between financial management and project management. As a result of the review, we have identified weaknesses in TIMSD's project management structures that have negative impacts on the reporting and estimation of project costs. Internal audit believes that the weaknesses are attributable either directly or indirectly to gaps in the PMO function, as discussed below.

Unreliable project cost information

As identified in Gartner's current state assessment, there was a long standing culture within TIMSD to report project statuses^{Footnote 6} favorably. As a result, issues such as delays or cost overrun often came as a surprise to TIMSD's business clients because these issues were not always reflected in the projects' status reports.

Having been made aware of the situation, the current CIO communicated the importance of "speaking truth to power" to all TIMSD staff. Interviews with TIMSD staff and clients showed that the situation has improved and that IM/IT project teams are now more comfortable in reporting issues in status updates.

Despite some recent improvements in status reporting, the accuracy of shared costs (e.g. staff salaries and contractors) amongst multiple projects remains an issue. Currently, the cost of shared resources is allocated at the beginning of the year for each project to simplify financial management. Due to the uncertainty at the time project budgets and forecasts are set; active monitoring and adjustments to forecasts would be required on a regular basis to ensure project expenditures are accurately recorded in the financial system. However, there is currently no incentive or mechanism (e.g. activity time recording system) in place for project leads^{Footnote 7} to track, monitor and adjust costs shared between projects within their portfolio. As a result, expenditures in project status reports often vary little from initial cost estimates but there is no way to validate the accuracy of the reports. According to project leads interviewed, this situation is primarily the result of expediency and not because of pressure from management to present project costs positively.

Reliable project information is the foundation of good project management and oversight. Normally, a PMO would be responsible for aggregating and analyzing project status information to identify inconsistencies. This would help create the conditions for both IM/IT management and business clients to perform their oversight functions with confidence. However, due to the limited current role of POS, TC's IM/IT projects do not receive the type of independent review required to facilitate effective oversight by TIMSD management and business clients.

Poor quality of cost estimates for major IM/IT projects

Cost estimation is one the most important aspects of IM/IT project planning because it helps management at all levels understand the financial requirements of proposed projects. The quality of cost estimates are particularly important for large IM/IT projects because they can have significant and long lasting impact on departmental resources.

While unable to confirm the true extent of the issue^{Footnote 8}, the audit has identified several examples where the costs of IM/IT projects are significantly different from their original estimates. Internal Audit believes gaps in the PMO function has led to three areas in need of improvements related to cost estimation: outdated project approval process, the lack of a standard for project cost estimation, and the lack of lessons learned from previous projects.

Outdated Project Approval Process

Estimating costs for major IM/IT projects is notoriously difficult in the federal government because they are often accompanied with vague goals and unclear paths of benefit realization at the beginning^{Footnote 9}. Despite the lack of clarity in the early stage, experience has shown that project officials are generally reluctant to make changes once an approach has been set in place. Under the traditional "waterfall" project approval approach, project teams are often stuck committing to plans that are poorly conceived and possibly grossly under-budgeted.

Recognizing this reality, the Treasury Board Secretariat proposed the "gate" framework^{Footnote 10} where an IM/IT project is broken down into smaller components and receives funding in increments. This gating approach allows project teams to improve on the project definitions over time and reduce the level of uncertainty in their plans. Consequently, the cost estimates are also becoming more precise at each progressive project gate.

At the time of this audit, TC's project approval process was still mostly reflective of the traditional "waterfall" approach. Although an optional, pre-planning "gate" was added to the process by Corporate Finance in 2014, it did not capture the majority of Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS)' proposal. Recognizing the need to improve IM/IT project planning, TIMSD's POS has been working on incorporating TBS' proposed gates that maps directly into TIMSD's own project management framework (PMF). The update is scheduled to be completed in 2018 and is expected to improve the precision in cost estimation and the overall quality of project planning.

The Lack of a Standard for Project Cost Estimation

Another important aspect regarding the quality of project cost estimation is the costing methodology applied. TBS has developed a number of guidance documents on the topic of cost estimation. These guidance documents describe the fundamental elements of cost estimation and provide information on several costing methods that are suited for different situations. A good cost estimate is one that clearly lays out all the constraints and assumptions and the level of effort spent on creating it should correspond to the scale and importance of the project itself.

There is currently no TC specific requirements for estimating IM/IT project costs. The review of sampled projects showed that supporting details are often not available on file, including the source of data used to support the estimate, the rationale of the costing methodology used, constraints and assumptions made, and the level of uncertainties/contingencies associated with the cost estimates. The lack of supporting information limits the ability to independently assess the validity of the estimates. In addition, there was no evidence that multiple cost estimation methods were used to compare and refine the cost estimates as suggested in TBS's guidance. This kind of comparison would improve the accuracy of cost estimates and would be particularly worthwhile for larger, more complex projects.

