Congratulations to the 2024 winning teams of the National Student Case Competition!
The Canadian Association of Programs in Public Administration (CAPPA) extends its sincere congradulations to all of the winning teams, and a hearty thanks to all teams that participated in the 2024 competition.
This year, 12 teams participated in the competition online hosted by the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Administration.
This year's winning teams are:
Gold: Queen's University
Silver: Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School
Bronze: University of Toronto (Munk School)
This year's case study asked the student teams to respond to the dysfunctions in the federal procurement system respecting large-scale projects, such as Phoenix, Business Modernization Program, and the ArriveCan Application.
The case highlights the practical management challenges in administering large-scale procurements, as well as the various ethical challenges including the lack of internal oversight and abuse of procurement processes by public servants.
The President of the Treasury Board demanded advice from public servants on how to frame a review of the procurement system and its various processes, as well as how to improve internal oversight in the immediate term.
The case study is available in English and French on the CAPPA website. Click here for full presentations.
The CAPPA executive and board sincerely thanks Johnson-Shoyama for hosting the competition, Baseline Communications for providing technical support, and Carleton University for providing leadership support.
The National Annual Public Administration Case Competition is a joint project of CAPPA and the Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC). Canadian universities that have programs in public administration may compete. It is designed to highlight the excellence of Canadian public administration programs and students, and to provide a valuable learning experience for students.
Participants are organized into teams and presented with a "real world" public administration case, with accompanying background material. They work together to develop the best solution over a day. Teams then deliver presentations for judges. Two rounds may be required, and universities with more than one team may have their own internal competitions to determine who will represent the university.
- Some rules will vary from year to year, but typically the case presented one day before presentations to judges who represent key players in the context of the case (e.g. a cabinet committee). Teams will then go through the stages of case study review:
- Problem identification
- Research/Analysis of issues
- Identification of risks, opportunities and complexities
- Desired outcome and policy approach Issues of implementation and suggested course of action (including financial implications)
- Issues of communication, collaboration and stakeholders and suggested courses of action
Teams then develop 30-minute presentations that are made to a panel of judges. An assessment rubric will be provided before work begins, and time limits are strictly enforced.
Quality of the presentations is always high. A list of winners is available on our Honour Roll page.