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Abstract Globally, the increased reliance on consultants and contract employees has raised many concerns vis-a-vis more traditional 'in-house' provision. One such concern is the manner in which consultants have been [...]

Policy professionals play an important role in political and administrative systems. However, the exact configuration and distribution of such personnel within agencies remains largely unknown. Early works noted the creation of small dedicated 'policy shops' in many governments after 1960 where many policy professionals were located. Studies in Canada and elsewhere subsequently confirmed this organizational form but questions such as how many professionals are employed and where these units are located within existing departmental structures remain opaque. In this article, we provide an organizational mapping of professional policy personnel in the Ontario Public Service (OPS). We find that four major personnel distribution patterns exist within the OPS with only some analysts and professionals working in 'classical' policy shops. These findings underscore the need to re-evaluate the organization and staffing of professional policy analysts in government in order to better account for the kinds of work policy professionals do in modern administrations. Les professionnels des politiques jouent un role important dans les systemes politiques et administratifs. Neanmoins, la configuration et la repartition exactes d'un tel personnel parmi et entre les organismes hierarchiques et d etat-major demeurent largement inconnues. Les premiers travaux ont note la creation de petits << ateliers de politiques >> devoues dans de nombreux gouvernements apres 1960, ou l'on trouvait de nombreux professionnels des politiques. Bien que des etudes au Canada et ailleurs ont par la suite confirme cette caracteristique organisationnelle, certaines questions telles que le nombre de professionnels employes et l'emplacement de ces unites au sein des structures ministerielles existantes a l'epoque contemporaine demeurent obscures. Dans cet article, nous fournissons une cartographie organisationnelle du personnel charge des politiques dans la fonction publique de l'Ontario (FPO). Nous constatons qu'il existe quatre principaux modeles de repartition du personnel au sein de la FPO, avec seulement quelques analystes et professionnels travaillant dans des ateliers de politiques << classiques >>. Ces resultats soulignent la necessite de reevaluer l'organisation et le recrutement du personnel implique dans l'analyse professionnelle des politiques afin de mieux tenir compte des divers travaux accomplis par ces professionnels dans le gouvernement moderne., INTRODUCTION: THE ROLE AND LOCATION OF POLICY PROFESSIONALS IN GOVERNMENT Ever since the first full-time policy analyst was employed in government following WWII, it has become almost a tautology to [...]

Deputy Ministers in Canada play a critical role in defining all aspects of policy and operations for their respective departments and also contribute significantly to their government's collective initiatives. While there exists a solid understanding of the roles and functions of Deputy Ministers, there is little perception of how individuals actually shape the position in terms of time management. Understanding how senior executives in Canadian public service organize their time is critical to an appreciation of how they prioritize their functions. Using results from a 2020 survey, this study documents how Deputy Ministers in Canada divide their weeks in terms of personal work and meetings. This study goes further to discern a taxonomy of five time-allocation styles of Deputy Ministers: Operational, Balanced, Managerial, Strategic and HR-Focused. Au Canada, les sous-ministres jouent un role crucial pour definir tous les aspects des politiques et des operations de leurs ministeres respectifs et contribuent aussi considerablement aux initiatives collectives de leur gouvernement. Bien que les roles et les fonctions des sous-ministres soient bien compris, l'on saisit tres peu la maniere dont les individus influencent reellement ce poste en termes de gestion du temps. Comprendre comment les cadres superieurs de la fonction publique canadienne organisent leur temps est essentiel pour apprecier la facon dont ils priorisent leurs fonctions. A partir des resultats d'un sondage de 2020, cette etude documente comment les sous-ministres au Canada organisent leurs semaines en termes de travail personnel et de reunions. Nous poussons l'etude plus loin pour percevoir une taxonomie de cinq styles de repartition du temps des taches des sousministres :operationnel, equilibre, gestionnaire, strategique et axe sur les ressources humaines., INTRODUCTION Deputy Ministers (DMs) in Canada are called to fill many roles within a very heavy work schedule. Many have already noted an important decline in the time available within [...]

