Question Period Note: Risk and Compliance Process

What is the Risk and Compliance Process?

• Canadians expect departments to be well managed.
• Deputy Ministers are responsible for delivering on this expectation. They are accountable for making sure their departments follow applicable rules and policies, such as those relating to procurement.
• The Risk and Compliance Process helps deputy heads verify they have the controls and practices in place to meet their accountabilities, and to effectively manage risks within their organizations.
· Each year, departments must complete a self-assessment to review how they’re managing key areas like financial management, procurement, and technology.
· Deputy heads formally attest to their assessments and outline how they plan to address any gaps identified.
· Starting in 2026, a summary of each department’s results and any follow up actions, will appear in their Departmental Results Reports, and TBS will publish an annual report highlighting government-wide trends.

On March 20, 2024, the then President of the Treasury Board announced a series of actions and commitments to strengthen and streamline oversight of federal government management practices.

One of the actions was the introduction of a new Risk and Compliance Process (RCP), which was officially launched on June 12, 2025.

The main objectives of the RCP are to:
• Help deputy heads verify they have controls and practices in place to meet their accountabilities under legislation and Treasury Board policy and to effectively manage risks within their organizations.
• Serve as an additional tool to help TBS maintain the effectiveness of its policy suite.

The RCP is an annual process that will require 68 organizations to complete a self-assessment of compliance and performance in up to 11 areas of administration and a self-assessment of risk. Deputy Heads are responsible for attesting to their self assessments and taking action to address non-compliance, poor performance or unacceptable levels of risk.
A summary of each organization’s RCP results, and any actions taken in response will be included in their annual Departmental Results Report. In addition, TBS will annually publish a report presenting key government-wide RCP findings.
The RCP replaces the Management Accountability Framework, which had been TBS’s annual process to monitor the management performance of federal organizations since 2003.
Procurement Oversight
Deputy Ministers are responsible for ensuring that procurement activities of their organizations are conducted in accordance with Treasury Board policies and procedures.

The Risk and Compliance Process will help Deputy Heads ensure that they have appropriate controls and processes in place to effectively manage procurements.

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