John Crook, Senior Policy Analyst, Acquired Services and Assets Sector, Office of the Comptroller General, Treasury Board of Canada, Secretariat
Nancy Shaver, Senior Real Property Advisor, Real Property Management Directorate, Department of National Defence

This session will provide the context and approaches to best practices for federal real property practitioners and managers who have legal obligations or practical reasons to consult with Aboriginal groups during the lifecycle management of federal properties. From the property managers’ perspective, the TB Guide accompanies and complements the Aboriginal Consultation and Accommodation: Interim Guidelines for Federal Officials to Fulfill the Legal Duty to Consult, which were released in 2008 under Canada Action Plan on Aboriginal Consultation and Accommodation. Further, this session will look into how departments are putting the guide into practice as their real property professionals on the frontlines incorporate it into the planning, acquisition, operation/maintenance and disposal of federal real property.

Lynn Kinney-Barton, Principal Analyst, Real Property and Materiel Policy Division, Acquired Services and Assets Sector, Treasury Board of Canada, Secretariat
Joseph Knowles, Policy Analyst, Real Property and Materiel Policy Division, Acquired Services and Assets Sector, Treasury Board of Canada, Secretariat

A review of special real property transaction approval limits and requests to Treasury Board of Canada, Secretariat (TBS) for real property transaction approvals indicates that operational efficiencies could be gained if limits would be adjusted based on departments’ operational needs and capacity. In order to transition to capacity-based real property transaction approval limits, TBS has worked with an interdepartmental working group over the past year to establish an approach and tools to help departments seek real property limits to support their operational needs. The session will discuss how department can seek capacity-based limits and proposed changes to the policy on management of real property.

Stephen Hamilton, Manager, Real Property, Authorities Management and Real Property, Transport Canada

Transport Canada is a major custodian of federal real property. Information relating to its real property portfolio is held in a web-based geographic information system (GIS) application called the Environment Information System (EIS). The EIS informs decision makers by spatially integrating real property information with environmental information. For many years Transport Canada has been manually geo-referencing its real property title information. Recently, the department coupled these textual and spatial datasets using GIS software. This innovation has not only geo-referenced Transport Canada property but it has also enabled spatial integration between real property and environmental datasets. The presentation will show how Transport Canada employees use the EIS to quickly obtain information they need to make better decisions. Participants will see how the EIS search functions and spatial visualization capabilities make it easy to locate properties of interest, map them, confirm ownership and determine if there are any contaminants on the site.

Kelly Campbell, Principal, Interis Consulting
Ruth Brady, Director Strategic Investment, Strategic Investment and Project Management Branch, Royal Canadian Mounted Police

In 2007, Treasury Board of Canada, Secretariat introduced two new policies: the Policy on Investment Planning and the Policy on the Management of Projects. The introduction of these policies is driving organizations to reflect and rethink the way in which they identify investments in assets and acquired services as well as how scarce resources are allocated to ensure they provide proper value to the organization. These policies are also driving organizations to increase their capability with respect to project management. In this session, participants will gain an understanding of the policy requirements as they apply to real property as well as the potential challenges and critical success factors to be aware of during implementation. Participants will be presented with tips for defining an effective investment governance framework for increasing departmental performance. With a significant asset base with a net book value in excess of $1.6B (22,759 assets), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) was one of four pilot departments that implemented the policies in March 2009. Participants will hear about the RCMP’s experience implementing changes necessary for policy compliance as well as the continued work post-compliance within the department to make investment planning and project management sustainable and, ultimately, to improve departmental performance.

Colonel J.S. Sirois, CD, P. Eng., Director General Military Engineering, Department of National Defence

The Department of National Defence (DND) undertakes several construction and environmental remediation projects every year. Unlike other federal departments, DND typically does not use Public Works and Government Services Canada to deliver them, except for a very few. DND has also institutionalized a separation between the user group and the delivery mechanism. Another quirk is the “federated” model of project implementation throughout DND. The presentation will illustrate how DND delivers its construction and environmental remediation projects from national strategy, to portfolio management, to investment planning.