AI no silver bullet, but can help boost public sector productivity: Hutchinson
The addition of “government transformation” to the Public Works and Procurement minister’s title is good news, Kelly Hutchinson, Compass Rose Digital Practice Lead, told The Hill Times recently.
“The fact that we’re trying to drive enterprise-wide transformation to improve how we’re operating is phenomenal,” she said. “Hallelujah.”
Hutchinson’s comments underscore what many in the industry already know: that AI is not a silver bullet, but it can play a pivotal role in modernizing procurement if paired with the right training, governance, and human oversight.
“AI not only has the ability to help us get off legacy platforms and move into more modern platforms, but it also gives us the ability to avoid vendor lock-in, and be agile with what platforms we end up having to move to, depending on what the geopolitics are,” she said. “You always have to have a human in the loop to ensure that it’s verified.”
As she pointed out, AI can help federal departments shed aging legacy platforms as Canada aims to build greater self-sufficiency and resilience into its digital infrastructure. Her emphasis on robust credentialing for contractors and a comprehensive contractor and supplier database reflects a deep understanding of how to translate policy ambitions into operational safeguards.
Hutchinson said the use of AI could be applied to the government’s contractor and supplier database, help mitigate the risk of fraudulent contractors, and catch instances like five contractors billing every single day for different contracts. She also said Public Services and Procurement Canada needs to keep its AI source list up to date to mitigate the risk of suppliers not keeping up with the pace of technologies like generative AI.
As the new Cabinet moves forward with its priorities, Compass Rose’s clients can also expect to see upcoming organizational changes to align with Minister Joël Lightbound’s expanded title and mandate, which go well beyond procurement modernization to include standing up a new Defence Procurement Agency — likely modeled after Shared Services Canada — and embedding government transformation as a core operational principle across departments.
Compass Rose’s Digital Government and Procurement team will continue to monitor changes — both technological and bureaucratic — and identify procurement opportunities and new compliance requirements for clients.
Does your organization need support navigating the procurement landscape?
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