Delegation of Financial Signing Authorities

Summary:

  • Transport Canada’s (TC) financial delegations consist of the delegation of financial signing authorities, delegation of materiel and contracting signing authorities and the delegation of project approval authority.
  • Delegated managers must complete mandatory Canada School of Public Service and TC internal training.

Overview:

1) Financial Signing Authorities

a) Minister’s Authorities

The Minister’s approval is required for:

Expenditure Initiation Authority

  • Events: Over $50K
  • Hospitality:
    • When alcohol or entertainment is provided, or
    • Food and beverage costs exceed the standard cost per person, or
    • Hospitality or entertainment will be provided to an accompanying person, or
    • Hospitality will be offered at a public servant’s residence, or
    • Over 10K
  • Conference Sponsorship: Over $50K
  • Transfer payments: Approval of funding proposals under approved Transfer Payment programs (unless otherwise sub-delegated)

Other Authorities

  • Debt Write-off: Over $500K
  • Transfer Payments: The Minister has delegated authority from Treasury Board (TB) to establish transfer payment programs, including terms and conditions, as follows:
    • Governments and Agencies: Up to $3M
    • Transportation Companies: Up to $250K
    • Non-Government Organizations and Individuals: Up to $250K
  • All other transfer payment programs require TB approval.

b) Deputy Minister’s Authorities

The Deputy Minister’s (DM) approval is required for:

Expenditure Initiation Authority

  • Events: Over $25K up to $50K
  • Hospitality: Over 3K up to $10K
  • Conference Attendance: Attendance of spouses of official representatives for reasons of protocol
  • Conference Sponsorship: $25k up to $50k
  • Ex-Gratia: Over $2K
  • Claims against the Crown: Over $250K
  • Memberships: Private Club Memberships

Other Authorities

  • Claims by the Crown: Over $250K
  • Debt Write-off: Over $250K up to $500K

c) Associate Deputy Minister’s Authorities

The Associate Deputy Minister (Associate DM) has the following authorities:

Expenditure Initiation Authority

  • Events: Up to $25K
  • Hospitality: Up to $3K
  • Conference Attendance: Without Attendance of spouses of official representatives for reasons of protocol
  • Conference Sponsorship: Up to $25K
  • Ex-Gratia: Up to $2K
  • Claims against the Crown: Over $100K up to $250K
  • Memberships: All memberships, excluding Private Club Memberships.
    • Note: Memberships reimbursed in accordance with collective agreements can be approved at a lower level

Other Authorities

  • Claims by the Crown: Over $100K up to $250K

2) Contracting and Materiel Authorities

The Minister has delegated full (F) materiel and contracting authority to the Deputy Minister; the Associate DM; the Assistant Deputy Minister (ADM), Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer (Departmental Functional Head for Contracting); and the Director General, Financial Operations and Administrative Services (Chief Procurement Officer) (Departmental Contracting Authority) as follows:

Category

Competitive

Non-Competitive

Goods

$25K

$25K

Services

$7.5M

$250K

Construction

$750K

$40K

Contractual Arrangements with other Public Sector Entities

$250K

$250K

Emergency Contracts

$1M

$1M

Certain categories of goods or services may have different limits if an applicable Standing Offer or Supply Arrangement exists.

Disposal of Materiel:

Donations to non-public sector entities require the Minister’s approval.

3) Project Approval Delegations

Due to its project management maturity, TC is one of a handful of departments that has a Level 3 Organizational Project Management Capacity Assessment (OPMCA) – note Level 4 is the highest.

TC has the authority to internally approve projects up to risk Level 3 – based on the Project Complexity Risk Assessment (PCRA) where Level 1 represents the lowest risk and Level 4 the highest risk.

  • If under $3M: ADM/Regional Director General (RDG) project approval authority is required
  • If $3M and above: Condensed PCRA for $3M to $10M and Full PCRA for $10M and above
    1. PCRA Level 1: ADM/RDG
    2. PCRA Level 2: CFO
    3. PCRA Level 3: Minister
    4. PCRA Level 4: Treasury Board

In-year project budget reallocation authority limits are shared between the ADM of the Investment Group, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the DM:

  • Up to $250K – ADM of the Investment Group
  • Between $250K and $500K – CFO
  • Above $500K - DM/Associate DM

Initial Budget Delegation and In-year project funding allocation authority:

  • Initial Budget Delegation - resides with the DM/Associate DM and are set through the Multi-year Resource Planning (MRP) process
  • In-year Funding Allocation - advanced when funds become available:
    • Up to $1M – CFO
    • Above $1M – DM/Associate DM

Project delivery is managed through a gating model. Each Phase of a project is concluded with a Gate, which serves as a key decision or control point to determine whether to proceed to the next Phase of the project’s lifecycle.