Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 3121 Build Modern Government by Tapping into Industry First ITAC appreciates that the Government of Canada recognizes the value of collaboration with industry associations, as demonstrated in various mandate letters.16 IDC research shows that when Canadian businesses are looking to innovate, three-quarters of them turn first to their ICT partner(s).17 Government innovation should be no different. Historically, government has engaged ICT on a project basis. But as technology evolves and enterprise solutions are now in play, it makes sense to engage ICT along every step of the strategic process. Moreover, the current ICT skills gap in government makes frequent engagement with industry advisors ever more important. Develop a robust, consistent engagement process with ICT The ICT industry has a wealth of knowledge, having helped guide transformation, modernization and digitization efforts inside governments worldwide. The sector’s collective expertise can identify many ways to strengthen and shape plans and priorities. ITAC applauds the Government of Canada—specifically TBS and SSC—for recent efforts to engage industry in IT strategies and transformation plans. However, collaboration efforts should extend to all other key areas where ICT experts can provide value and help government meet their deliverables. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION OF CANADA ASSOCIATION CANADIENNE DE LA TECHNOLOGIE DE L’INFORMATION ITAC on Digital Government | Page 4 THE VOICE OF THE INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY (ICT) SECTOR IN CANADA | www.itac.ca Procurement policy that fits 21st century standards Technology has outpaced current governmental procurement policies. For example, areas such as “Limitation of Liability” do not presently consider cloud solutions, and still include dated technologies in its commodity groupings. In addition to modernizing dated procurement policy, collaboration at the forefront of policy development is essential to its success. The Integrity Framework is an excellent example of a meaningful policy that lacked collaboration during the initial development phase, as highlighted in ITAC’s Integrity Framework Recommendations Report15 (provided to PSPC in spring 2016). The framework that was developed significantly impacted suppliers and continues to do so as government and industry collaborate on improvements made. As TBS and PSPC embark on a major initiative to streamline and refresh its policy suites, the ICT sector sees a great opportunity for collaboration. Together with the ICT sector, Government can easily update its policies—thereby simplifying procurement, modernizing comptrollership, and achieving greater socio-economic benefits. 15 http://itac.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Integrity-Framework-Recommendations- by-ITAC-May-2016.pdf 16 http://pm.gc.ca/eng/minister-public-services-and-procurement-mandate-letter; http:// pm.gc.ca/eng/minister-innovation-science-and-economic-development-mandate-letter; http://pm.gc.ca/eng/president-treasury-board-canada-mandate-letter 17 http://www.itworldcanada.com/article/the-age-of-digital-transformation-is-here-but- are-canadian-businesses-ready/382016 ITAC recommends TBS and PSPC work closely with ITAC and the ICT sector in streamlining and refreshing procurement policies. This strong collaboration will create an agile, robust procurement foundation, enabling Government to respond to current and future priorities. Additionally, ITAC recommends that TBS and PSPC work with ITAC and the ICT sector to identify ways procurement can be leveraged to embrace innovation, and to support Government’s socio-economic interests. ITAC asks the Government to extend its industry engagement efforts to the pre-planning and final development stages of all ICT-related initiatives. This includes (but is not limited to) transformation planning, procurement, policy, and program modernization initiatives. entities are being used more often to provide innovative solutions to government. This decentralized approach can slow down time-to-market and confuse suppliers and employees as they struggle to adapt to varying systems. Moreover, procurements become more prescriptive in nature, focused less on desired outcomes and more on the lowest common denominator. As such, ITAC recommends Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) and Shared Services Canada reduce complexity by building one procurement process. Both entities can work with the ICT sector to re-examine ways that better support demand and achieve shorter time-to-market—while still ensuring a fair, transparent, smart, collaborative procurement process. Additionally, ITAC recommends a dialogue with industry on how the Government of Canada can better balance its desired cost savings while procuring solutions that achieve best value.