Government of Canada
Enabling e-government: Canada stays on leading edge of citizen-centric
program delivery
“Management of the consortium team has
been effective…the project is on track. Secure Channel will achieve
its goal of enabling the GoL initiative."
Maurice Chénier, Director, Public Works and Government Services
Canada
On July 27, 2000, the Government of Canada (GoC) announced it would proceed
with the development of an e-platform service, called the Secure Channel
(SC) project, a key component of the larger Government On-Line (GoL) initiative
to enable the GoC to deliver on-line information, programs and services
to Canadians. In June 2001, CGI, in league with an impressive consortium
team of high-technology and IT industry leaders led by BCE Nexxia Inc.,
began work on this multi-year project to make Canada known worldwide as
the most connected country to its citizens…
The Challenge
As an enabling-technologies project, SC is a major component of the shared
technology infrastructure that will enable citizens to access federal
services over the Internet reliably and securely. As a centrally managed,
centrally-delivered system, it will provide the connectivity and underlying
support services necessary to deliver government programs and services
electronically.
SC development, which follows a strict timeline for delivery of milestones,
beginning with architecture and design followed by a series of three initial
build phases, hinges on key business drivers deemed essential by the GoC
for safe, reliable, citizen-centric delivery: that government information
and services be accessible regardless of location, access, time or group;
that information services be protected and authenticated; that the government
be seen as an integrated enterprise, with no 'wrong door' for access;
that service delivery be cost effective and client-responsive, by harmonizing
citizen requests.
Understanding how the government would take advantage of the SC involved
a number of considerations. In its function of serving individuals, businesses
and trusted partners on the one hand while addressing government departments
on the other, the SC solution must accommodate existing policy framework
but also adapt to policy changes as they arise. Going beyond mainstream
solutions is key.
The Strategy
Playing a pivotal role, CGI, a member of the SC team consortium responsible
for overall project management, architecture, design, build, departmental
interface and operations, had invested almost two years of conceptual
R&D prior to obtaining the contract, with assistance from the CGI's
Strategic Investment Program, through which CGI invests in emerging technologies
to help support client-driven projects.
The research is being applied to the SC through the delivery of prototypes,
based on a clearly defined process of assessing the best technology fits
and designing and incrementally building on this dynamic environment.
"CGI provided a key piece of research to advance and help deliver
the prototype for Build 1, " said Maurice Chénier, Director
of the Secure Channel Project.
The Technology
- World-class network infrastructure with national reach advanced security
infrastructure
- Creative solutions to « broker » both government program
and common infrastructure services
- Common, shared infrastructure—scalable, reliable and secure
- Network infrastructure: GENet to start, Broadband, Redundant circuits,
Internet, PSTN, Wireless, Satellite connectivity
The Results
Under the proposed design, the SC will offer a choice in electronic channels
of service delivery, providing connectivity through linkages to multiple
government environments and deliver common services such as security,
authentication and application integration services while maintaining
constant policy awareness in all aspects of its architecture. As of March
2002, Build 1 and the Architecture and Design were successfully completed,
establishing the high level standards and vision that will be modified
in subsequent phases throughout the full-scale deployment of the SC and
its services. Build 2, which focused on a departmental application for
change of address at Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, achieved pre-production
operational readiness. Continued Chénier, "Management of the
consortium team has been effective…the project is on track. SC will
achieve its goal of enabling the GoL initiative."
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