Security, Corporate and Information Services

Document navigation for "Our Services, Standards and Results 2015-2016"

A. Key Services

We deliver security services to federal government departments, Canadian industry and foreign governments. We also deliver services to industry requiring access to controlled goods, through inspections and certification services. We protect the integrity of procurement and real property transactions managed by Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) through integrity verifications. We provide program management support to departments and agencies that use common administrative systems, as well as human resources services. We also offer a suite of document imaging services for departments and agencies that rely on paper-based processing.

Security Services

Contract Security

Security in Contracting Services
  • Provide government departments and PWGSC Acquisitions Branch with security clauses for government contracts based on their Security Requirements Check Lists (SRCLs)
  • Register Canadian private sector organizations that require access to Government of Canada and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) partners’ protected and classified information, within the Contract Security Program
  • Personnel security screen employees of registered organizations requiring access to Government protected and classified information and assets
  • Inspect registered organizations for security compliance, as required
  • Requests for visit clearances

The Contract Security Program supports government contracting:

  • 6,000 SRCLs are reviewed annually
  • Close to 2,000 organizations are registered annually
  • Over 100,000 personnel screening security requests are processed annually
  • Approximately 2,000 inspections are conducted annually

Controlled Goods

Services for Controlled Goods

  • Register Canadian private sector individuals and companies who are possessing, examining or transferring controlled goods
  • Inspect registrants to ensure compliance
  • Assess and issue exemptions for Visitors and Temporary Workers

The Controlled Goods Program regulates access to controlled goods in Canada by:

  • Processing 1,600 registration applications annually
  • Performing 1,700 compliance inspections annually
  • Assessing over 2,200 foreign visitors and temporary workers annually
  • Currently over 4,000 registrants in the Controlled Goods Program

Integrity Framework - Integrity Database Services

  • Protecting the integrity of procurement and real property transactions managed by PWGSC by ensuring that these transactions are carried out free from the influence of corruption, collusion and fraud and that the Government of Canada does not inadvertently support suppliers involved in such illegal activities
  • Assisting other government departments (OGDs) seeking to apply PWGSC's integrity provisions to their solicitations and contracts by providing Integrity Database Services under PWGSC's Integrity Framework to verify supplier information, confirm supplier eligibility and ensure compliance with Integrity provisions
  • Supplier integrity verifications for procurement transactions pre-contract award
    • Conducting integrity verifications on the names of suppliers, members of their boards of directors and affiliates to confirm supplier eligibility and to determine if they are in compliance with integrity provisions
  • Monitoring suppliers throughout the contract cycle
    • Continued monitoring of all awarded contracts and notice to the OGD if a new conviction or absolute/conditional discharge is found
    • Additional due diligence monitoring, most notably in cases where companies have been charged, are under investigation or have publically admitted to unethical business practices

Client Relationship Management

  • Effective engagement
  • Reliable communications
  • Monitoring client satisfaction
  • Issues management
  • Strategic planning and service agreements
  • Program oversight

Corporate and Information Services

Common Administrative Systems and Human Resources Services

  • Program Centre for development and support to four government clusters representing over 100 departments and agencies in the implementation of HR, financial management and materiel management systems for common application across government, such as Government of Canada Human Resources Management System (GC HRMS), SAP, Free Balance, and Human Resources Information System (HRIS)
  • Innovative solutions and enhancements of administrative systems for departments and agencies, such as:
    • Migration of HRIS to PeopleSoft 9.1
    • Developing programs to be provided to departments e.g. Shared Case Management System (SCMS)
  • Strategic and operational human resources services in areas such as resourcing, compensation, classification, workforce adjustment, performance management and labour relations

GCDOCS NEW!

GCDOCS is the evolution of the Records Document and Information Management System (RDIMS) - an Electronic Document and Records Management Solution (EDRMS). Roll out has already started with early adopter departments and is expected to continue over the next few years.

  • Part of the Government of Canada's Open Government initiative
  • Consistent record keeping and management of electronic information across the public service
  • Easier for public servants to find what they're looking for and, in turn, help Canadians access information on programs and services more efficiently

My Government of Canada Human Resources (My GCHR) NEW!

The overall mission of My GCHR is to evolve the PeopleSoft 9.1 standard and to support departments as they transition from their existing departmental HR applications to a single instance of PeopleSoft 9.1 Government of Canada standard.

  • Two pilot organizations (Library and Archives Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research) successfully on-boarded in April 2014
  • In December 2014 simultaneously issued: a technical release, moved to a new enterprise data centre, and brought all 11,000 PWGSC employees onboard
  • Four additional small organizations were successfully brought onboard in January 2015: Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat, Elections Canada, and Military Grievances External Review Board
  • Canadians receive better value for the taxpayer dollar with respect to the delivery of HR services for the federal public service by consolidating over 40 HR solutions to a central standard
  • Departments receive improved tools to enable HR practitioners to offer higher value advisory services at a reduced operational cost
  • To Employees/Managers - Accessible self-service / Common enterprise service provision

Document Imaging Services PRIORITY SERVICE!

