Environment Canada's Three-Year Risk-Based Audit and Evaluation Plan 2009-2012

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3. Priorities and Activities

• 3.1 Strategic Priorities
• 3.2 Audit and Evaluation Activities

3.1 Strategic Priorities

For fiscal year 2009-2010, the AEB will focus its resources and efforts on a number of priority areas:

• Providing ongoing support to the EAAC and the DEC;
• Preparing for the first CAE annual holistic opinion to the Deputy Minister on departmental controls, governance and risk management;
• Implementing the new TBS Policy on Evaluation (effective April 2009);
• Implementing the recommendations from the external practice inspection;
• Ensuring appropriate and effective support for departmental strategic review;
• Proactively auditing activities under the economic stimulus package, in order to ensure adequate controls are in place before the funds are expensed;
• Piloting joint audit and evaluation projects using collaborative approaches;
• Ensuring follow-up on recommendations is conducted on a timely basis; and
• Further developing the Risk-Based Audit and Evaluation Plan to provide the department with a robust plan to maximize on the utilization of AEB resources in support to the department.

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3.2 Audit and Evaluation Activities

3.2.1 Internal Audit Engagements

Section 5 describes the internal audit engagements planned for the next three years, including scope and objectives, rationale, and risk and priority ratings; resource requirements in person months and dollars for 2009-2010 are identified.

The following is a list of the internal audit projects that were planned for 2008-2009 and that were carried over into 2009-2010 and their rationale. Section 5 also provides the list of these projects and their rationale.

• The audit of Occupational Health and Safety was carried over into 2009-2010 to prepare for presentation of the report to the EAAC and bring closure to the project.
• The audit of the Hydrometric Monitoring Stations – Federal-Provincial Agreements was carried over into 2009-2010 because the project started in December 2008 due to other priorities such as special investigation, MAF assessment, etc.
• The Contracting Process Value for Money audit was carried over into 2009-2010 due to the team lead being reassigned to help develop the Annual Risk-Based Audit and Evaluation Plan. The audit name was also changed to Efficiency of the Contracting Process.
• The audit of Specified Purpose Accounts was carried over into 2009-2010 because the auditor in charge had left the department.
• The audit of Vote Netted Revenue was carried over into 2009-2010 because the initial scope was significantly modified following a detailed risk analysis. The audit name has also been changed to Costing and Pricing.
• The Audit of Accounts Payable at Year-end was carried over into 2009-2010 because it must be conducted after year-end.

Last year’s plan identified a number of projects to be conducted in 2009-2010. Key changes made to that project list for this year’s plan are as follows:

• The audit of the Corporate Administrative Shared Systems (CASS), originally planned for 2009-2010, was cancelled because it is an unfunded initiative.
• The audit of the Official Languages Policy, originally planned for 2009-2010 was postponed to 2010-2011 because it is considered to be a medium priority.
• The audit of the Motor Vehicle Policy, originally planned for 2009-2010 was cancelled as it is considered to be a low priority and low risk area.
• The Chief Information Officer Branch, Unified Radar Processing Application, and Information Management Directorate audits originally planned for 2009-2010 were replaced with the Governance of Information Management and Governance of Specialized IT Resources audits; these new areas were identified as the highest IM/IT areas of risk following a high level IM/IT Risk Assessment.
• The audit of Classification, originally planned for 2009-2010, was postponed to 2010-2011 because a new approach to classification was recently developed.
• The audit of the Values and Ethics, originally planned for 2009-2010 was postponed to 2010-2011 because it was considered low risk, based on the most recent MAF assessment. However, this audit is required to support the CAE holistic opinion.
• The audit of the Technology Infrastructure Directorate was cancelled, because it was considered a low risk at the planning phase of the project.

In addition, the following new audit engagements will be carried out during 2009-2010:

• The Physical Security audit was identified as a high priority and risk area in the 2009-2010 Audit and Evaluation Risk Assessment.
• The audit of Life Cycle Management of Assets was identified as a high priority and risk area in the 2008 CRP and in the 2009-2010 Audit and Evaluation Risk Assessment.
• The audit of Weather Predictions Program was identified as a high risk area in the 2009-2010 Audit and Evaluation Risk Assessment. This project will potentially be conducted as a joint audit-evaluation.

