The province still needs to update its management of large capital project planning, according to B.C.’s auditor general.
Carol Bellringer’s office released a report Thursday that highlighted the province’s progress on seven 2013 audit recommendations regarding the construction of the Evergreen Line.
The $1.42-billion Evergreen Line extension, which connects the Tri-Cities to downtown Vancouver via the Millennium line, was opened to the public in early December. While it opened ahead of the latest government estimates of early 2017, it remained two years delayed from its original planned opening date of 2014.
READ: Evergreen Line delayed... again
According to the auditor general’s report, the province has failed to accurately report on its progress updating the 2002 Capital Asset Management Framework (CAMF). The CAMF "sets minimum standards and oversight requirements based on the risk and complexity of the project, as well as the experience of the delivery agency.”
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The updates would require the Ministry of Finance to implement a project plan, describing the scope, required resources, timelines and deliverables, for updating the CAMF to provide comprehensive guidance for public sector agencies on the information required to underpin capital project planning and how this should be documented, as well as the type of oversight that should be applied to verify the information presented to government.
The other outstanding recommendation targets the due diligence around developing and reviewing business cases for projects. Partnerships BC and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure have completed their work, and once the Ministry of Finance completes its part by reviewing project planning and approval guidelines, the recommendation will likely be considered fully implemented.
“There should always be complete information about the costs, benefits, and risks to be managed when making decisions about capital projects” said Bellringer. “This is especially true for high-cost, large-scale projects like the Evergreen Line.”
Bellringer said that the province had completed the five other recommendations which included collecting ridership data, evaluating the data and setting out guidelines for managing performance.
Her office had previously said it would also "evaluate the quality of evidence" that the province relied on to support its decision to replace the Massey Tunnel with a $3-billion, 10-lane bridge. Promises by the government to build the bridge had come ahead of the eventual release of a project business case.