  • Digitization of paper records or images onto a secure file format
  • Indexation, classification, extraction, and archiving of data using automated software
  • Data accessed through the client's existing IT systems or hosted on a secure web portal
  • Instant access to the information through desktop PCs
  • Better decision making, increased office productivity; improved call centre service levels; substitution of costly storage areas for productive office space
  • Certified: ISO 9001:2008 for quality management, Canada General Standards Board CAN/CGSB-72.34-2005 for electronic records and CAN/CGSB-72.11-93 for microfilm and electronic Images

Publication Services

  • Electronic access to Government of Canada publications
    • Ensuring that Canadians and Members of Parliament have free and easy access to e-publications produced by the Government of Canada
    • 85% of client inquiries responded to within 48 hours
    • Provide reference service for Government of Canada (GC) publications
  • Editing and Publishing Services for the Canada Gazette
    • Providing clients with assistance and expert advice related to publishing regulations and notices in the Canada Gazette
    • Holding meetings with clients on a case-by-case basis to help them improve the quality of their notices
    • Ensuring all legislated deadlines are met for the publication of laws, regulations and other statutory instruments

B. Featured Initiatives

We are transforming and creating new services to better meet our clients' needs and ensure effective stewardship on behalf of Canadians.

Integrity Database Services

PWGSC assists OGDs seeking to apply PWGSC's integrity provisions within their procurement regimes by providing supplier integrity verifications to confirm contract award eligibility and to determine if suppliers are in compliance with the integrity provisions.

Benefits

  • Provides assurances that transactions entered into are with suppliers who respect the law and act with integrity.
  • Offers a quick response (two hours or less if no match exists; 30 minutes for urgent requests).
  • Facilitates post-contract monitoring.
  • Enables increased due diligence regarding suppliers.
  • Increases consistency in the treatment of suppliers across the GC.
  • Ensures minimal risk of inaccurate results as complex cases are conducted on a case-by-case basis.

C. What's coming

Integrity Database Service Web Portal

Integrity Database Services is currently developing a secure web portal whereby OGDs can submit requests and have the ability to review query results from an automated search of the database.

  • Securely controlled access to prevent any unauthorized users
  • Communications portal between the end user and database staff - all communication will be logged
  • Reduction of the administrative burden and the time spent responding to simple queries where a match does not occur between a query and the list of offences

Shared Case Management Service (SCMS)

A key initiative that will enable an organization or person to manage, track and control activities, tasks and workflow processes to meet the objectives of their respective departments. Roll out is expected to begin in 2015-2016.

  • Easier for departments to focus on their core mandate, to deliver programs and services more efficiently to Canadians and to meet objectives of their programs
  • Aligned with the Government of Canada's Information Technology (IT) modernization strategy
  • Integrated with other GC standard corporate systems - will be a value-added hub, centralizing information for the userindex

Document Imaging Services

Over the past 10 years, PWGSC has developed knowledge and expertise in Document Imaging Services and provides document imaging services to the federal government on a multi-channel, managed service basis using the private sector. NEW!

  • Reliable and sustainable document imaging services that comply with the federal government's information management, security, and privacy policies
  • Optimal cost because of economies of scale and volume discounts
  • Accessible, timely services, avoiding up to eight months of activities and cost in each department or agency to pursue each individual contract
  • Evolution of solutions in tandem with GCDOCS Enterprise Solutions

Industrial Security

PWGSC is performing a full business process review of its Contract Security Program. It has engaged Business Process Reengineering consultants to lead this initiative with the goal of eliminating any duplicate and redundant processes, while also identifying areas to gain efficiencies and streamline workflows. NEW!

Benefits

  • Meet performance standards on a consistent and regular basis
  • Ability to handle increased volumes with the existing resources
  • Increase client satisfaction

D. Ensuring value for money

PWGSC's collaborative approach with its shared services results in efficiencies and ensures value for money by:

  • Eliminating duplication across government;
  • Standardizing operational services and systems across government;
  • Innovating and looking for opportunities to re-engineer services that are inefficient
  • Streamlining internal service operations;
  • Producing economies of scale through the sharing of common functionalities, expertise and resources; and
  • Transitioning publications to an exclusively electronic format.

PWGSC's Integrity Database Services

  • Provides a solution and necessary tool, as PWGSC and the GC at large had limited ability to validate the supplier certification.
  • Increases procurement process efficiency for OGDs that seek supplier integrity verifications and avoids the duplicated effort of recreating new databases by leveraging PWGSC's existing database and services. 
  • Saves time and effort required to cancel a contract or lease and re-start a bidding process should they become aware of a conviction after the fact.

E. Service Standards and Results

We have achieved or surpassed 9 of our 14 targets for security, corporate and information services. We are committed to continuously improving service, addressing shortcomings, and meeting client expectations. Our plan to ensure we succeed in this respect is based on streamlining efforts and building capacity which have resulted in improvement.

In 2015-2016, we will strive to address backlogs and continue to streamline processes.