Management of Additional Funding Received was identified as a high priority and high risk area considering that the department must assess the implementation of stimulus measures included in Canada’s Economic Action Plan. To this end, one additional project was added:

• Management of Additional Funding Received – Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators, Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan, Modernizing Federal Laboratories and Arctic Research Infrastructure.

3.2.2 Evaluation Projects

Section 6 describes each evaluation project for the next three years, including scope and objective, rationale, risk and priority ratings; resource requirements in person months and dollars for 2009-2010 are identified. In 2009-2010, under the new Evaluation Policy, the department will be required to prepare a five-year evaluation plan. Therefore, the projects currently identified for 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 may change (except for those required for program renewal). This section also includes interdepartmental evaluations being carried out by other departments in which EC will be involved.

Due to various circumstances, a number of evaluation projects, originally planned for 2008-2009, were carried over into 2009-2010.

The following is a list of the evaluation projects that were planned for 2008-2009 and that were carried over into 2009-2010 and their rationale. Section 6 provides the list of these projects and their rationale.

• The Chemicals Management Plan – Evaluation Plan and the Clean Air Regulatory Agenda (CARA) - Thematic Evaluation Plan were carried over into 2009-2010 to prepare for presentation to the DEC and bring closure to the projects.
• The evaluations of the National Agri-environmental Standards Initiative (NAESI), Enforcement Program, EcoAction Funding, the Habitat Stewardship Contribution Program, the Environmental Damages Fund, the Invasive Alien Species Strategy, Grants to support Environments Research and Development, Contributions to support Environmental Research and Development Initiatives, Contributions to support Environmental and Sustainable Development Initiatives, and Contributions to support Canada’s International Commitments were carried over into 2009-2010 for completion, preparation for presentation to the DEC, and bringing closure to the projects.
• The interdepartmental evaluations of Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA) and Building Public Confidence in Pesticide Regulation and Improving Access to Pest Management Products (BPC) were carried over into 2009-2010 for completion including the preparation for presentation to the DEC and bringing closure to the projects.
• The interdepartmental evaluation of the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan was completed and approved by the DEC in February, 2009 and work in 2009-2010 will focus on finalizing the evaluation process and posting the report.
• The Weather Predictions Evaluation Plan was postponed to 2009-2010 as a result of management decision.

Last year’s plan identified a number of evaluation projects to be conducted in 2009-2010. Key changes made to that project list for this year’s plan are as follows:

• The evaluation of the Ice Program, originally planned for 2008-2009 was postponed to 2010-2011 due to work capacity issues brought about by staff requirements for the Strategic Review exercise.
• The name of the evaluation of the Climate Change Inventory, originally planned for 2009-2010 was changed to the evaluation of the Greenhouse Gas Data Collection, Management and Reporting, following management consultation. Following discussions with the Departmental Evaluation Committee and the Executive Management Committee, it was decided to postpone this evaluation to 2010-2011. This will be conducted as a joint audit-evaluation project.
• The name of the evaluation of the Horizontal Management Accountability Results Framework (HMARF) was changed to Clean Air Agenda (CAA) Management and Accountability Theme evaluation.
• The evaluation of the Risk Assessment and Risk Management processes under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), originally planned for 2009-2010 was removed as a stand alone project and will be addressed in the evaluation of the Chemical Management Plan planned for this year.

In addition, the following new evaluation projects will be carried out during 2009-2010:

• Renewable Fuels – Evaluation Plan (interdepartmental led by Natural Resources Canada)
• Freshwater Initiatives – Evaluation Plans
• 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (interdepartmental led by Canadian Heritage)
• Water Management – Evaluation Plan
• Wildlife Habitat Canada Foundation contribution program

A significant number of evaluations required for renewal of programs have resources attached in the TB submissions which will be transferred to AEB when the projects begin.