Popular depictions of the largest single procurement project in Canadian history--the Canadian Surface Combatant (CSC) project--characterize it as a bureaucratic failure. What began in 2008 as a $26.2B project has expanded to at least $77,313, and $2B has already been spent without having produced a single vessel. Unlike other major Canadian aircraft, helicopter, and submarine contracts over the past four decades, however, participants in the CSC have lauded the technical merits of the procurement process. This article argues that successful procurement in this area requires: (a) clear (naval) doctrine supporting why a specific (weapons) platform or system is needed; and (b) government acceptance of that doctrine. When these two imperatives are aligned, procurement should proceed relatively smoothly. However, such smooth procurement is highly unlikely when major systems purchases involve long time periods and shifts in elected governments, policy goals, or (naval) doctrine undermine previous understandings and agreements. Le plus grand projet d'approvisionnement de l'histoire du Canada--le projet de Navires de combat canadiens (NCC)--est decrit comme un echec bureaucratique par les representations populaires. Ce qui a commence en 2008 comme un projet de 26,2 milliards $ s'est etendu a au moins 77,3 milliards $, et 2 milliards $ ont deja ete depenses sans avoir encore produit un seul navire. Contrairement a d'autres gros contrats canadiens d'avions, d'helicopteres et de sous-marins au cours des quatre dernieres decennies, les participants au NCC ont neanmoins fait l'eloge des avantages techniques du processus d'acquisition. Cet article soutient qu'un approvisionnement reussi dans ce domaine exige : (a) une doctrine (navale) claire expliquant pourquoi une plate-forme ou un systeme (d'armes) specifique est requis; et (b) l'acceptation de cette doctrine par le gouvernement. Lorsque ces deux imperatifs sont alignes, la passation des marches publics devrait se derouler de maniere relativement fluide. Cependant, un telle fluidite d'approvisionnement est hautement improbable lorsque les achats de systemes majeurs impliquent de longues durees et lorsque les reorientations des gouvernements elus, des objectifs strategiques ou de la doctrine (navale) discreditent les ententes et accords anterieurs., Introduction: the politics of (military) procurement and the Canadian Surface Combatant project In recent years, Canadian plans to secure new submarines, fighters, helicopters and naval vessels all resulted in serious [...]

Since 1994, the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC) has conducted a survey among Canadian Deputy Ministers (DM) to measure what administrative issues they considered the most important. Carried out in varying methods, the IPAC surveys present a unique longitudinal dataset that can shed light on the core focus of top administrative executives over the past 25 years. The results show a consistency in DM priorities. The tasks of preparing to respond strategically to improve service delivery and accountability are always present. The mission of managing human resources emerged in 1998 and has been a top priority ever since. Depuis 1994, l'Institut d'administration publique du Canada (IAPC) a mene une enquete aupres des sous-ministres canadiens (SM) pour mesurer les questions administratives qu'ils consideraient comme primordiales. Realisees selon differentes methodes, les enquetes de l'IAPC presentent un ensemble de donnees longitudinales unique qui peut eclairer les priorites des hauts dirigeants administratifs au cours des 25 dernieres annees. Les resultats montrent une coherence dans les priorites des SM. Les taches de preparation a une reponse strategique pour ameliorer la prestation des services et la responsabilite sont toujours presentes. La mission de gestion des ressources humaines est nee en 1998 et est depuis lors une priorite absolue., Introduction As part of its general strategy to engage with public service executives, the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC) undertook to survey Deputy Ministers (DM) on their top [...]

