2022 to 2023 Main Estimates overview: Committee of the Whole—May 19, 2022

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Public Services and Procurement Canada: 2022 to 2023 Main Estimates

The 2022 to 2023 Main Estimates were tabled in parliament on March 1, 2022.

Public Services and Procurement Canada’s (PSPC) opening net budget is $4,639.6 million. Compared to the 2021 to 2022 opening net budget of $4,491.2 million, this is a net increase of $148.4 million which is attributable mainly to the combination of items outlined below.

Increases of funding totaling $176.3 million are mainly due to non-discretionary expenses associated with Crown-owned buildings and leased spaces

Increase in funding of $117.3 million for the protection from inflation and price variations relating to space requirements for real property items for which PSPC has very little or no control.

Purpose of funding

• The funding will protect the department from non-discretionary price and volume fluctuations associated with Crown-owned buildings and leased spaces. The costs relate to items for which PSPC has very little or no control such as rent, cost of utilities and accommodations (space requirements for public servants) costs
• In return for this protection, any unspent funds is returned to the Department of Finance fiscal framework

Procurement initiatives (Budget 2021)

Increase in funding of $30.7 million to modernize federal procurement and diversify the federal supplier base. This funding stems from the Budget 2021 announcement where the government committed to a multi-year funding strategy starting in 2021 to 2022.^{Footnote 1} This continuation of funding in 2022 to 2023 will enable domestic procurement to be prioritized, accessibility considerations to be incorporated into procurement, and data capture, analytics, and reporting to be improved. Funding will also ensure that PSPC is adequately prepared to support the Canadian Coast Guard and the Canadian Armed Forces as they both continue to deliver defence and marine procurement projects via Canada’s defence policy: Strong, Secure, Engaged and the National Shipbuilding Strategy.

Purpose of funding

• Leveraging procurement opportunities: Procurement modernization and inclusivity initiatives will allow the government to continue to improve relations with vendors, improve opportunities for under-represented groups to participate in the government supply chain, and remove barriers for persons with disabilities. To do this, PSPC is using several strategies such as accessible procurement, social procurement, Indigenous procurement, and outreach and engagement with under-represented suppliers
• Modernizing the procurement workforce: The funding will enable PSPC to rebuild its procurement workforce capacity and prevent program integrity issues. More importantly, it will ensure that PSPC has the necessary capacity to implement the numerous initiatives designed to modernize PSPC procurement. It will also ensure capacity to deliver procurements in support of infrastructure initiatives to support economic recovery
• Enabling defence and marine procurement: The Department of National Defence (DND) will be increasing its spending to implement Canada’s defence policy: Strong, Secure, Engaged (SSE) and its participation, along with the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG), in the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS). In collaboration with partnerships with other government departments and agencies, PSPC will ensure that Canada’s biggest and most complex National Defence and Canadian Coast Guard procurement projects are delivered

Planning for capital and fit-up

Increase in funding of $28.3 million for planning for capital projects and fit-up aligns to PSPC’s current funding approvals.

Purpose of funding

• To enable PSPC to support the planning and delivery of critical assets and infrastructure projects such as for Laboratories Canada, the West Memorial Building rehabilitation and the Long-Term Vision and Plan of the Parliamentary Precinct as well as to support refit and fit-up activities (for example, swing space)
• Planning includes activities such as:
  • feasibility studies
  • options analysis
  • investigations (for example, soil condition, municipal infrastructure)
  • consulting support
  • pre-tender contracting work
  • statement of requirements
  • pre-design activities

Decreases of funding totaling $27.9 million are mainly due to long-term capital investment plan

Decrease in funding of $23.7 million (including employee benefit plans of $1.1 million) in capital vote 5 reflects PSPC’s current total funding approval of $1,611.6 million sought to deliver on its capital investment plan. The department will seek updated approval as required in order to maintain the quality of its infrastructure for the benefits of all Canadians.

