Peer Review: City of Ottawa’s Zero-Emission Bus Program

Technical details

Client

City of Ottawa

Dates

2025-2026

Missions

Peer Review

Location

Ottawa, ON, Canada

Partners

RATP Dev, Anser Advisory

Activity

Assessment, benchmarking, recommandations

The City of Ottawa’s Zero Emission Bus (ZEB) Program, part of the Climate Change Master Plan, aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 100% below 2012 levels by 2040.

The program includes purchasing 354 battery-electric buses by end of 2027, supported by Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada and the Canada Infrastructure Bank. A pilot project, which introduced four electric buses in 2021, demonstrated successful performance, leading to an expanded plan. The program will be executed in two phases: planning and implementation, involving infrastructure upgrades, training, and ongoing performance monitoring. This initiative underscores Ottawa’s commitment to sustainability and reducing emissions.

FROM QUESTIONS TO SOLUTIONS

The objective of the peer review is to analyze and validate the quality of the planning, design, construction, operational and maintenance readiness, and IT implementation (software for energy optimization and fleet deployment). The review includes review of documentation, interview with key staff and stakeholders involved, and site visits as required. The peer review aims at answering the following questions: Will they help achieve the overall Climate Change Master Plan? What are the delivery risks, and are there any opportunities to improve? How can risks be minimized and opportunities realized?

the peer review iN three steps

Using an adaptation of the P3M3 maturity model assessments recently completed on two major programs, SYSTRA Canada’s peer review process is divided into three steps:

1. Assessment: Evaluate the current maturity level of the program’s management plans using the P3M3 criteria; examining program controls, benefits management, cost management, stakeholder engagement, risk management, organizational governance, and resourcing.

2. Benchmarking: Compare the program’s maturity against industry standards and best practices to identify areas for improvement by compiling a benchmark based on international best practices of the topics and deliverables covered by the program plans. The gap analysis will be based on these findings.

3. Recommendations: Provide actionable recommendations to enhance the maturity of the program’s management processes. This involves improving documentation, refining processes, or enhancing stakeholder engagement.

By using P3M3 in this way we ensure a systematic process behind the review and defined outputs, managed effectively, with a focus on improvement and alignment with best practices. The document package will include several audit reports; we will review them and compile a consolidated list of findings and responses to create a “Single Source of Truth.”