During the past 30 years, research on policy analytical capacity's multidimensional nature and the evolution of policy advisory systems (PASs) has both increased knowledge of these processes and structures and opened new avenues of inquiry. While it is clear that changes in PASs in many countries have occurred ‐ featuring processes such as the increased externalisation and politicisation of policy advice ‐ studies of changes among the roles played by core policy professionals in advice provision have lagged. One aspect of this question concerns the nature and extent of changes in this 'forgotten fundamental' of advice systems related to how these professionals are arrayed within 'policy shops'—that is organisational units identified in the 1960s and 1970s as the main organisational home of policy professionals in government. Whether or not such shops have changed from the central‐integrated model identified in early studies and, if so, how, remain outstanding and foundational questions. Recent research in Canada has mapped the distribution of policy professionals at the central and provincial level and found more types of analysts and venues than in earlier eras— which range from the 'classical' integrated policy shops of the 1960s and 1970s which remain in central agencies and single‐purpose line departments to the much more 'distributed' patterns found in many departments dealing with multiple or complex controversial issues. Using Canadian data, this study outlines the development of these organisational types and their distribution in government and discusses the implications of these changes for better understanding the work, and needs, of core professionals in policy advice systems.. Points for practitioners: 'Policy professionals' or public employees specifically tasked with policy analysis in government are key players in policy advisory systems despite the addition of more external and internal actors in policy advice systems in recent years.How these advisors and analysts are organised in government, whether they work in clusters or small groups, and how they interact with other civil servants and policy‐makers are a key determinant of their activities and influence in policy‐making.In the policy sciences, work in the 1960s and 1970s established 'the policy shop', that is relatively small centrally located organisational units employing mainly policy analysts, as the main home of policy professionals in government. These units often enjoyed a monopoly in analysis and played a key role in policy‐making. However, research on these organisations has not kept up with changes in advisory relations within and outside of governments and the impact such changes have had on the influence and activities of core professionals.Recent work by the authors looking at the large Canadian province of Ontario has identified more than a single type of arrangement of analysts in the current era. This paper expands this analysis to both small and large jurisdictions in Canada, including the federal government, and develops two detailed case studies of the current organisation of policy professionals in smaller central agencies like Ministries of Justice as well as in larger omnibus Ministries of the Environment.The study finds a 'distributed' model of policy shops—in which multiple policy units exist throughout the agency—to be dominant in both cases and in all the governments examined and suggests this is now the new normal, replacing the dominance of the older more integrated central shop model. The predominance of the distributed model contributes to the fragmentation of policy advice already underway in government due to the growth in the number of external advisors such as consultants and think tanks, and internal ones such as political staffers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the area of research engagement between two very important communities in the Canadian public policy landscape: academics and senior public service executives. Using data from three surveys, we argue that while public sector executives may be more receptive to academic research than the literature suggests, academic advice and knowledge remain underutilized. While there does not seem to be a strong cleavage between the two groups, they also tend to come together mostly under very specific conditions. Oddly enough, academics do not seem to be troubled by the underutilization of their research. Cet article etudie le domaine de participation a la recherche entre deux communautes primordiales dans l'environnement des politiques publiques canadiennes : les universitaires et les cadres superieurs de la fonction publique. En s'appuyant sur les donnees obtenues par trois sondages, nous soutenons qu'en depit du fait que les cadres de la fonction publique semblent plus ouverts a la recherche universitaire que les ecrits ne le suggerent, les conseils et les connaissances academiques restent largement sous-utilises. Bien qu'il ne semble pas exister de grande fracture entre les deux groupes, ils semblent cependant s'accorder dans des conditions particulierement specifiques. Etrangement cependant, les universitaires ne semblent pas etre alarmes par la sous-utilisation de leur travail de recherche., Introduction Public policy and decision-making literatures have had a long engagement with the provision, distribution, and use of knowledge (Jennings and Hall 2012; Howlett and Newman 2010; Young 2013). Over [...]

