Transformation of Pension Administration Initiative

Overview

Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) provides pension administration services to about 610,000 employees and retirees of federal government departments, crown corporations and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

Since 2007 PSPC has been engaged in the Transformation of Pension Administration Initiative, which modernized the systems and business processes that support pension administration for the public service pension plan. The new pension solution provides a more efficient and cost effective system and better services for public sector employees, retirees and their families.

Why Modernize?

The legacy public service pension administration system, which some called a "working museum", was at the end of its 40-year lifecycle. The system was fragile and increasingly difficult to maintain. Business processes were fragmented, cumbersome and labour intensive. Increasing demands from public servants for more flexible services and a loss of expertise due to high attrition added to the need to modernize. A benchmarking of the pension system against other public and private sector organizations emphasized the need for changes in order to remain comparable to the pension industry at large.

Transforming the Pension System

In 2013, modernization of the infrastructure supporting the public service pension administration was completed. The 40-year-old system was replaced with commercial software products and streamlined business processes. In addition to modernization, the delivery of all pension services to public service pension plan members was centralized within a single centre of pension expertise: the Government of Canada Pension Centre in Shediac, New Brunswick.

Together, the modernization and centralization projects transformed the administration of the public service pension plan and achieved the first of the major objectives of the Transformation of Pension Administration Initiative: ensuring the long term sustainability of the pension administration system, increasing efficiency and improving services to members.

Today, pension administration services for all active and retired public service pension plan members are delivered by the Pension Centre, with support from PSPC's Document Imaging Centre in Matane, Quebec and in partnership with the Compensation Sector in the National Capital Area. The delivery of services is supported by a modern flexible Information Technology (IT) platform that is adaptable and capable of administering multiple pension plans.

In July 2014, the Transformation of Pension Administration Initiative successfully transferred the administration of RCMP pension plans to the new Government of Canada pension solution. This project, the culmination of almost four years of effort, was completed on schedule and under budget. With the addition of 40,000 RCMP pension plan members to its client base, the Pension Centre now provides services to about 610,000 public servants, retirees and their families. With this key milestone completed, the Transformation of Pension Administration Initiative has effectively achieved another one of its major objectives: taking full advantage of the multi-plan capabilities of the modern, cost-effective and efficient public service pension system to provide services to other public service pension plans.

Benefits for the Government of Canada and its Employees

The Transformation of Pension Administration Initiative is a leading example of the use of technology to simplify, standardize and consolidate administrative functions across government. Some of the benefits the government will realize as a result include:

• Long-term sustainability of the infrastructure; increased automation and elimination of data duplication. The modern, integrated industry-standard system leverages new automated enterprise tools and streamlined business processes to improve services;
• Greater accuracy, consistency and timeliness in processing transactions and payments;
• Improved client responsiveness and access through enhanced web-based self-service;
• Environmentally friendly operations resulting from the elimination of paper files;
• More cost effective services and increased productivity in pension administration costs and further economies of scale will be possible once the solution is implemented for Canadian Armed Forces pension plans;
• Innovation and success are being recognized, at home and abroad. The team is assisting other organizations and projects adopt similar methodologies. The government's pension system has evolved into one of the most modern and innovative in the world.

Status

The Pension Transformation team is working on the transfer of Canadian Armed Forces pension plan administration to PSPC, further leveraging the Government of Canada pension solution. A permanent Government of Canada Pension Centre satellite office has been established in the National Capital Area to serve the Canadian Armed Forces, expanding the services currently provided by the Government of Canada Pension Centre in Shediac, New Brunswick. Pension administration services for active Regular and Reserve Force members were transferred to PSPC in July 2016. PSPC will deliver services to retired plan members, survivors, and their families using the Government of Canada pension solution, in January 2017.

When the project is completed, in early 2017, pension administration services for over 205,000 active Regular and Reserve Force members, retirees and their families will be provided by PSPC.

Jeff Marcantonio
Acting Director General, Pension Modernization and Centralization