Purpose of funding

• To enable PSPC’s long-term capital funding management strategy in support of a better planning and delivery of its capital projects
• Investments are made in 2 broad categories of assets:
  • infrastructure investments: comprises assets that enable the delivery of government programs and services administered by various client organizations and assets that are used by the general public. The 4 groups of assets are:
    • parliamentary
    • office
    • science
    • engineering assets
  • enabling services investments: comprise assets that enable PSPC to deliver its programs and services and other government operations. The 2 groups of assets are:
    • digital assets (for example, Government of Canada (GC) trusted platform, industrial security system transformation project)
    • fleet assets (transition to zero emission vehicles^{Footnote 2})

Other

Decrease in funding is related to the netting of other variances in funding such as: the reduction in workers’ compensation costs related to former Cape Breton Development Corporation employees, travel budget reductions, decrease in card acceptance and postage fees offset for example by an increase in funding for the Translation Bureau (linguistic services provided to parliament)

Shared Services Canada: 2022 to 2023 Main Estimates

Key data points

• Shared Services Canada (SSC) is requesting a total amount of $2.6 billion through the Main Estimates. This includes:
  • total new funding of $541.2 million
  • a total net transfer $158.6 million
  • reprofiled funding leading to a net increase of $29.6 million
  • an increase in statutory appropriations related to the Employee Benefit Plan leading of $23 million
  • other adjustments leading to a net decrease of $41.6 million

Main contributors to the increase

• Initiatives from Budget 2021, including:
  • the Workload Modernization and Migration Program
  • information technology (IT) Repair and Replacement Program
  • secure cloud enablement and defence evolution, and departmental connectivity and monitoring initiative
  • the department’s implementation of the Government of Canada IT enterprise service model

New funding

• $166.9 million to support the Workload Modernization and Migration Program from Budget 2021. The funding will enable secure and stable hosting solutions for the Government of Canada IT infrastructure, and therefore, support government digital operations through the Workload Modernization and Migration Program's goal of migrating existing workloads off of aging IT infrastructure and into more modern hosting solutions, such as the cloud or enterprise data centres
• $97.5 million for the IT Repair and Replacement Program from Budget 2021. This funding will improve planning, proactively address the GC’s outdated IT equipment and strengthen the GC’s abilities to adapt to rapidly changing digital requirements and prevent system failures and service outages
• $79.2 million for the secure cloud enablement and defence evolution and departmental connectivity and monitoring initiative from Budget 2021, to enhance the reliability and security of government IT networks. This funding will support the secure cloud to ground operational activities and thereby support SSC in delivering up to protected B secure cloud connectivity to partner departments
• $63.2 million for the next generation human resources (HR) and pay (NextGen HR and Pay) solution. This funding will enable the NextGen HR and Pay team to carry out pilot tests to assess the complexity of the government’s HR and pay requirements, as well as to conduct a feasibility study to identify the resources and level of effort to transition from Phoenix
• $47.3 million for core IT services. This includes funding to cover the costs associated with onboarding new full-time equivalents, as well as funding in support of partner-led initiatives
• $37.6 million for the implementation of the endpoint visibility, awareness and security project and the internal credential authentication service
• $31.2 million to support the GC secret infrastructure expansion project to implement a secure, reliable, highly available, and cost effective solution for GC classified information, and also for the expanded small departments and agencies (SDA) study to further analyze the connectivity of SDAs to SSC-managed internet and cloud access
• $19.2 million for newly signed collective agreements
• $0.1 million for the implementation of the comprehensive Employee Benefit Plan rate of 27% for legal services
• A total decrease of $1.0 million from Budget 2021, reduction in operating budgets, as travel costs have decreased due to a greater reliance on digital and virtual interaction

Transfers between departments

• An increase of $158.8 million related to the to the department’s implementation of the Government of Canada IT enterprise service model
• An increase of $2.4 million from Public Services and Procurement Canada for the reimbursement related to reduced accommodation requirements as a result of data centre consolidations
• An increase of $0.2 million from Correctional Services Canada related to the administrative services review
• A decrease of $2.8 million for realignment within vote 1 of funding from operating to personnel to support human resources requirements within the department
• A decrease of $0.04 million to the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) the Greening Government Fund which has been established as part of the GC’s response to climate change, and for the Office of the Comptroller General financial community developmental programs and the inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility initiative

