ARCHIVED - Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada - Supplementary Tables

Description:

The Grants and Contributions Delivery Project (GCDP) is being repositioned to ensure that it complies with the Department's overall grants and contributions reform, supports Government of Canada administrative reform efforts, and so that rigorous project management controls required for projects of this size are implemented.

GCDP received authority in June 2009 through the Growing Forward Service Excellence Initiative to conduct Phase I - Preliminary Project Approval (PPA) of GCDP, which includes the System Development Life Cycle phases of Conceptual, Preliminary and Detailed Design.

In Phase II, the GCDP will perform business alignment of programs through the adoption of common business processes, as well as the implementation of a common technical platform. Both will improve the access, management and delivery of non-BRM Grants and Contributions (Gs&Cs) programs.

The GCDP is split into two discrete phases:

1. Phase I (PPA) which will include business transformation toward a core common business process framework and further clarification of the GCDP business requirements, flexible architecture design and completion of functional design of a common Departmental Gs&Cs delivery platform (known as GCDP) for all non-BRM grants and contributions programs; and
2. Phase II – develop and build the platform components (estimated completion March 2013 includes a stabilization period).

The project will officially conclude when:

• The non-BRM Gs&Cs delivery platform includes all critical functionality of security, financial and reporting requirements;
• Three early-adopter programs have been implemented onto the delivery platform; and
• The in-house GCDP Support Centre is in place in the Information Services Branch. This Centre will provide maintenance, end user support and continued program implementation of all remaining and upcoming new programs.

Project Phase:

This project is currently in the initiation, planning and design phase.

Leading and Participating Departments and Agencies:

Lead Department	Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Contracting Authority	Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Public Works and Government Services Canada
Participating Departments	Public Works and Government Services Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat

Prime and Major Subcontractor(s):

Prime Contractor	Deloitte & Touche LLP - 100 Queen Street, Suite 800, Ottawa, Ontario, K1P 5T8
Major Subcontractor(s)	CSDC Systems Inc. (formerly Grantium) - 279 Laurier Ave. West, Suite 200,Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5J9

Major Milestones:

List of Major Milestones	Completion / Target Date
Preliminary Project Approval	04-Jun-2009
Conceptual Design & Approved Architecture	01-Jul-2010
Business Alignment	31-Mar-2011
Detailed Design	31-Mar-2011
Treasury Board Submission (Final Draft)	01-Jan-2011
Treasury Board Submission Approval	31-Jan-2011
Development and Implementation	30-Nov-2012
Stabilization and Maintenance	31-Mar-2013

Project Outcomes:

• Increased decision support through improvement of performance reporting across Gs&Cs programs;
• Increased consistency of program delivery through the rationalization of work processes and enabling technological infrastructure;
• Increased accessibility and transparency for clients of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in the delivery of services;
• Increased auditability in how Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada aligns to legal, political and policy changes;
• Increased value for money.

Progress Report and Explanations of Variances:

Progress to date:
Conceptual Design - Complete
Preliminary & Detailed Design - Complete
Overall Business Requirements - Complete
Supplementary Project Staffing - Complete
Pre-Phase II Health Check Independent Review (to assess the viability of the GCDP go forward plan and the project’s readiness to proceed) - Complete
Management Response to Independant Assesment and associated Action Plan - Complete
Project Governance - Complete
Business Transformation - Under way
Phase II Treasury Board Submission (Authority to proceed with Business Transformation and the Development and Implementation of the GCDP) - Under way

The project team has re-established project milestones target dates for the PPA phase of the project to ensure the business re-design is achieved before implementing technology. This will ensure a stronger understanding and endorsement of Gs&Cs reform and the proposed solution department wide, which will form the basis for Phase II being submitted to Treasury Board. The GCDP team developed a strategy and has addressed all findings of the independent assessment and has identified an approach to stay aligned to the Service Excellence Treasury Board Submission to have a common non-BRM Gs&Cs delivery platform implemented by 2013.

Industrial Benefits:

In February 2007, an independent blue ribbon panel provided recommendations aimed at simplifying the administration of Gs&Cs while, at the same time, strengthening accountability and risk-based approaches for managing the programs. Through the development of the action plan and other work that has taken place over the past year, AAFC is meeting the commitments made by the Government in response to the panel's key recommendations.

With this plan, recipients, stakeholder organizations and federal program administrators will be able to see AAFC's progress, and more importantly, the project's next steps and the Department's commitment to engage them in the process. The last year has seen much activity, and a solid foundation is being laid for systemic change. This kind of change takes time, and there is still much work to be done. However, it is believed that the action plan will serve as a vital roadmap to guide AAFC over the next few years.

Note: Further details on this project can be found in the Status Report on Projects operating with specific Treasury Board Approval in the 2009-10 Departmental Performance Report.