Question Period Note: STABILIZATION OF AGING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS DELIVERY

What is the Government doing to maintain mission critical computer systems on which Canadians depend for benefits and services?

• The Government of Canada is committed to delivering easy to use, seamless, digitally enabled services that put the needs and expectations of Canadians first.
• ESDC is undertaking Benefits Delivery Modernization as a long-term solution to delivering Employment Insurance, the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security for Canadians.
• In parallel, the Department is improving, consolidating, and replacing aging information technology infrastructure to ensure the reliability and sustainability of payments to clients, while we modernize benefits delivery.

Beginning with Budget 2017, the Government of Canada has invested $84.9M in the Benefits Delivery Modernization programme (BDM) programme to develop modern approaches to service delivery for ESDC’s three statutory Programs (Employment Insurance (EI), Canada Pension Plan (CPP), and Old Age Security (OAS)) in a phased approach, beginning with EI.

BDM is the Government of Canada’s strategy to address the risk of technology rust-out, while continuing to provide Canadians with reliable and accurate EI, CPP and OAS benefits. Over time, the programme will expand self-service options, reduce wait times, streamline application processes and enable Canadians to get the help they need at first point of contact. Further, it will allow a safe and progressive retirement of legacy systems, provide a more flexible platform, and improve service to clients over time.

Since 2017, ESDC has engaged with industry and stakeholders to develop a comprehensive implementation plan, and procurement and implementation strategies informed by third party expertise, global best practices and lessons learned to mitigate the risks associated with a modernization programme of this scale. This work includes the design of a modernized service delivery model and launch of a collaborative procurement process.

Additionally, through Budget 2019, the Government has invested $90 million, over three years, to stabilize the OAS delivery platform, hire additional staff to process benefit claims, and complete the migration of the OAS program to a more modern platform. The migration is planned for December 2020.

While the Department is committed to delivering these digital services as quickly as possible, we will not compromise when safeguarding the privacy, or income security of Canadians.

• The Benefits Delivery Modernization programme (BDM) is the Government of Canada’s strategic solution for ensuring the government can continue to reliably and accurately provide Canadians with EI, CPP and OAS benefits. The programme will expand self-service options, reduce wait times, streamline application processes and enable resolution at first point of contact.
• The BDM Programme was originally announced in Budget 2017, when $12.1M was committed to ESDC to develop modern approaches to service delivery for ESDC’s three statutory Programs (EI, CPP, and OAS) in a phased approach, beginning with EI. Since that time, ESDC has made significant progress in applying third party expertise, global best practices and lessons learned to define procurement and implementation strategies that will mitigate the risks associated with a modernization programme of this scale.
• Budget 2019 committed $12.5 million for the BDM programme to transform service delivery for EI, CPP and OAS, starting with EI, and will set the foundation to deliver significant benefits.
• BDM responds directly to the EI Service Quality Review (SQR) Panel, by adopting client centric design of its processes.
• Foundational work done over the past year includes engaging with Industry and stakeholders to develop a comprehensive implementation plan; engaging citizens and ESDC employees to design the modernized service delivery model; and completing the first step in the collaborative procurement process, which resulted in the onboarding of seven qualified suppliers.
• As a next step in the procurement process, ESDC will work with Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) and the qualified system integrators to begin prototyping with the leading core technology supplier.