Description
The Government of Canada will increase the transparency of government spending and procurement to hold government accountable for public expenditures.
- Lead departments:
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Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat; Department of Finance Canada; Public Services and Procurement Canada
- Email address for enquiries:
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GC InfoBase: questions@tbs-sct.gc.ca; Buy and Sell: Achatsetventes.Buyingandselling@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca ; Finance: fin.financepublic-financepublique.fin@canada.ca
- Other involved actors:
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n/a
- Overall status:
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Most deliverables on schedule.
Planned result
It will be easier for you to see how government resources are being distributed across the areas that interest you. You'll have greater online access to government financial information. You'll also be able to follow the procurement process from start to finish according to international standards.
Key indicator
| Indicator | Target | Latest actual data (and data collection date) |
|---|---|---|
| Number of GC InfoBase page views per year | 18,000 views per year by 2017-18 | As of January 30, 2018, there have been 39,410 unique page views since March 1, 2017. |
| Degree to which GC InfoBase users found the spending information they sought (on a scale of 1 to 5) useful | Mechanism for collecting user feedback is implemented by the fall of 2018 | An online survey to collect user feedback is now available directly on GC InfoBase. |
| Information pertaining to government finances is available through Open.Canada.ca | Annual publications such as the Annual Financial Report, the Fiscal Reference Tables, and the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures, are added to Open.Canada.ca within a week of those documents being published. | Fiscal Reference Tables and related information posted on open.canada.ca in January 2018, containing 55 datasets with data going back to 1980.
The Federal, Provincial and Territorial Corporate Income Tax Rates applicable to small business income, 1960 to 2017 datasets have been published on March 29, 2018 The Federal Sales Tax Rates datasets have been released April 20, 2018. |
| Increase in the release of lifecycle procurement data (i.e. requisition, tender, contract, spending) | Data on 12,000 procurements per fiscal year | Not available (June 2018) |
Status
Status of Open Government Plan milestones (complete, substantial, limited, not started)
Completed:
- 9.1 Release an interactive tool (InfoBase) that will increase the granularity of data and information made available and enable Canadians to better understand federal departmental spending:
- 9.1.1 Expand the types of data, graphics, and analytics available including:
- Planned and actual results;
- Comparisons between historical and planned spending; and
- Spending on specific components such as salaries, capital, transfer payments, etc.
- 9.1.2 Enable users to explore government spending of the most interest to them based on key data elements (e.g., target group, program type, priority area, etc.).
- 9.1.1 Expand the types of data, graphics, and analytics available including:
- 9.2 Enhance online content pertaining to government finances on Open.Canada.ca to make information and tools on government spending readily accessible to Canadians.
- The GC Infobase on Canada.ca was redesigned in response to Canadians’ request to have better access to information on government finances. The tool provides readily accessible and current information on government spending and transforms complex financial data into searchable and understandable information. This information is exclusively compiled from public government publications and since the information in these publications is continuously updated, the GC InfoBase is very much an evolving tool.
- 9.3 Provide targeted and timely material to make government accounting and financial reporting more consistent, transparent, and understandable to Canadians.
Limited
- 9.4 Pilot updating the buyandsell.gc.ca site to record the full details of contracts (in addition to awards), contract amendments, and the final termination of contracts.
- 9.5 Participate in a case study to share best practices from Public Service and Procurement Canada’s pilot of the Open Contracting Data Standard on BuyandSell.gc.ca.
Other completed milestones:
- GC InfoBase brings together in a single tool performance results and indicators data that were previously scattered across close to 100 annual reports. Users can search by organization, program and keywords to explore spending and results at the government-wide and departmental levels to better understand federal departmental spending. More specifically, the InfoBase has been updated to include:
- Streamlined and consolidated information on the Inventory of Government of Canada Organizations;
- Forward-looking spending and results information in support of the Policy on Results;
- Broader availability of data, graphics, and analytics, including:
- Planned and actual results;
- Comparisons between historical and planned spending; and
- Spending on specific components such as salaries, capital, transfer payments, etc. (more granular level expenditure data and,
- Metadata “tags” that make it easier for users to search for information according to area of interest.
- Significant changes have also been made to improve the look and functionality of the GC InfoBase, making it more user-friendly for Canadians.
Challenges
- Do you have ideas on how we can increase the visibility of the GC InfoBase tool so that you can find it more easily?