Information Technology Investments—Canada Border Services Agency
Opening Statement to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts
Information Technology Investments—Canada Border Services Agency
(Report 5—2015 Spring Reports of the Auditor General of Canada)
27 May 2015
Michael Ferguson, CPA, CA
FCA (New Brunswick)
Auditor General of Canada
Mr. Chair, thank you for this opportunity to discuss our Spring 2015 Report on Information Technology Investments managed by the Canada Border Services Agency. Joining me at the table is Martin Dompierre, Principal, who was responsible for the audit.
This audit focused on assessing whether the Canada Border Services Agency has the corporate and management practices in place to enable the delivery of information technology investments that align with and support its strategic corporate objectives.
As part of the audit, we consulted six federal government departments and agencies to get their views on their collaboration with the Agency.
The Canada Border Services Agency plays a key role in Canada’s security and prosperity by managing the access of people and goods to and from Canada. In the 2013–14 fiscal year, the Agency admitted close to 100 million travellers and cleared more than 14 million commercial shipments. These and other Agency activities resulted in the collection of $26.9 billion in revenues. Information technology plays an important part in the Agency’s ability to achieve its strategic objectives and mandate of ensuring border security. The Agency’s current portfolio is made up of 30 information technology projects with a budget of more than $1 billion.
Overall, we found that the Agency has had significant challenges in managing its information technology portfolio in a way that ensured it could deliver IT projects that meet requirements and deliver expected benefits. In December 2013, the Agency put in place a new Project Portfolio Management Framework to strengthen its management of IT investments. We found that the framework was comprehensive, but our review of five projects against the framework revealed that the Agency had not fully applied it, which resulted in several issues.
For example, we found that the information provided to senior committees tasked with overseeing the information technology portfolio did not contain accurate financial information, project status information, or timelines. This information is important to ensure that projects are being managed to meet all stages of approval, meet delivery requirements, and align with the Agency’s strategic objectives.
In addition, projects often lacked clear requirements, had no defined and measurable benefits, or had poorly stated benefits. This resulted in project delays, duplication of effort, and business requirements that were not finalized. For example, over 75 percent of projects had minimal or no information on whether benefits would be realized or aligned with strategic objectives.
Information technology plays a key role in the Agency’s ability to achieve its strategic objectives and mandate. Without access to complete, reliable project information with clear business requirements, the Agency is restricted in how efficiently and effectively it can manage its portfolio of projects.
Our report makes three recommendations to the Canada Border Services Agency. The Agency has agreed with our recommendations and has shared its action plan with us.
Mr. Chair, this concludes my opening remarks. We would be pleased to answer any questions the Committee may have. Thank you.