Table Summary

The Table on Service Standards and Targets for the Security, Corporate and Information Services service category shows service targets for 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 for the following categories of services: Industrial security services - including Security Clearance Issuance; Industrial Security Call Centre; Integrity Database Services; Controlled goods - and Corporate and Information Services – including The Canada Gazette; Publishing and Depository Services; GCDOCS; Shared Services Integration; My GCHR; and Document Imaging.

Security, Corporate and Information Services Target 2014-2015 Results 2014-2015 Target 2015-2016
Security services
Security Clearance Issuance
Provide a response to each Simple Reliability clearance request within 7 business days, upon receipt of a properly completed request 85% 67% 85%
Provide a response to each Complex Reliability clearance request within 120 business days, upon receipt of a properly completed request 85% 93% Table footnote *** 85%

Provide a response to each Classified Secret clearance request within 75 business days upon receipt of a properly completed request and documentation or information from third parties and provided that a Reliability Table footnote * clearance has already been granted

 80% 60% 80%
Industrial Security  Call  Centre
Respond/refer inquiries within 2 business days 80% 82% 80%
Integrity Database Services
Complete 80% of verification checks within two hours 80% 92% Table footnote *** 80%
Controlled goods (Company Registration, exemptions and Company Inspection)
Issue registration certificates (new and renewal) within 32 business days Table footnote ** 80% 82% Table footnote *** 80%
Conduct security assessments within 32 business days Table footnote **  80% 80% Table footnote *** 80%
Issue Visitor exemption certificates within 10 business days Table footnote **  80% 100% Table footnote *** 80%
Issue Temporary Worker exemption certificates within 30 business days Table footnote **  80% 100% Table footnote *** 80%
Corporate and infromation services
The Canada Gazette
Achieve 99% of editing accuracy (of documents published in Parts I/ II of the Canada Gazette)  99% 99.9% Table footnote *** 99%
Publishing and Depository Services
Provide accessibility to publications.gc.ca  24/7 95% 95% Table footnote *** N/A
(Replaced by other service standard(s))
Percentage of client inquiries responded to within 48 hours NEW! N/A N/A 85%
GCDOCS
GCDOCS will deliver timely on-boarding services to its clients (as per plan) NEW! N/A N/A 90%
Common Administrative Systems and Human Resources
Deliver on key cluster commitments on time, on scope and on budget based on annual cluster plans and confirmation of funding (annual) 95%  100%  Table footnote *** 95% 
Shared Human Resources Services (SHRS) will deliver timely compensation services 90% 74% 90%
My GCHR
My GCHR will deliver timely on-boarding services to its clients (as per plan) NEW! N/A N/A 90%
Document Imaging
Document Imaging costs per page reduced by 10% (annual) 100% 0% N/A
(Replaced by other service standard(s))
Document Imaging Services fixed cost per page is maintained at $0.11 NEW! N/A N/A $0.11
Document Imaging Services are readily accessible NEW! N/A N/A 80%
Table footnote *

Return to table note * referrer

”Complex” was removed from the 2015-16 service standard

Table footnote **

Return to table note ** referrer

The response time may be extended in cases where one or more of the following conditions exist: - Adverse findings and/or external file referral - Inability to reach references provided and/or authorized Individuals

Table footnote ***

Return to table note *** referrer

Indicates that the target was met or surpassed

If you would like to have the service standard results for your department where the information is available (for our Common Administrative Systems and Human Resources - please refer to table above), feel free to contact us at SISP.SSIS@pwgsc-tpsgc.gc.ca.

We take our commitments on service standards very seriously. If you have any concerns related to your service standards or suggestions on how we can improve our services, feel free to contact us at sis@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca.

F. Addressing shortcomings and client issues to increase satisfaction

Example 1:

PWGSC continues to experience challenges in meeting its Contract Security service standards; however, continuous improvement initiatives remain steadfastly focused on improving service. Standards for PWGSC's personnel screening services and its Industrial Security Call Centre were not met in 2014-15 due to an increase in business volumes, technological challenges and resource capacity issues. To address these issues, the program has implemented the following measures:

  • Additional resources and extra shifts have been engaged for processing backlogs;
  • A continuous improvement working group has been instituted and a Business Process Review has begun to achieve efficiencies;
  • Investments to enhance the existing IT systems have been identified;
  • An automated call centre is being implemented; and,
  • Outreach and education activities to industry as well as project and contract authorities to facilitate the timely and accurate submission of security screening forms.

G. How satisfied are you?

Common Administrative Systems and Human Resources Services

Shared Services Integration (SSI) diligently tracks and measures client satisfaction in the following two key areas:

  • 94% of clients satisfied overall with shared human resources services provided (2014-2015)
  • 82% of clients satisfied overall with system cluster services provided (2014-2015)

Publication Services

The Strategic Counsel conducted a client satisfaction survey on behalf of PWGSC's Canada Gazette Directorate in 2011. The responses of clients who had published notices in the Canada Gazette revealed that the Gazette has an extremely high rating of 95% for overall satisfaction with the service clients received. Across more specific dimensions of service (e.g. professionalism, courteousness and competence of staff), ratings ranged from 85% to 96%.

H. To learn more about Our Security, Corporate and Information Services

Document navigation for "Our Services, Standards and Results 2015-2016"