Question Period Note: OLD AGE SECURITY ON BENEFITS DELIVERY MODERNIZATION

What is the status of OAS on BDM?

• Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to report that ESDC has successfully implemented the OAS-on-BDM project, delivering a new, modern solution that seeks to meet the high service expectations of Canadians.

• On March 17, 2025, over 7.4 million OAS clients were migrated to a new benefits delivery system. This system is paying clients accurately and on time, helping to ensure the continuity of vital benefits like OAS to Canadians.

• The system also provides Canadians with new self-service features – such as the ability to update the department on life events online – reducing the need to interact with officials over the phone or at our offices for simple changes to their information.

• Looking forward, we intend to repeat the success of the OAS-on BDM project for EI and for CPP, providing Canadians with a single point of access for all core benefit needs.

• ESDC’s benefits delivery systems are aging. The OAS system was 60 years old; the EI system is 50 years old, and the CPP system is 20 years old.

• ESDC is investing in the BDM Programme, which will culminate in the migration of OAS, EI and CPP to a modern processing platform, and with new capabilities added over time, transforming service delivery.

• In alignment with best practices and lessons learned from other large transformation projects, OAS-on-BDM was implemented incrementally across three (3) releases:
o Release 1 (June 2023) migrated 600,000 International Agreement Foreign Benefit clients to the new system, demonstrating its security and stability.
o Release 2 (February 2025) was a full Non-Production Pilot that tested end-to-end functionality of the new system and how prepared the Business was to use the new solution.
o Release 3 (March 2025) was the full implementation, which successfully moved all 7.4M clients to the modern solutions.

IF PRESSED

USER ADOPTION:
• ESDC recognizes the significance of this change for OAS employees and is committed to ensuring they have the tools and training required to be successful. In fact, targeted training, AI user adoption tools, and dedicated support teams, are available to all employees.
o User adoption software accelerates user return to proficiency by walking employees through new system functionality and process (an example of this new software is called; Walk-Me).

• In addition, ESDC’s first generative AI-powered chatbot provides accurate, real-time answers to over 90% of user enquiries (this is called; Assist-Me), allowing the federal government to be more productive by deploying AI.