The willingness of defence departments to select the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) for their fifth-generation multirole fighter has frequently been analyzed as stemming from the close historical connections allies such as Japan or Canada have with the United States. However, such an approach glosses over or ignores the operation of military procurement processes which are more idiosyncratic and subject to many pushes and pulls from different actors and directions. This article compares the experiences of Australia and Canada in procuring the JSF. Both countries are British Commonwealth members, with a long history of supporting western, and in particular, US alliances. But while Australia has secured its F-35 procurement and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has already received its F-35s, Canada has only recently overcome a lengthy F-35 procurement battle that remains mired in controversy and will not deliver to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) an aircraft for several years yet. This comparative case study between Australian and Canadian defence priorities offers a new explanation for this disparity of procurement success based on the need to both create and maintain alignment between government strategic defence policy and military service doctrine if major platform purchasing decisions are to survive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-scale military platform procurement is an essential but understudied component of the policy studies of megaprojects. Procurement decisions in this area, from ships to aircraft, are examples of a specific type of often very expensive purchases which feature complex multi-actor and multiyear processes characterized by high degrees of conflict between actors over purchases and planning horizons. This study of military procurement efforts of this type demonstrates the importance of maintaining policy 'alignment' between governments and service providers for successful megaproject procurement to occur and suggests several strategies for accomplishing this that can be applied to similar large-scale but nondefense-related projects, ranging from hydroelectric dams to high-speed railway development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing the policy analytical capacity (PAC) of governments has suffered in the past from the anecdotal nature of most studies, leading to different evaluations of specific analytical activities and of the overall competences and capacities of governments as a whole. What is needed to advance the field is a set of metrics that can generate insights into the capabilities of different units and how changes to their and overall government capacity develop over time. Focusing on this component of policy capacity, we map and measure the distribution of policy professionals in the provincial, territorial, and federal governments in Canada. Our measures are tested against two major findings regarding PAC: first that variation among governmental PAC varies by size of the civil service, with smaller jurisdictions likely to have less capacity, and second, that concentration of professionals in specific issue areas underscores that area's political and/or policy salience to the government concerned. Both measures prove robust in assessing Canadian government activities in these areas. Points for practitioners: Policy capacity is acknowledged as a significant perquisite for policy success.While some general frameworks exist highlighting policy relevant competences and capabilities important to policy success, how to measure these remains under‐investigated.Focusing on policy analytical capacity, this paper draws on the literature on policy professionals to develop two measures of this component of policy capacity linked to the extent to which an agency focuses on analysis and the proportion of their staff who work on the subject compared to other agencies.The measures are deployed in an illustrative case of Canada and Canadian governments at the territorial, provincial, and federal level which confirms their utility and robustness as indicators of the different levels of analytical capacity different agencies employ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of external policy and management consultants in government has been receiving increasing attention in many countries, including Canada. We explore new data on management consulting compiled from information released since the creation of the Federal Accountability Act to address the supply side of contracting. We find several large multi-year contracts have taken up a larger percentage of contracting activity while the number of smaller contracts has declined. The data suggest a pattern of oligopsonic demand concentrated mostly in a handful of very heavy users and an increasingly oligopolistic supply pattern where less than 5% of companies accounted for 80% of total contract values and where repeat contracts are the norm. Measures of accountability and transparency need to extend to the 'invisible' public service of contract consultants. Le recours par le gouvernement a des conseillers externes en politique et en gestion fait l'objet d'une attention croissante de la part de nombreux pays, y compris le Canada. Nous examinons de nouvelles donnees sur les services consultatifs de gestion compilees a partir des renseignements divulgues depuis la mise en oeuvre de la Loi federale sur la responsabilite au Canada afin de traiter l'aspect offre de la passation de contrats. Nous decouvrons que plusieurs gros contrats pluriannuels representent un plus grand pourcentage de l'activite de passation de contrats aux depens du nombre de plus petits contrats qui a baisse. Les donnees laissent entendre qu'il existe un modele de demande en situation d'oligopsone concentre principalement entre les mains d'une poignee de tres grands utilisateurs et un modele d'offre de plus en plus oligopolistique ou moins de 5 % des societes representent 80 % de la valeur totale des contrats et ou les contrats renouveles sont la norme. Il faut etendre les mesures de responsabilite et de transparence a la fonction publique << invisible >> des conseillers sous contrat., The field of government contracting has a very complex and broad scope and constitutes what has been termed the 'shadow,' 'hidden' or 'invisible' public services (Guttman and Willner 1976; Speers [...]

The use of external consultants in government management and policy realms has drawn increasing attention in many countries including Canada. Studies were undertaken internationally in the 1990s and 2000s as legislatures and their accounting arms became concerned with the hidden costs of 'corporatization' of the public service and tried to expand benchmarking measures for government efficiency to include external consultants. Accounting for these increases in expenditures on consultancy, however, remains a challenge given the state of governmental financial and personnel reporting. The data on which existing reports have been drawn are very weak. This article examines results using a new dataset compiled from Proactive Disclosure reports in order to help clarify the situation of policy and management consulting in Canada at the departmental level. Le recours a des consultants externes dans les secteurs de politiques et de gestion gouvernementale suscite une attention croissante dans de nombreux pays, y compris au Canada. Des etudes ont ete entreprises a l'echelle internationale dans les annees 1990 et 2000, alors que les assemblees legislatives et leurs divisions comptables commencaient a s'inquieter des couts << caches >> de la << corporatisation >> de la fonction publique et essayaient de developper des analyses comparatives justifiant l'efficacite gouvernementale a inclure des consultants externes. Cependant, la justification de ces augmentations de depenses en expertise-conseil reste un defi, etant donne l'etat actuel des rapports gouvernementaux en matiere de finances et de personnel. Les donnees sur lesquelles reposent les rapports existants sont tres faibles. Cet article examine les resultats d'un nouvel ensemble de donnees compilees a partir de rapports de divulgation proactive afin d'eclaircir la situation des services consultatifs de gestion au Canada a l'echelle des ministeres., There has been growing interest in the state of policy capacity in government and the use of external policy and management consultants, but data informing studies have hitherto been limited. [...]