Regulators' Capacity Fund

The Regulators’ Capacity Fund

Overview

The Regulators’ Capacity Fund (RCF) responds to calls from Canada’s business community, which has been vocal in its desire for regulators to give increased weight to economic and competitiveness considerations in the development and enforcement of regulations. From 2020-2022, the RCF supported 26 projects with over $8.9 million in funding.

A September 2022 off-cycle funding decision renewed the fund, providing $6.2M over three years (2022-2025) to further support regulators. The renewed fund has expanded to include projects that support post-pandemic resiliency/recovery efforts.

We expect this funding will be made available to TBS in late fall. The purpose of this call-out is to begin identifying and approving projects beginning this fiscal year as soon as possible – this will allow TBS to avoid delays in disbursing funding to regulators once the funding is made available.

To help regulators improve their capacity to incorporate economic, competitiveness, and resilience considerations in the design and implementation of regulations, the aims of the renewed Regulators’ Capacity Fund are to:

enhance the capacity of regulators to accurately assess economic impacts of regulatory proposals, including impacts on competitiveness at sector and aggregate levels;

enhance the capacity of regulators to design and administer regulations in a manner that accounts for economic and competitiveness impacts, within the context of their overall objectives; and,
enhance the capacity of regulators to incorporate learnings from the ongoing pandemic response and adapt to rapidly-evolving regulatory landscapes to facilitate a system that is better equipped to mitigate future risks and respond to unanticipated developments, especially those related to climate change and public health.

The RCF supports departments and agencies in undertaking projects or initiatives, ranging in scope, that contribute to the enhancement of regulatory capacity. This involves supporting initiatives that would help regulators carry out their functions in a way that is conducive to economic growth. These initiatives would ultimately contribute to enhanced regulatory competitiveness in or beyond their respective sectors.

The Regulators’ Capacity Fund is overseen by the Centre for Regulatory Innovation, within the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s Regulatory Affairs Sector. As part of the Government’s broader regulatory modernization agenda, the Centre promotes a federal regulatory framework that supports innovation and competitiveness.

Key Dates for Current Call for Proposals

September 19, 2022 – Application process open
October 28, 2022 – Deadline to submit proposals for 2022-2023 projects
Late Fall 2022 / Early Winter 2023 – Assessment of proposals
Winter 2023 – Funding disbursed to successful applicants

March 31, 2025 – Funding sunsets; projects must be completed

Key Documents

Available Funding

Total funding available per fiscal year for the Regulators’ Capacity Fund is outlined below.

Fiscal Year	Total RCF funding available
2022-2023	$1.2 M
2023-2024	$3 M
2024-2025	$2 M

There is no minimum or maximum amount for a funding request under the Regulators’ Capacity Fund; however, the amount requested must be justified with the scope of the project.

Eligibility

To be eligible for funding, proposed projects must clearly demonstrate how their funding request meets the criteria as outlined in the RCF Guide. Departments are highly encouraged to reach out to the [Capacity Fund Enquiry&body=|Centre for Regulatory Innovation] to discuss their proposed idea to determine its eligibility before they begin their application for funding under the RCF.

Applications to the RCF can be submitted by federal regulators such as departments, agencies, and organizations to receive funding in fiscal years 2022-23, 2023-24 and/or 2024-25. The is no minimum duration for a project under the RCF; however final completion of the project can be no later than March 31, 2025.

Applying for funding

In order to apply for the Regulators’ Capacity Fund, applicants must complete the proposal template, that provides an overview and outline of the proposed project and applicant capacity to undertake the work. Further information on how to complete the proposal can be found in the RCF Guide.

All proposals must be submitted via email to the [Submission for Regulators’ Capacity Fund 2022-2025&body=|Centre for Regulatory Innovation]. Receipt of proposals will be acknowledged via email. Please ensure that your email address is included in your proposal application. The CRI may be in touch with applicants during this process to discuss their submission.

Applicants are encouraged to apply as early as possible so that the CRI can provide feedback. At least one round of feedback is suggested. The deadline for submitting final proposals is October 28, 2022 6:00 pm ET. If there is still sufficient funding for future years, the CRI will launch additional call(s) to solicit proposals.

Submitted proposals will be assessed to determine best fit with the overall objectives of the Regulators’ Capacity Fund. Successful applications will be determined based on the results of a competitive review process and budgetary considerations, as determined by the Assessment Committee (composed of TBS representatives). Successful proposals will be notified that they have been selected to receive funding under the Regulators’ Capacity Fund and will begin the process to draft a Memorandum of Understanding in order to obtain funds and initiate their project. Applicants that were not selected for funding will be notified.

