Directive on Results

Planning departmental evaluation coverage

• B.2.2.1

  Ensuring that the annual departmental evaluation planning exercise identifies:

  • B.2.2.1.1Evaluations of all ongoing programs of grants and contributions with five-year average actual expenditures of $5 million or greater per year, as per subsection 2.5 of the policy, required to fulfill the Financial Administration Act subsection 42.1;
  • B.2.2.1.2Evaluations required by applicable legislation and as a result of commitments in submissions approved by the Treasury Board of Canada;
  • B.2.2.1.3Evaluations requested by the Secretary of the Treasury Board of Canada; and
  • B.2.2.1.4Evaluation activities required to support centrally-led evaluations or resource alignment reviews;
• B.2.2.2

  Additionally, ensuring that the annual departmental evaluation planning exercise, starting from the principle that all programs and spending not covered by evaluation as a result of subsection B.2.2.1 of this Mandatory Procedure should be evaluated periodically, identifies the department’s five-year evaluation coverage needs by considering:

  • B.2.2.2.1The need to evaluate ongoing programs of grants and contributions with five-year average actual expenditures of less than $5 million per year and assessed contributions to international organizations;
  • B.2.2.2.2Departmental and program risks, governmental and department priorities and the information needs of major stakeholders;
  • B.2.2.2.3Information needed to support the department’s spending proposals, including Memoranda to Cabinet and Treasury Board submissions, as well as to support resource alignment reviews;
  • B.2.2.2.4The recentness and sufficiency of existing performance information for management, decision making, and accountability;
  • B.2.2.2.5Joint evaluations with other departments of government priorities, horizontal initiatives, and where departmental responsibilities, results or program outcomes are shared or related;
  • B.2.2.2.6Other planned departmental oversight activities; and
  • B.2.2.2.7Advice from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat;

Departmental evaluation plans

• B.2.2.3A deputy head confirmation note, as outlined in subsection B.2.3 of these procedures, shall be included with approved departmental evaluation plans submitted to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat;

• B.2.2.4

  The annual five-year departmental evaluation plan identifies:

  • B.2.2.4.1The five-year schedule of evaluations to be undertaken in accordance with subsection B.2.2.1 and B.2.2.2 of these procedures;
  • B.2.2.4.2Specific evaluations and evaluation activities being undertaken as per subsections B.2.2.1.1 to B.2.2.1.4 and B.2.2.2.1 of these procedures;
  • B.2.2.4.3Evaluations of high-risk and high-priority spending, programs or other issues;
  • B.2.2.4.4For each evaluation scheduled for approval in the first year of the plan, the quarter in which it will be approved;
  • B.2.2.4.5The lead department for each evaluation that will be conducted jointly with other departments;
  • B.2.2.4.6Extent of planned coverage, including by amount of organizational spending and by program of the Program Inventory; and
  • B.2.2.4.7Extent of organizational spending and programs that will not be evaluated in the planning period, the key reasons for not evaluating, and the year in which the spending or program was last evaluated;

Evaluations of ongoing programs of grants and contributions

• B.2.2.5Evaluations of ongoing programs of grants and contributions with five-year average actual expenditures of $5 million or greater per year required to fulfill the requirements of the Financial Administration Act section 42.1, shall include an assessment of relevance, effectiveness and efficiency;

Evaluation reports

• B.2.2.6Draft evaluation reports are submitted by the head of evaluation directly and simultaneously to the deputy head and the Performance Measurement and Evaluation Committee;
• B.2.2.7Final approved evaluation reports are submitted to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, as per subsection 4.3.17 of the policy, with a cover letter signed by the head of evaluation indicating the report’s approval date; and
• B.2.2.8Evaluation reports and summaries, including complete management responses and actions plans, are released on web platforms, after they are approved by the deputy head as per subsection 4.3.18 of the policy, while safeguarding protected and classified information.