Cost Estimating in the Government of Canada Internal Cost Estimating Analysts Association Bill Matthews Comptroller General for Canada

Context Office of the Comptroller General and establishment of the Costing Centre of Expertise Clear government commitments in President’s mandate letter to transparency and evidence based decision-making Commitments regarding due diligence, costing analysis and the use and disclosure of evidence and data used in decision making A challenging fiscal environment will enhance the importance of prudent resource allocation strategies CFO attestation is a key element in advising decision-makers A renewed emphasis on achieving and reporting on results and outcomes Measuring performance and the metrics agenda Expectation that cost estimates will play a pivotal role in support of decision making

Costing Centre of Expertise The Costing Center of Expertise was established in Feb 2014 with a mandate that includes Conducting enhanced due diligence of Cabinet documents subject to thresholds and risk Supporting departments in building cost estimating capacity To date, 343 reviews of Cabinet document have occurred comprising approximately $475B in spending which includes Procurements, including military acquisitions and IM/IT projects New programs or renewal of existing programs Of Cabinet documents reviewed, 75% are reviewed in less than five (5) days

Office of Comptroller General Initiatives Improved oversight and reporting to Parliament Disclose the cost of legislation and programs to Parliament Better alignment between Budget and Estimates Better Costing Increase the skill-sets of cost estimators across government Introduce common government-wide practices Calibrate cost estimating requirements to project complexity Strengthening the management of user fees Strengthen the management regime around user fees Modernized Comptrollership Balance risk mitigation and resilience Use metrics to inform resource allocation strategies

Minister’s Expect that… Options to address capability deficiencies or broader government priorities are thoroughly assessed and defensible with evidence and data appropriate to the decision point Appropriate levels of analysis and due diligence by departments and central agencies leading to high quality advice to support Ministers Thorough risk assessments and practical mitigation strategies are available to Ministers during their deliberations Heightened consideration is given to measuring performance, tracking progress and reporting on outcomes

Challenges Costing capacity within departments Is it evolving quickly enough? How do we balance the expanding interest on costing with differing departmental requirements? Data access and limitations Do we have the right data to support evidence-based decision making? Have we developed strategies to acquire and exploit our data on a more routine basis? Performance measurement and monitoring progress Are processes in place to monitor costs and improve cost estimates based on performance? How do we engage with a broader set of stakeholders?

Summary Expectations around strengthened cost estimates started to elevate in 2013 and continue to grow We expect this focus will further increase given international attention on evidenced-based decision-making Horizontal engagement and collaboration amongst departments will be to moving this agenda forward