Delivery General: Consolidation of Federal Government Program Deliveries into a Single Government Account
A Proposal for Federal Government Program
DUE 1991-11-15
02 | Description of the Activity to be Restructured
Today, the federal government delivers numerous social assistance programs such as the Family Allowance, Canada Pension, Old Age Security Pension and Unemployment Insurance Benefits by issuing cheques or by directly depositing to specified bank accounts. Other government programs including Income Tax, Customs and Excise use their own methods of administration and advertisement.
This proposal calls for an establishment of a central agency "Delivery General of Canada", much like the concept of the existing "Receiver General of Canada", to consolidate the deliveries of federal government programs into a single activity. Citizens will receive a single monthly statement for all the government programs, customised to the individuals in 1 single package in the official language of their choice and maintaining complete privacy and confidentiality.
As far as the government customers (taxpayers) are concerned, there will be absolutely no change in the amount of money received from or paid to the government because of the proposal. As far as the government is concerned, there will be no change in the policies of the existing multiple social programs because of this proposed delivery system, thus requiring no change in legislation. It is the delivery method, now redundant and duplicated in a number of envelopes that will become a single mailing and direct deposit/debit to/from the individual's government account.
The delivery service could be contracted out to the private sector without losing high level of security standard, much like the payroll service. In the short term, however, there will be some initial set-up costs to put a central co-ordinating computer in place. After the system has been established, the existing delivery mechanisms, now scattered throughout the government, could be phased out, resulting in substantial cost reduction.
The goal of "paperless society" should be encouraged, for example, by making the voluntary direct deposit a default for any new applicant, as is done by many private sector companies.
03 | The Restructuring Plan
Phase 1 (1 year)
Set up the office of the "Delivery General of Canada".
Identify which social assistance program is to migrate to the "Delivery General" system first.
Implement a central co-ordinating computer system with a master Relational DataBase Management System linked to each administering ministry's computer system.
Some standards will be set, such as the I.S.O. (International Standards Organisation) date and time (YYYY-MM-DD T HH:MM:SS) in anticipation of the 21st century.
Phase 2 (2 years)
Gradually add other social assistance programs to the "Delivery General" system in a modular fashion.
In this time period, paperless form entry system and a suggestion line to collect and document user feedback into a dynamic idea bank will be introduced with the objective of continuous improvement.
Phase 3 (2 years)
Integrate with the Income Tax and Customs and Excise. The tax filing, coupled with Revenue Canada's EFILE (electronic filing) project, will become a simple yearly adjustment, much like that of the equalised payment to the utilities. Also solicit provincial and municipal participations.
Note
This proposal calls for a long-term approach.
The applicant would require an honorarium to assist with the preparation of a final plan.
04 | Rationale for Restructuring
In a complex modern society, the total efficiency and productivity can be achieved through absolute simplicity and consistency, much as the Total Quality effort has proven in the manufacturing sector. One grass-root example is the "Single Tax" proposal which is gaining popular momentum in Canada. In the U.S.A., credit cards will be accepted for the income tax payment.
Today, virtually every government relation requires paper forms, forcing the citizens to repeatedly write their name, address and phone number again and again. People constantly encounter countless troubles of missing cheques, missed direct deposit, incorrect amount, errors in one's identity, and so forth due to the fact that their basic information is kept in different places without co-ordination. That is because each government program has developed its own way historically, but it is high time to break this paradigm to achieve reduction in the cost of government per total units of services delivered. The federal government is also in a good position to envision a grand goal of "Paperless Government by 2001" for ultimate effectiveness.
In recent years, the computer database and data communication technologies have advanced to the point where many activities can be done on the fly in real time. If databases were set up and linked up correctly, each individual customer could take a look at the data directly to verify and update his/her own information, and point out simple mistakes himself/herself only once to be in effect in all the other databases as well. The real benefits of this kind of single point of entry for the government interface and single government account (while composed of multiple government programs) will be in maximised efficiency and productivity in entire society through superior cost savings and quality improvements by all citizens.
The "Consolidated Federal Government Program Delivery" to be directed to the taxpayer will become possible with the introduction of "carte Canada card" (presently Citizenship card) indicating the individual's province of residence. The following section is a part of my proposal to The Special Joint Committee On a Renewed Canada.