Contact us

For additional information about this funding opportunity, including any assistance required to complete the application process, please contact the [Capacity Fund Enquiry&body=|Centre for Regulatory Innovation].

Regulators’ Capacity Fund Projects

Projects selected to receive funding under the Regulators’ Capacity Fund fall primarily under one of two groups based on how they support regulatory capacity for competitiveness:

Analysis-based (i.e. initiatives to enhance understanding of what needs to be done to improve the regime’s competitiveness, and to equip regulators with the relevant skills and information); and,
Solutions-based (i.e. initiatives to implement solutions that would develop capacity to administer regulations in a more cost-effective manner, which in turn, enhances the regime’s competitiveness).

The following are projects that were supported by the RCF.


Department/ Agency	Project Title	Project Description
Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)	Exploring the Use of Technology to Streamline Exploration to Production for Mining	The current approval process for mining projects is complex and inefficient, with the resulting burden having significant negative impact on industry and challenging the delivery of the regulatory regime. This project involves undertaking various activities in order to identify a digital tool that would streamline the approvals process for mining projects, followed by implementation and adoption of the identified tool.
Innovation Science and Economic Development (ISED) – Competition Bureau	Competition Assessment Toolkit	After developing a prototype competition assessment toolkit that would enable regulators to assess the potential impacts their regulatory proposals would have on competition, the Competition Bureau will hold a workshop and targeted sessions to solicit feedback from regulators and revise the toolkit accordingly.
Innovation Science and Economic Development (ISED)	Centralized Service for Enabling Regulators to Issue and Consume Digital Credentials	The project would establish a prototype centralized service for issuing and verifying digital credentials and test it with regulators and businesses. Findings would help to inform future work on Canada’s Digital Trust Infrastructure, such as piloting the centralized service for issuing and verifying digital credentials across regulatory regimes.
Innovation Science and Economic Development (ISED) – Standards Council of Canada (SCC)	Using Conformity Assessment to Test AI	SCC will lay the groundwork for a prototype SCC-accredited third-party conformity assessment program to test artificial intelligence in Canada by securing partnerships with stakeholders (i.e. regulators, SME AI developers, and Conformity Assessment Bodies) and developing prototype requirements.
Community of Federal Regulators (CFR)	Building Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) Capacity in the Government of Canada	This project involves developing advanced-level cost-benefit analysis (CBA) training (i.e. developing a CBA certificate program in partnership with an academic institution) as well as developing a plan to guide the implementation of a CBA recruitment and retention strategy for the Government of Canada.
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC)	Support to enable improved costing of nuclear regulations and increase internal regulations costing capability	This project involves undertaking a detailed costing study of an ongoing regulatory review and associated guidance, followed by the development of tools and training to help CNSC staff establish internal costing expertise.
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC)	Third-party Evaluation of the CNSC’s Regulatory Framework’s Readiness to Accept a License Application for a Fusion Reactor	This project involves enlisting external support in order to review the CNSC’s regulatory framework and assess its readiness for fusion technology. If successful, this work would help CNSC successfully receive and process license applications for fusion reactors.
Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC)	Online Resolution Platform	By implementing an online dispute resolution platform, this project will support timely, efficient, and cost-effective compliance and enforcement for both regulators and regulated entities under the new Pay Equity regime.
Transport Canada (TC)	Cumulative Regulatory Impact Analysis (CRIA) and Portal	This project involves developing and implementing a cumulative regulatory impact analysis framework to analyze the impact of transportation regulations on different industry sectors; this could ultimately support the establishment of an online portal that would make information on cumulative regulatory impact publicly available and searchable.
Transport Canada (TC)	Establishing novel testing methodologies to evaluate the safety of new vehicle technologies and support road safety regulatory design	To inform future regulation-development around new vehicle technologies, such as connected and automated vehicle safety technologies, this project would develop virtual simulation-based testing to assess new validation methods for emerging vehicle technologies, conduct physical testing of advanced vehicle technologies.
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)	Developing Foresight Capabilities Activities	This project entails a suite of complementary activities to support capacity-building on foresight analysis within ECCC. This includes training of policy analysts, conducting a review of policy guidance documents to identify and incorporate foresight considerations throughout the policy cycle, and conducting applied hands-on foresight exercises with program areas.
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)	Regulatory Discovery Tool	The project aims to develop and implement a Regulatory Discovery Tool to improve access to information on federal regulations. This involves conducting consultations to identify the needs of regulators and stakeholders, identifying and collecting regulatory metadata, and ultimately developing a public-facing, web-based, searchable Tool.
