Evaluation of the Green Infrastructure Fund
- Management response and action plan

Management Response and Action Plan

Recommendation 1:

To increase transparency for potential applicants, it is recommended that future program design considers:

Better defining key terms, especially those that affect project eligibility and assessment criteria (e.g. national significance, public benefits, provincial/territorial support, and project categories and sub-categories); and communicating all assessment criteria and definitions to potential applicants.

Management Response:

Agreed

Strategy:

The department has improved the availability of information on program parameters on its web site for its more recent programs. Going forward, INFC will continue to work to improve transparency and the quality of publicly available information in respect of its programs, project selection processes and eligibility criteria.

Action Plan	Planned Completion Date	Office of Primary Interest
Under the NBCF, INFC made public through its website a business case guide for project recipients, services standards, FAQ's, examples of funded projects by category, which improved the quality of proposals, saved potential recipients' and departmental resources spent on producing and assessing applications; and improved client satisfaction. The business case guide will be revised to clarify information requirements and recent changes to the NBCF.	July 2016 and ongoing	ADM, Policy and Communications and ADM, Program Operations Branch
This will also be addressed as applicable in the context of new programs that may be introduced as part of the Phase 2 of the Government of Canada's long-term plan for infrastructure.	Within two months of the program terms and conditions being approved	ADM, Policy and Communications and ADM, Program Operations Branch

Recommendation 2:

When delivering merit-based programs, in order to ensure that the best projects are selected, it is recommended that:

Project assessment and selection for merit-based programs include robust, defined and distinct eligibility requirements and merit criteria that enable the department to select and approve projects that maximize the achievement of the outcomes of the program.

Management Response:

Agreed

Strategy:

For future merit-based programs, INFC will work to develop merit criteria that are more robust, quantifiable, comparable, and better defined to enable the selection of projects that align more closely with program objectives and outcomes.

Action Plan	Planned Completion Date	Office of Primary Interest
This will be addressed in the context of the implementation of any future merit-based program.	Not Applicable	ADM, Policy and Communications and ADM, Program Operations Branch

Recommendation 3:

In order to facilitate reporting on resource utilization and alignment and to support future program planning, it is recommended that:

The department reinforce its approach to tracking the utilization of FTEs and administrative costs per program in the financial system to ensure that managers are aware of their responsibilities to provide reliable data and information at the program level.

Management Response:

Agreed

Strategy:

The GIF program is managed similarly to the other contribution programs delivered by INFC in the sense that information on program delivery costs is tracked in the financial system using a specific field in the financial coding block. However, not all managers are applying the methodology consistently, meaning that accurate program information is not available. Going forward, the responsibility of fund centre managers to track administrative costs by program will be reinforced.

Action Plan	Planned Completion Date	Office of Primary Interest
For existing and future programs, INFC Finance will provide training and detailed procedures to fund centre managers so that they understand the methodology to track the utilization of FTEs, salary and other administrative costs by program in the financial system.	December 2016	ADM, Corporate Services
Finance will track and report to each ADM/DG which managers have provided quarterly updates.	Quarterly, starting in December 2016	ADM, Corporate Services
The ADMs/DGs will reinforce the requirement to report quarterly, supporting the strengthening of the approach to tracking the utilization of FTEs and administrative costs.	July 2016	All POB/P&C ADM and DGs