Auditor general finds gaps in project management within Ottawa Police Service

The City of Ottawa’s auditor general is raising concerns over oversight and accountability when it comes to the police’s biggest projects.

Ottawa’s auditor general has identified several gaps in project management oversight and budgeting at the Ottawa Police Service, saying there has “not been a holistic project management approach” which has resulted in “variances in project management rigour.”

In a report for the Ottawa Police Services Board, Auditor General Nathalie Gougeon and her team found there is a lack of formalized budgets for projects or appropriate resources assigned, no centralized project management in place and no intake process.

The auditor general’s office said while police have taken “incremental steps” to improve project management practices, individual branches remain responsible for executing their own projects and there is no centralized function to ensure “consistent project management practices and oversight.”

The audit found the following about the Ottawa Police Service project management and oversight:

• No centralized function to ensure consistent management practices and oversight across projects.
• The service has not developed a standardized project management framework to define the project and “set the expected level of project management rigour.”
• There is no formalized and consistent project intake process to “properly prioritize and deploy projects.”
• “Strategic projects do not consistently have appropriate resources assigned from the outset, which may impact the efficiency and effectiveness of project delivery,” the report said.
• A formalized budget is not “consistently established for strategic projects.”
• The auditor general also said project reporting requires improvement to “ensure complete and accurate status reporting” of projects.

“Collectively, these gaps create risks that projects may proceed without a clear understanding of the resources and funding required to support successful delivery and may reduce accountability for ensuring projects are managed and delivered in a cost‑effective manner,” the report said.

The auditor general says a formal oversight function to support, challenge and report on all strategic projects has not been established, and there have been challenges with the accuracy and completeness of reporting to senior members of the service and the Ottawa Police Service’s Board.

“This impacts the ability to assess the state of a project in order to make timely project decisions, and to ensure project alignment with strategic objectives and overall value-for-money.”

One example of the Ottawa Police Service not consistently establishing a formalized budget for strategic projects was the new District Revitalization Program to move from three districts to four. The auditor general notes a nominal budget was originally approved for $600,000, but the current budget is now $2.2 million.

“However, no evidence of formal approval of this amendment could be provided. Despite this revised budget, as of January 2026, project documentation indicates spending to date has been $5.2 million, $3.0 million over the current budget,” the report said.

“As there has not been a standard approach to budgeting for strategic projects, the Service does not have an approval framework for project budget amounts. As a result, it is unclear what level of governance has the authority to approve a project budget and/or a budget amendment. By not having a formally approved budget from the outset of a project, there is an increased risk of cost overruns and a weakened accountability for project spending and overall performance measurement.”

The auditor general makes seven recommendations to the Ottawa Police Service to improve project management, including developing budgeting and costing approaches for projects, establishing a formal oversight function for all strategic projects, and creating a formal management framework for all projects.

The service said it accepts all seven recommendations.

Chief Eric Stubbs called the audit a “thorough and constructive review.”

Stubbs said when he arrived at the Ottawa Police Service, there had been “significant cuts” to the corporate side of the service.”

“It was clear that, you know, we didn’t have that infrastructure to take on a new strategic plan that did eventually get developed with the Police Board, and specific to this audit, a proper project management section that has all the skills and processes in place to take on the massive number of initiatives and projects,” Stubbs told the Ottawa Police Service’s Board meeting on Tuesday.

The chief added police “have work to do.”

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