Ideally those reviewing cost estimates should also possess the knowledge and experience required to challenge the estimates. Since most business clients do not have IM/IT expertise, internal validation within the IM/IT organization is required before a business client signs off on the financial commitment. However, project cost estimates were not validated within TIMSD before being included in formal approval documents.

The Lack of Lessons Learned from Previous Projects

Detailed project information is only kept by individual project managers and is not easily accessible at the directorate level within TIMSD. As a result, project managers are only able to draw on experience from projects that they carried out, which limits the knowledge base and experiences to draw from for future planning. By not sharing the lessons learned within the directorate, TIMSD management's ability to challenge cost estimates is diminished. Lastly, the lack of reliable project information, mentioned before, further reduces the utility of past cost estimates to improve future project cost estimates.

Recommendation 1

ADM Corporate Services should ensure that TIMSD strengthens the role of its POS to provide oversight and challenge during the planning and the development phases of IM/IT projects. This includes:

• Putting in place measures (e.g. a quality assurance process) that facilitate the capturing of accurate project information.
• Completing the development and implementation of an updated project management framework to reflect the Government of Canada's project management practices.
• Developing guidance on project cost estimation, including the level of detail required for projects of different types, sizes and complexities.
• Collecting and analyzing project information systematically to improve future plans and estimates and help determine the value for money for IM/IT projects.

2.2 IM/IT Professional Services

Context

Accounting for roughly 50% of TIMSD's annual budget, professional services has a material impact on TIMSD's finances and service delivery. Professional services is the single most important input in an IM/IT project and makes up 80-90% of an IM/IT project's cost. Effective selection and management of professional services are crucial for ensuring IM/IT projects are on time, on budget, and meeting clients' needs.

While procurement of professional services is critical to the completion of IM/IT projects, it is also a challenge to manage. Individual project leads often lack the skills and capacity required to procure and actively manage professional services contracts, reducing the likelihood of obtaining full value for money. This challenge can have a compounding effect on the complexity of large and important projects.

What We Expected

We expected that the procurement and management of IM/IT professional services contracts adhere to Government of Canada policies and rules and are effective in meeting TIMSD's needs.

What We Found

IM/IT Procurement complies with Government of Canada Policies

Based on the analysis and review of contracts created in fiscal years 2015-16 and 2016-17, TC complied with TBS contracting rules when procuring IM/IT goods and services. While some misunderstandings of departmental requirements were identified in contracts set up under TIMSD's delegated authorities, the issues were administrative and did not impact the fairness, openness and transparency of the procurement processes.

Issues related to the performance of IM/IT professional service resources

Based on a sample of projects and interviews with TC project leads the poor performance of some contracted resources is a cause of project cost and timeline overruns. Although the full extent of issue is unknown, when it occurs, its impact on the largest and most complex projects is significant and long lasting. The issue is caused by the way IM/IT professional services are acquired and the way these contract resources are managed.

Weakness in the procurement process

There are two key factors in ensuring that TC procures qualified resources: the specificity of the Statement of Work (SOW) and the weighting of the price component in bid evaluation.  Interviews with TIMSD managers and Contracting Services officials revealed that these two factors are not always appropriately structured, resulting in TIMSD procuring resources that do not fit the needs or meet the performance expectation of a project. TIMSD and Contracting Services have differing views on the extent that these two factors affect the quality of the incoming resources; however, both organizations have the expertise to collaboratively strengthen the IM/IT professional services procurement process.

Recommendation 2

ADM Corporate Services should ensure TIMSD works with TC's Contracting Services to identify feasible changes to the IM/IT professional services procurement process to help ensure competent IM/IT professional services are acquired at a reasonable price.

Weakness related to vendor management

Another important contributor to the performance issues for IM/IT professionals is ineffective vendor management. Different approaches have been used within TIMSD to deal with under-performing contract resources, including closer monitoring, moving them to another project, and asking service providers for replacements. However, it usually takes a long time for the performance issue to escalate to the point where one of these options is taken. In addition, this kind of issue is generally poorly documented and often brought too late to Contracting Services' attention for any remedial action to be carried out.

In contrast one good practice was identified within one of TIMSD's operations that has not been applied to IM/IT projects. One TIMSD manager has set up a clause in IM/IT professional services contracts to have quarterly meetings with the service providers to discuss the performance of the resources. At these meetings service providers are required to commit to addressing any identified performance issues or risk not having their contract's option years extended. This is an effective vendor management approach because it:

• Allows the manager to deal with performance issues early instead of waiting for it to grow into a bigger issue.
• Provides an additional incentive for the resource to perform to avoid being replaced.
• Mitigates the risk of establishing an employer-employee relationship with the contract resource.

