Mayor Strengthens Accountability and Capital Project Management

Demonstrating a continued commitment to increase accountability through greater openness and transparency, Mayor Brian Bowman today launched the Capital Expenditures Monthly Report, a new online tool that makes all active city infrastructure projects,  with associated budgets and spending, accessible to the public in machine readable format.

A new position, the Chief Project Management Officer, reporting to the Chief Administrative Officer, has also been created to co-ordinate and facilitate the review of work by civic departments, consultants, contractors, internal technical, clerical, financial and department leads involved in all City of Winnipeg capital project completion on behalf of the City. The position will be filled on an interim basis immediately and a posting for the permanent role will be prepared for a search in the near future.

“I am committed to ensuring that the very important information about how we are spending taxpayers’ dollars on public investments is accessible and easy to find for all Winnipeggers,” said Mayor Brian Bowman. “I am pleased to have the support of the CAO to ensure increased accountability remains a focus on City project management so important infrastructure projects across the city keep on schedule and on budget from now on.”

In July 2014, KPMG conducted an audit of the Winnipeg Police Service Headquarters construction project and several recommendations were made to improve governance and transparency. The audit also made primary recommendations focusing on the need to provide better oversight to understand project status, schedules, and costs. Finally, the audit recommended oversight with an ability to identify changes of scope and emerging trends and to evaluate key risks and issues.

“Over the past number of years, direct management of the City’s capital projects has lacked the oversight to analyze consolidated complex financial and technical aspects of infrastructure projects that would result in significantly reduced delays and cost overruns; I am pleased to support Mayor Bowman and City Council and build on our commitment to identify issues early and be more accountable for the projects we are the stewards of on behalf of our citizens,” said Chief Administrative Officer Doug McNeil.

The Capital Expenditure Monthly Report which includes such projects as building or rehabilitation of roads, bridges, sidewalks, civic facilities, pools or technology infrastructure is available online at winnipeg.ca/finance/CapitalExpenditures/default.stm and includes all capital projects active throughout the City of Winnipeg under every city department, regardless of budget allocation including major capital projects exceeding $10M. Updated information, available in PDF or machine-readable format will be updated monthly.

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