Shared Services gets $2.1-billion boost in multi-year financing

There’s been so much noise surrounding the botched rollout of the government’s Phoenix pay system, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s been happening at Shared Services Canada — the central computer services agency launched in 2011.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau in Tuesday’s budget committed $2.1 billion in fresh funding over the next six years, seemingly providing the agency with solid multiyear financial footing for the first time in its existence.

As with Phoenix pay, the start of Shared Services was hobbled by the former Conservative government’s efforts to extract savings before it was up and running.

Faced with a multitude of electrical outages at its aging data centres, Shared Services pleaded for more money in the fall of 2015. The new Liberal government chipped in an extra $415 million in emergency funding to be spread over two years ending next month.

The result has been an uneven budget cycle for Shared Services, according to its fiscal 2018 departmental plan. Starting from a base of $1.5 billion in fiscal 2016, its annual allocations jumped to $1.86 billion in fiscal 2017 when it upgraded the worst of its data centres. Prior to Tuesday’s budget, this had been slated to drop back to $1.5 billion next year.

Morneau’s financial commitment pushes the agency’s annual budget to roughly $1.85 billion in fiscal 2019 — up about seven per cent from the current year. It’s slated to remain stable after that.