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)	National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI) – Bulk Upload and Data Verification Tool	The NPRI collects and publishes information on releases, disposals and transfers of over 320 pollutants from over 7,500 facilities across Canada. This project will allow facility owners or operators to submit their data more rapidly, efficiently, and accurately by developing an alternative to the presently required manual data entry. Specifically, this project involves developing a tool that would enable the submission of all data points in one file as well as provide quality control verification.
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)	Environmental Data is Accessible Timely, Useable, and Managed (EDATUM) – Business Case	ECCC will develop the business case for a broader project which aims to create multiple operational solutions including a Document Portal to enable electronic regulatory reporting and document submission for all submissions to ECCC.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)	Biogas Regulatory Navigation Study	The project involves researching the regulatory barriers impacting agricultural biogas project development, highlighting necessary guidance or regulatory alignment needs, and identifying potential tools to aid SMEs in navigating regulations to enable them to achieve environmental and economic goals. It will also clarify if there is a role for the federal government to create a Pan-Canadian regulatory pathway for the agricultural biogas sector.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)	Co-Development Approach to Seed Regulatory Modernization	This project seeks to co-develop modernized seed regulations from consensus-based, impartial recommendations derived from discussions with stakeholders, as well as accurately assess the cumulative economic impacts of the regulatory amendments.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)	Plant Breeders’ Rights Act/UPOV’91 Impact Study	This project involves researching and quantifying the economic benefits derived from a strengthened intellectual property environment and greater opportunities for access to new plant varieties created by legislative amendments to Canada’s Plant Breeders’ Rights Act, which strengthened intellectual property protection to conform to the 1991 Act of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV’91).
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)	Regulatory Standardization and Rules as Code Research Project	This project will analyze ECCC’s regulations and regulatory reports to develop a template and methodology for new regulations and associated reporting requirements with the intent of standardizing terminology and requirements. It will also develop criteria to determine which regulations are suitable for rules as code (RAC) and ways to incorporate RAC principles in the drafting of regulations.
Innovation Science and Economic Development (ISED) /Standards Council of Canada (SCC)	Modernizing the Monitoring Standards in Regulation Tool	This project involves designing a modernized tool to monitor standards referenced in federal regulations, increase the capacity of regulators to access these standards, and help address the issue of outdated references to standards.
National Research Council of Canada (NRC)	Performance-Based Codes	Through a targeted engagement with the research community, the code development community, and the engineering community, this project will identify knowledge gaps and perform research to investigate the feasibility and inform the decisions on the development and introduction of a new performance-based compliance path in the future editions of the National Building Code.
Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)	Risk-based Inspection Planning Web Application	To support the administration of the compliance inspection and restoration program under the Explosives Act administered by NRCan, this project will develop an inspection planning web application to create more efficient workflows, increase regulatory transparency, and ensure that regulations do not impede competitiveness of stakeholder industries.
Health Canada (HC)	Analyzing Incentive Models to Support Pediatric Medicine Development and Submission to Canada	This project seeks to analyze the success and/or gaps of Canada’s existing pediatric incentives provided under Section C.08.004.1 of the Food and Drug Regulations (FDR), in order to inform the development of new incentive models that will be used to support the implementation of a new pediatric provision in the FDR. To supplement this work, this project also strives to obtain industry feedback and insights on incentive models that would be meaningful to them.
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC)	Evaluation of Potential Safety Cases on the Use of Artificial Intelligence Safety Cases in the Canadian Nuclear Industry	This project involves contracting expert advisory services to develop an Artificial Intelligence Action Plan, following review of: - the information required for the demonstration of a safety case for the use of AI in licensed nuclear activities; and - evaluation of the potential challenges for effective regulatory oversight.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)	Plant Breeders’ Rights Act/UPOV’91 Legal Analysis	This project seeks to conduct a benchmarking legal study and analysis examining the plant breeders’ rights legislation of other countries who are contracting parties to the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV).
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)	Analysis of Regulatory and Non-Regulatory Barriers to Domestic Red Meat Trade in Canada	This project seeks to analyze regulatory and non-regulatory challenges to domestic trade of red meat in Canada with a view to informing a path forward to enhance economic growth opportunities in that sector. This would support the long-term objective of enhancing trade without compromising food safety or international trade opportunities and obligations.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)	Analysis of Global Systems that Enable Domestic Meat Trade	This project seeks to analyze relevant international regulatory systems (United States, European Union, Australia, etc.) containing features or programs which facilitate domestic trade of red meat. The purpose of the exercise would be to identify the key factors and their applicability to the Canadian context and to support the long-term objective of enhancing domestic trade without compromising food safety or international trade opportunities and obligations.