What we examined (see Focus of the audit)

In December 2011, Canada and the United States released the Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness Action Plan—better known as the Beyond the Border Action Plan—with a vision of establishing a new long-term partnership to enhance security and accelerate the legitimate flow of people, goods, and services across the border.

We estimated that these initiatives had a total planned spending of over $1.1 billion between the 2012–13 and the 2017–18 fiscal years, of which approximately $585 million had been spent as of 31 March 2016.

This audit examined whether selected departments and agencies were achieving results toward the objectives of the Beyond the Border Action Plan to enhance security and accelerate the legitimate flow of travel and trade, and whether reporting on progress against the Action Plan was accurate and complete. The audit focused on progress made by departments and agencies in meeting the commitments set out in the Action Plan; performance in achieving results toward intended benefits of the Action Plan; and planned and actual costs of initiatives. We also looked at how progress, performance, and costs were reported in the Report on the Beyond the Border Action Plan Horizontal Initiative prepared by Public Safety Canada.

Why we did this audit

This audit is important because the Canada–US border is vital to our economy and way of life. In 2015, for example, close to $700 billion in goods flowed across the border, and people made nearly 150 million land crossings, with millions more crossings made by air or water. The Action Plan was an ambitious undertaking to carry out 34 initiatives over a three-year period, and enable coordinated discussions, dialogues, and relationship building between Canada and the United States. This meant working together at and beyond the border to enhance security and accelerate the legitimate flow of people, goods, and services. The Action Plan was released in December 2011 and had an initial timeline of three years. At the end of 2014, Canada and the United States reaffirmed their intention to deliver on outstanding commitments.

What we concluded

We concluded that the selected departments and agencies achieved limited results toward the objectives of the Beyond the Border Action Plan of enhancing security and accelerating the legitimate flow of travel and trade. Although the departments and agencies met many of the commitments of the Action Plan, they faced many challenges in carrying out the initiatives and lacked performance indicators to assess results.

We also concluded that the Report on the Beyond the Border Action Plan Horizontal Initiative prepared by Public Safety Canada did not provide a complete and accurate picture of the progress, performance, or costs of the Action Plan.

What we found

Achieving results from the Beyond the Border Action Plan

Overall, we found that departments and agencies had not developed performance indicators to assess how initiatives have enhanced security and accelerated the legitimate flow of trade and travel. Instead, the indicators that were developed focused primarily on whether an activity or deliverable was completed. In addition, while departments and agencies had implemented many of the commitments for a number of initiatives, they experienced significant challenges, such as delays in implementation and low adoption rates by users.

This is important because the security, trade, and travel benefits of the Beyond the Border Action Plan cannot be fully assessed with the performance indicators that had been developed at the time of the audit, and full benefits will not be achieved until the initiatives are complete.

• Federal organizations had mostly implemented the security initiatives but could not show that they improved security at Canada’s borders

  Recommendation. For completed and ongoing initiatives that have not yet developed performance indicators to measure benefits, Public Safety Canada, the Canada Border Services Agency, the RCMP, and Transport Canada should

  • develop performance indicators that clearly measure the security benefits for the initiatives that they are responsible for, and
  • measure and report accurate and reliable results against baselines and targets to be able to assess the security benefits achieved.

• Departments and agencies had challenges in implementing cross-border trade initiatives and could not show that they facilitated trade

  Recommendation. The Canada Border Services Agency should take into consideration, on an ongoing basis, various perspectives of stakeholders and ensure that the initiative on enhancing benefits to Trusted Traders programs and the Single Window initiative meet stakeholder needs.

  Recommendation. For completed and ongoing initiatives that have not yet developed performance indicators to measure benefits, the Canada Border Services Agency should

  • develop performance indicators to clearly measure the trade benefits for the initiatives that it is responsible for, and
  • measure and report accurate and reliable results against baselines and targets to be able to assess the trade benefits achieved.

• Departments and agencies had significant challenges implementing travel initiatives and could not show that they facilitated legitimate travel

  Recommendation. Transport Canada should work with the Canada Border Services Agency to assess the benefits of existing border wait-time technology and use that information to determine whether future installations of border wait-time technology are warranted at remaining crossings.

  Recommendation. The Canada Border Services Agency should complete its assessment of how the planned implementation will achieve the benefits from radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and continually assess its plans for installing RFID technology in the future.

  Recommendation. For completed and ongoing initiatives that have not yet developed performance indicators to measure benefits, the Canada Border Services Agency and Transport Canada should

  • develop performance indicators to clearly measure the travel benefits for the initiatives that they are responsible for, and
  • measure and report accurate and reliable results against baselines and targets to be able to assess the travel benefits achieved

Reporting on the Beyond the Border Action Plan

Overall, we found that the Report on the Beyond the Border Action Plan Horizontal Initiative provided an incomplete and inaccurate picture of progress and costs of the Action Plan. Public Safety Canada prepared a report using the costing and progress information it received from departments and agencies. Though this report provided information on annual achievements, it did not convey a consolidated view of progress. The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat did not give departments and agencies specific guidance on costing and measuring program results. As a result, departments and agencies applied different interpretations, which contributed to producing inconsistent information. We also found that Public Safety Canada did not adjust its reporting method to reflect changes to performance indicators it used to measure the progress of initiatives. As a result, the Department could not show that these performance indicators being reported on continued to align with and were able to measure the intended benefits of the Action Plan.

This is important because accurate, complete, and consistent reporting helps departments and agencies to be accountable for the estimated investment of $1.1 billion in the Action Plan, and is invaluable for decision makers to know when to take corrective action, and where to allocate funds to best effect.

• The report on the Beyond the Border Action Plan provided an incomplete picture of progress and costs

  Recommendation. The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat should improve its guidance on the management and reporting of horizontal initiatives to

  • clarify roles and responsibilities for lead and partner departments and agencies responsible for reporting accurately and completely on horizontal initiatives;
  • clarify guidance for lead and partner departments and agencies reporting a consolidated view of progress, results, and costs for initiatives over the years; and
  • clarify the requirements of a financial costing framework for horizontal initiatives.

  Recommendation. Public Safety Canada, which is the lead department responsible for reporting on the Beyond the Border Action Plan, should

  • include cumulative costing and baselines and targets for indicators as appropriate for Action Plan initiatives in the remaining Reports on the Beyond the Border Action Plan Horizontal Initiative to ensure that the results, costs, and progress made on initiatives are measurable, clear, and consolidated;
  • update the performance measurement framework to refine the performance indicators used to support the intended outcomes of the Action Plan in future reporting cycles; and
  • set up a common costing framework so that all departments and agencies consistently report accurate and complete financial information.

Entity Responses to Recommendations

The audited entities agree with our recommendations, and have responded (see List of Recommendations).

Related Information

Report of the	Auditor General of Canada
Type of product	Performance audit
Topics	Business and Industry Foreign Affairs Justice and Law Enforcement
Audited entities	Canada Border Services Agency Canadian Air Transport Security Authority Canadian Food Inspection Agency Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada Privy Council Office Public Safety Canada Royal Canadian Mounted Police Transport Canada Treasury Board of Canada
Completion date	27 September 2016
Tabling date	29 November 2016
Related audits	Report 2—Controlling Exports at the Border, 2015 Fall Reports of the Auditor General of Canada Chapter 1—Border Controls on Commercial Imports, 2012 Spring Report of the Auditor General of Canada

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