ARCHIVED - Health Canada

• Previous Page
• Table of Contents
• Next Page

This page has been archived.

Status Report on Transformational¹ and Major Crown Projects²

1. Description:

Health Information and Claims Processing Services (HICPS) Major Crown Project.
HICPS is the key delivery mechanism for the payment of pharmacy, medical supplies and equipment, and dental benefits under Health Canada's Non-Insured Health Benefits (NIHB) Program.

The HICPS Project was established to conduct a competitive procurement to replace the existing HICPS contract, to manage the implementation of the new service contract and ensure a smooth transition from the current incumbent to the new contractor.

2. Project Phase:

Project Implementation: The HICPS Major Crown Project entered the project implementation phase with the December 4, 2007 award of the HICPS contract to ESI Canada.

The new Health Information and Claims Processing Services System will be fully deployed on December 6, 2009.

3. Leading and Participating Departments and Agencies

Lead Department	Health Canada
Contracting Authority	Public Works and Government Services Canada
Participating Departments	Indian and Northern Affairs Canada

4. Prime and Major Subcontractor(s)

Prime Contractor	ESI Canada, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

5. Major Milestones

List of Major Milestones	Date
Initial meetings with Contractor, coordination of Implementation Phase Project Plan	Contract Award (December 4, 2007 through January 2008)
Business Requirements Gathering and Design	February 2008 to August 2008
HICPS Development	September 2008 to April 2009
HICPS Testing and Acceptance	May to September 2009
Documentation, Simulations, Validation, Data Conversion and Training	September 2009 to November 2009
HICPS Implementation (ESI Canada officially takes over real-time service provision)	December 6, 2009
Project Close-Out Phase:  Evaluation of the HICPS Project and lessons learned.	December 2010 to March 2011

6. Progress Report and Explanations of Variances:

The definition phase of the HICPS Project (including the RFP process through bid evaluation and ultimately contract award) was concluded on budget and the Project Implementation Phase has been underway as of December 4, 2007. The Project is moving towards the implementation of the full services on December 6, 2009.

Currently the Project is on schedule and a transition plan is in place between the incumbent claims processor First Canadian Health, and the new claims processor ESI Canada Inc.  The first few months of operations will be closely monitored to manage and resolve any residual system deficiencies in collaboration with the Contractor and in accordance with established procedures.

The Project schedule and budget are consistent with the amount granted by the project authorities.  Health Canada has included some further enhancements for the HICPS System as part of the Implementation Phase such as the development of a reporting database.

7. Industrial Benefits:

The Industrial Regional Benefits (IRB) model was modified to focus on benefiting the Aboriginal economic community, rather than a specific industry or region of Canada, resulting in an Aboriginal Benefit Requirement (ABR) which is unique to the HICPS Project.

The development of the ABR approach for the HICPS Project was informed by industry feedback through two Requests for Information (RFI) consultation processes, and approved by Treasury Board. As HICPS Prime Contractor, ESI Canada will be required to ensure a mandatory and substantial Aboriginal benefits requirement representing direct or indirect benefits to Aboriginal businesses or individuals.

• Previous Page
• Table of Contents
• Next Page