Evaluation
The evaluation focused on export certification activities that took place from April 2016 to November 2019 to evaluate whether the CFIA delivered its export certification program in an accurately, timely and digitally-enabled manner.
How CFIA evaluated
Interviewed:
- 22 exporters across Canada
- 4 technical specialists overseas
- CFIA employees across the country in 19 local offices, 6 laboratories and national headquarters
Assessed activities that support export certification including:
- negotiations with foreign trading partners
- laboratory testing, certification and reporting
Reviewed academic, industry, and Canadian government documents
Key findings
CFIA issued accurate export certificates within a timeframe that met the needs of industry. At the time of the evaluation, CFIA was working towards implementing its system to deliver all export certificates in a digitally-enabled manner. CFIA's collaborative approach to negotiations with trading partners on certification requirements facilitated expansion into new export markets.
Recommendations
Service delivery standards
- Review and update 2018 service management strategy to align with CFIA's strategic priorities
- Develop and implement service standards across the export certification program
- Group commodities that require similar export certification verifications and establish appropriate service standards for each group aligned to the updated CFIA service management strategy
- Monitor and report on performance against these standards
Resources and information management
- Strengthen how CFIA applies an integrated risk management approach within and across its animal, food and plant programs to more effectively determine appropriate resource allocations to its export certification activities
- Develop a transition plan designed to ensure that all paper and electronic export certificates are entered and managed in the Digital Services Delivery Platform (DSDP)
- Provide all relevant employees with access to updated export certification training, guidance and reference tools
Did you know…
Description of Graph 1
| Total | 438,322 |
| Other plant products | 4,352 |
| Animal feed | 7,094 |
| Imported and manufactured foods | 9,175 |
| Horticulture products | 19,697 |
| Forestry products | 20,215 |
| Potatoes | 32,899 |
| Grains | 43,351 |
| Fish | 69,930 |
| Meat | 114,499 |
| Animal products | 117,110 |
Source: CFIA Management Resources and Results Structure
Description of Graph 2
| Total | $104.01 |
| Animal feed | $1.02 |
| Fresh fruit and vegetables | $2.14 |
| Horticulture products | $2.18 |
| Animal products | $2.74 |
| Processed products | $3.70 |
| Fish | $6.76 |
| Meat | $7.26 |
| Imported and manufactured food | $18.94 |
| Grains | $19.71 |
| Forestry | $39.56 |
Sources: Agriculture and Agrifood Canada Market Access Secretariat.
Description of Graph 3
| Digital Service Delivery Platform | 27 |
| Training implementation | 21 |
| Digital solutions | 19 |
| Training development | 18 |
| Funding | 16 |
| Domestic programs | 8 |
| CFIA culture | 4 |
| Trade priority | 1 |
Source: As ranked by CFIA employees that were interviewed for this evaluation
Complete report
- Evaluation of the Export Certification Program – Final report
- Management Response and Action Plan (MRAP) for the Export Certification Program