Canadian Government Executive - Volume 24 - Issue 06

December 2018/January 2019 // Canadian Government Executive / 27 DIGITAL GOVERNMENT and select executives dual-hatted across both organizations. For example: • SSC, the Department/Agency, would be responsible for bureaucratic functions, while • SSC (by another name?), the Agency/ Crown Corporation, would be the larger operational entity organized very much like industry world class providers. If there are effects on the workforce (e.g., retirement plans), these can be grandfa- thered to minimize the impacts on em- ployees and help for a smooth transition. Change in Authorities Another aspect crippling SSC’s perfor- mance is its limitations of authorities, es- pecially when compared to the reference group. Following is a summary of pro- posed improvements to SSC’s authorities: • Financial, contractual and procure- ment: double existing authorities for obligating and committing funds for projects and services, and make excep- tions and governance subject to approv- al by the new Board of Directors. • Relieve SSC from OPMCA oversight and institute a recognized industry regimen with third party certification (e.g., Project Management Institute) and oversight by the Board. • Provide greater latitude for SSC to hire, terminate and compensate people in line with industry norms. • Provide more flexibility in SSC’s acqui- sition rules or perhaps its own rules – there are examples in other countries. Consolidation of Service Providers The consolidation of services among PSPC, SSC and TBS (incl. CDS) is a “low hanging fruit” opportunity. Each depart- ment has its own hierarchy with differ- ent mandates, agendas, cultures and re- sources. The excessive delay and extra cost cannot be overestimated based on this current model. The only organization mandated to run GC IT services as an en- terprise is SSC; therefore, the logical step is to consolidate to SSC. Simply put, the IT missions and re- sources from PSPC and TBS need to be transferred to SSC, with the exception of the retained CIO and staff equivalent to other partner departments. The reality is the more that is transferred, the better the result for each department. Following is an estimate of the transfer (while this may be dated, it is illustrative): • PSPC • Included: IT and IT procurement as a service (e.g., GCDocs) • NOT Included: IT services apart of PSPC programs (e.g., Phoenix), how- ever this should be reviewed on a case-by-case basis • Enterprise applications and informa- tion management, e.g.: • GCDocs • MyGCHR • Shared Case Management Service (SCMS) • Hardware and software procurement • <300 personnel (DG-led; includes ~10 procurement personnel for applica- tions); estimate $21–41M budget • TBS: • GC Tools • ~15 Personnel (paid by ~$1.5M rev- enue from Depts) • CDS in its entirety This consolidation is very achievable with minimal disruption. Moving the entire organizations, including people and budgets, provides an existing man- agement structure around which to or- ganize. The ~315 personnel are ~5 per cent of SSC’s current staff with an as- sociated small budget by comparison to be absorbed by SSC. Lastly, minimal administrative changes are required as the Shared Services Act [Subsection 6(a)] already provides for addition of these services. Organization of Consolidated Resources SSC currently provides some software services within its Data Centre Branch. This organization would be moved out of the Data Centre Branch and combined with the majority of new resources under a new branch. The mission of the new branch would be to provide software ser- vices (including SaaS), and achieving cer- tifications (e.g., CMMI Levels 3-5) would be near-term objectives to benchmark its capabilities and operations. Benefits Benefits can be summarized as: 1. Productivity boost to affected organi- zations and supporting GC customers and Canadians a. Single DM structure cuts existing managerial governance by at least half, significantly reducing decision cycle time and focuses on IT daily b. Simplifies and streamlines IT services for customers 2. Net neutral cost to GC – budgets and people move together 3. More closely aligns with Gartner re- port recommendations 4. Improved security, building on SSC’s demonstrated success in security management and culture 5. Hard dollar savings through further procurement consolidation 6. Accelerates standardization and con- solidation of the IT enterprise 7. More capability to provide integrated digital services to Canadians To give some sense of what can be achieved through consolidation, it may help to look at what a total GC consoli- dation could achieve based on industry experience. For consolidation of environ- ments such as the GC’s current state, 20 per cent savings from total spend is con- sidered a safe and achievable goal. Given the total IT spend of the Government is in the range of $5 billion per year, a 20 per cent savings would be $1 billion. If we reduce this by half to be safe, we still achieve a significant savings of $500M per year. These savings are realistic by indus- try experience, while providing improved capabilities, and show the continuing im- provement possible by continuing the vi- sion of the Shared Services Act. In the spirit of open government, I hope these recommendations will be seriously considered and implemented. Note: Please see John’s reprinted article “Executive Talent Risks in the Government of Canada” on our website. J ohn G lowacki has the distinction of having held key roles for deliver- ing and procuring solutions within the Governments of Canada and the United States, most recently as COO of Shared Services Canada, as well as during his time in the private sector as the Chief Technology Officer of one of the largest IT firms in the world. https://www.linkedin.com/in/johna- glowackijr/