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Status Report on Major Crown Projects

Global Case Management System

Description

The Global Case Management System (GCMS) is a multi-year program that will replace several aging, archaic and incompatible core business systems of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). The GCMS is an essential secure technology platform upon which to build a modern, global, integrated, information-based solution that will strengthen program integrity, improve efficiency and enhance client service delivery.

GCMS will establish the next-generation business operational environment, and improve flexibility to adapt to future legislative and major program initiatives (e.g., biometrics). GCMS will also facilitate communications and data sharing with the CBSA and with our other partners for the purposes of administrating the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).

Project Phase: Building on the success of the first deployment of the GCMS in 2004 (the Citizenship Release), the project undertook a re-evaluation of strategies for completion and prepared a revised go-forward plan which reduces risk and delivers considerable business value.
Lead Department: Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Participating Agency: Canada Border Services Agency
Contracting Authority: Public Works and Government Services Canada
Prime Contractor: None (The Department is responsible for system integration.)


Major Milestones

Date

Treasury Board approves funding for the GCMS project at the same time as CIC’s Treasury Board submission on the implementation of policy reforms and the new IRPA. August 2000
Treasury Board grants preliminary project approval and major Crown project designation to the GCMS. March 2001
Treasury Board grants Effective Project Approval (EPA) to the GCMS. January 2002
Request for proposal for the acquisition of a commercial, off-the-shelf software package for case management posted for tender by Public Works and Government Services Canada. February 2002
Contract for the off-the-shelf software package for case management awarded. March 2003
Business modelling and high-level requirements completed. May 2003
Treasury Board grants amended EPA to the GCMS to address the impact of procurement delays. October 2003
The first GCMS business component (Citizenship) is implemented. September 2004
Treasury Board grants a second amendment to the EPA to address the impact of cumulative slippage, includes critical new requirements in project scope, and provides for an incremental deployment approach. September 2005
Completion of a System Under Development audit of the GCMS project. November 2005
Treasury Board grants a third amendment to the EPA to address a wording anomaly in regard to GST. December 2006
Independent review in December 2006 indicates a need to assess project status and review options for completing GCMS objectives. December 2006
Treasury Board grants a fourth amendment to the EPA to undertake this assessment and to develop a revised go-forward plan. February 2007
Treasury Board grants a fifth amendment to the EPA, extending the time frame for completion of a substantive go-forward plan to late fiscal 2007–2008. October 2007
Independent review validates project’s recovery plan and project team’s readiness to deliver.  December 2007
The project has completed a substantive plan for the go-forward option and continues to work with central agencies to obtain required approvals. March 2008

Progress Report and Explanation of Variances

  1. Preliminary project approval was obtained from Treasury Board on March 1, 2001, with a planned cost of $194.8 million (excluding GST).
  2. EPA was obtained from Treasury Board on January 31, 2002, with a planned cost of $194.8 million (excluding GST) and a completion date of March 31, 2005.
  3. On October 9, 2003, Treasury Board increased the project spending authority from $194.8 to $202.6 million (excluding GST). The $7.8 million variance was approved to address the impact on activities and resources of the decision to use a commercial software package rather than develop one in-house. The lengthy competitive procurement and contracting process delayed the project by nine months and pushed back the overall project completion date to December 31, 2005.
  4. On September 2005, the Treasury Board approved a second increase in the amount of $40.2 million (excluding GST) over two additional fiscal years, bringing the total project spending authority to $242.8 million (excluding GST) and extending the project to 2007–2008. This increment was granted to cover costs associated with new requirements resulting from an increased focus on national security post 9/11 and the division of responsibility across two departments for the administration of IRPA in December 2003, and to make the necessary adjustments to the system’s functionality based on lessons learned with the first deployment of the GCMS in September 2004.
  5. On February 8, 2007, a further increase of $48.1 million in the spending authority was approved by the Treasury Board to reflect the GST in project estimates, undertake an assessment of the project status and consider alternative options for completing the GCMS objectives. This brought the total authority to $290.9 million (including GST).
  6. Results of the project quality verification and options analysis indicated that the project scope and complexity must be reduced and focus placed on first delivering the business components of greatest value.
  7. On October 18, 2007, Treasury Board granted an extension of the project authority to March 31, 2008, to provide the time frame needed to advance business requirements to the level necessary to develop a reliable cost and schedule estimate for the recommended path forward. There was no cost increase with this approval.
  8. Forecasted expenditures up to March 31, 2008, indicate shortfalls in funding have been covered by CIC internally re-allocating a total of $59.9 million and CBSA contributing $8.1 million for its share of the costs.
  9. A substantive plan for delivery of the reduced scope option has been prepared, and work on the GCMS Release 2 is proceeding while the Department continues to work with central agencies to obtain the necessary approvals to ensure the project’s successful completion.