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
- PCRA Level 1: ADM/RDG
- PCRA Level 2: CFO
- PCRA Level 3: Minister
- 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.