Recommendation 3

ADM Corporate Services should ensure that TIMSD identifies and implements improved vendor management practices to deal with under-performing contract resource.

3. Recommendations and Management Action Plan

The following summarizes the audit recommendations and management's plan to address them.

	Recommendation	Management Action Plan	Completion Date (for each action)	OPI direct report for each specific action
1.	Strengthen the role of the Project Oversight Secretariat to provide oversight and challenge during the planning and the development phases of an IM/IT project. This includes: Putting in place measures (e.g. a quality assurance process) that facilitate the capturing of accurate project information. Completing the development and implementation of an updated project management framework to reflect Government of Canada's project management practices. Developing guidance on project cost estimation, including the level of detail required for projects of different types, sizes and complexities. Collecting and analyzing project information systematically to improve future plans and estimates and help determine the value for money for IM/IT projects.	IM/IT has already taken steps to strengthen the role of POS in 2017/18 through: The introduction of a permanent Manager for the POS group (hired in March 2017); and The implementation of an IM/IT Project Review Committee (PRC). Meetings are held weekly and chaired by the CIO. Moving forward, IM/IT will continue to act on this recommendation by implementing: 1. A new project management framework (PMF). The PMF will result in the following key components which will improve the ability of the POS to provide oversight and challenge during the planning and the development phases of a typical IM/IT project: Standardized PM workflow Renewed project governance Formal project gating Templates for the standardized collection of information related to projects Improved financial framework to support cost estimation and forecasting Measurement metrics Client engagement process PM educational tools Improve project planning and value for money estimates through its built-in analytical tools and functions	September 2018	Director General, Technology and Information Management Services Directorate and CIO
		2. A new departmental Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) solution to be managed by the POS, with support from the TC Enterprise Project Management Office. This technology-based solution will: Increase quality assurance by ensuring that project data is centralized, standardized and current. This will support the growing need to provide on-demand reporting to TC executives and central agency requests on the viability and sustainability of existing project health	March 2020
2.	Work with TC's Contracting Services to identify feasible changes to the IM/IT professional services procurement process to help ensure competent IM/IT professional services are acquired at a reasonable price.	IM/IT will address challenges to the professional services procurement process by collaborating with TC Contracting Services to: 1. Develop and implement Omnibus contracts for professional services. The resulting reduction and consolidation of existing single instance contracts will both minimize the existing process burden and support the acquisition and retention of quality resources by the organization at competitive rates. IM/IT and TC Contracting have already begun this work and have successfully completed the first of three Omnibus contracts in December 2017.	September 2018	Director General, Technology and Information Management Services Directorate and CIO
		2. Implement dedicated internal resources to support IM/IT contracting/procurement requirements. In order to manage TC's Omnibus contracts, Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) has recommended that dedicated resources will be required. IM/IT will collaborate with TC Contracting to propose the addition of the following organizational capacity enhancements to Human Resources/Classification: 1 x PG-06 level resource 2 x PG-04 level resources 1 x PG-02 level resource It is expected that this approach will strengthen overall IM/IT contracting/procurement processes by streamlining related activities and providing the organization with readily available knowledge and expertise.	December 2018
3.	Identify and implement vendor management practices to deal with under-performing contract resources.	In order to deal with under-performing contract resources, IM/IT will take the following actions to strengthen vendor management practices: 1. As part of all new professional services contracts (including the aforementioned Omnibus vehicles), a standard clause will be developed and implemented which stipulates that a regular interactions will be required between IM/IT and the vendor(s)/service provider(s) to discuss the performance of contracted resources	March 2018	Director General, Technology and Information Management Services Directorate and CIO
		2. Upon implementation of each contract, mandatory meetings will be scheduled between IM/IT and the vendor(s)/service provider(s) to commit to addressing performance issues that are identified (note: a monthly meeting cycle is expected as a standard)	March 2018
		3. A vendor management repository will be implemented to improve the day-to-day management of issues that are identified, as well as their resolution.	June 2018
		4. In collaboration with TC Contacting Services, mandatory training on contracting and vendor management practices will be identified and implemented for all IM/IT Managers who are responsible for contracts within the organization	September 2018
		5. In collaboration with TC Contracting Services and PSPC, IM/IT will conduct an analysis of best practices for vendor management. An Action Plan with specific commitments to improve operational business practices for vendor management will be developed and implemented upon completion of the analysis. It is expected that these actions will support the resolution of historical and systemic issues related to under-performing contract resources, as well as allow for a manager to deal with performance on an ongoing basis.	March 2019