Reprofiled funding

• The pandemic impacted procurement and suppliers’ efforts to meet demand for IT goods and services. The following initiatives experienced delays mainly brought on by the pandemic and therefore requested reprofiles from fiscal year 2020 to 2021 to 2022 to 2023:
  • $24.3 million for mission critical projects
  • $2.6 million for the secure communications for national leadership project
  • $2.7 million was reprofiled for the Innovation Solutions Canada Procurement Program, which promotes the development and adoption of innovative technologies in Canada

2022 to 2023 Main Estimates: Canada Post Corporation

Key messages

• Canada Post connects this country from coast to coast to coast, and COVID-19 underscored just how important Canada Post is as Canadians relied heavily on this essential service
• Canada Post operates on a self-sustaining financial basis and funds its operations from revenue generated by the sale of its products and services
• In addition to Canada Post’s universal service obligation and core postal services, they deliver certain public policy programs on behalf of the Government of Canada
• For example, thousands of visually impaired Canadians and many libraries across the country send talking books and other materials free of charge
• These programs also allow for the free mailing of letters between Canadians and specified members of government

Key data points

• Canada Post receives an annual appropriation of $22.21 million from the government for the delivery of parliamentary mail and materials for the blind, which are sent free of postage under the Canada Post Corporation Act
• The appropriation amount has been in place for over 2 decades (since January 2000) and remains constant
• This appropriation helps to offset the financial impact of these programs on the company

Background

Government (parliamentary mail)

• Section 35 of the Canada Post Corporation Act allows for mailing of letters free of charge between citizens and members of Parliament, the speaker of the House of Commons, the clerk of the Senate, the governor general, the parliamentary librarian, the associate parliamentary librarian, the conflict of interest and ethics commissioners, and the senate ethics officer
• Members of the House of Commons can also send up to 4 flyer mailings (through the neighbourhood mail service) free of charge to their constituents in any calendar year

Materials for the use of the blind

• The Canada Post Corporation Act provides for free mailing privileges for certain materials for use by blind persons, such as braille material, talking books, and DVDs
• These services date back to the 19th century and are part of Canada’s obligations under the Universal Postal Union
• The program is used by a number of groups, with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) and la Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec being the largest mailers of material

National Capital Commission: 2022 to 2023 Main Estimates

Key messages

• Approximately $154.2 million in total funding for the National Capital Commission (NCC) is anticipated through the Main Estimates for 2022 to 2023
• This represents a decrease of $1.8 million in planned spending, as compared to the Main Estimates for 2021 to 2022. It is attributable to the following variances:
  • a decrease of $0.6 million in operating expenditures and of $3.6 million in capital expenditures related to phase IV of the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan
  • an increase of $3.0 million in operating expenditures and a decrease of $3.0 million in capital expenditures related to bridge crossing maintenance and infrastructure
  • an increase of $2.4 million in operating expenditures as a result of a new collective bargaining agreement with NCC employees

Key data points

• Votes on the Main Estimates for 2022 to 2023 for the NCC consist of 2 parts:
  • payments to the NCC for operating expenditures ($75.9 million)
  • payments to the NCC for capital expenditures ($78.3 million)

Background

Approximately $154.2 million in total funding for the NCC is anticipated through the Main Estimates (voted appropriations) for fiscal year 2022 to 2023.

Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan: Phase IV

Special appropriations have been approved for the NCC as part of phase IV of the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan for a total of $14.7 million included for fiscal years 2021 to 2022 to 2024 to 2025 ($3.9 million in operating and $10.7 million in capital).

Additional appropriations received in May 2020

Funding for the NCC from 2020 to 2021 to 2022 to 2023 includes additional appropriations totalling $173.6 million allocated in May 2020 for the rehabilitation of some of the NCC’s assets ($16.3 million in operating and $157.3 million in capital).

Collective agreement

On June 10, 2021, by order in council, it was approved that the NCC enter into a collective agreement with the Public Service Alliance of Canada that covers all employees in the bargaining unit of the NCC for the period beginning on January 1, 2019 and ending on December 31, 2021.

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Date modified:

2023-05-10