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It’s little wonder that so many federal government departments dislike or distrust Shared Services Canada, the computer services agency established in 2011.

The portrait offered Tuesday by Auditor General Michael Ferguson in his biannual audit suggests the agency conducts its operations with a sloppy disregard for both the quality and quantity of services it provides to 43 departments.

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This is all the more astonishing given Shared Services’ sweeping mandate – which is to develop a single email system for the entire federal government, consolidate nearly 500 data centres to seven, and streamline the government’s telecommunications services.

Although the agency has a generous annual budget in excess of $1.4 billion and more than 6,100 employees, Ferguson noted it fell well short of the standards expected by the departments it serves. Indeed, were this a private sector firm, it would have lost its customers years ago.