The wheels of government have not been turning fast enough for B.C.’s Auditor General.
A February 9 report from Auditor General Carol Bellringer says that the B.C. government has not fully implemented all recommendations that her office made nearly four years ago related to the $1.43 billion, 11-kilometre Evergreen Line rapid-transit project.
The report noted that only five of seven recommendations have been fully implemented while two others have only been partially implemented despite nearly four years passing since the recommendations were made in March 2013.
“We always prefer more progress,” Bellringer said on a conference call.
“I think that, given the size of the projects that would be impacted by a fully implemented framework, it’s certainly beneficial for [work on the recommendations] to have had more progress.”
One recommendation that has not been fully implemented was directed to B.C.’s Ministry of Finance. Bellringer’s ministry had wanted the ministry to update a capital asset management framework and improve guidance for public sector agencies.
The other urged the Ministry of Transportation, Ministry of Finance and the government agency Partnerships British Columbia to improve how they assess and report on whether strategic options, assessments and business cases have followed certain guidelines.
“We did not put an initial timeline in terms of our expectation,” Bellringer said. “But, yes, its been quite a few years since the first management framework was started so yes, it should be in place by now.”
