SG government funnels SGD1.1B to IT projects

By Enterprise Innovation Editors | Jun 4, 2010

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At least S$1.1 billion in government funds will be allotted by the Singapore government for IT-related projects—such as electronic service delivery of government correspondences for individuals and businesses, biometrics for immigration screening and clearance, and streamlined storage of X-ray records of Armed Forces personnel—for the year 2010.

Speaking at the Industry Briefing 2010 on Business Opportunities for Infocomm in the Public Sector on 11 May 2010, Rear Admiral (National Service) Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), noted that the continued investment and emphasis on infocomm by both the public and private sectors have placed Singapore high on various international rankings.

Singapore was ranked second in the Networked Readiness Index under the World Economic Forum's Global Information Technology Report 2009-2010 released in late March. The report also ranked Singapore first in its readiness sub-index, which measures the extent to which individuals, businesses and the government are prepared to use infocomm in their daily activities and operation.

“Infocomm plays an increasingly prominent role as a key enabler and has become an essential infrastructure crucial for sustaining and enhancing an economy's innovation potential and long-term competitiveness,” said RADM(NS) Tay. “Infocomm is also instrumental to achieving productivity growth as it enables workers and end users to work faster and more effectively.”

The annual Industry Briefing organised by IDA provides information to the infocomm industry about infocomm projects that are in the pipeline for government agencies in the new Financial Year.
In total, about 350 new infocomm tenders are expected to be called in FY2010. Among them are:

• A project by IDA to re-develop the eCitizen Portal to include new features such as the OneInbox, an electronic service that allows individuals and businesses to receive correspondences from government agencies;

• A Biometrics Screening Capability system which will be implemented at all immigration counters in the coming year. The turnkey system will enable the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority to enhance security as well as to process the clearance of travellers more effectively at checkpoints;

• A Central Picture Archiving Communications System, a computerised military healthcare system by the Ministry of Defence to streamline the storage of X-ray records of Singapore Armed Forces Personnel; and

• A new Central Provident Fund (CPF) Member System that aims to achieve increased operational efficiency, increased business agility and enhanced public service delivery to the CPF Board’s over 3 million customers.

The projected value for the FY2010 tenders is consistent with past years' procurement trends, excluding one-off major developmental projects such as the Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network and the Government’s Standard Operating Environment (SOE) projects. Actual infocomm procurement in FY2009 amounted to S$1.12 billion.

Beyond these projects, the Government is also encouraging greater innovation in the use of infocomm to deliver public services, through programmes such as the Government Technology Experiments & Trials Programme (TREATS).

“We recognise that the Government is a major infocomm user and there are opportunities for the public sector to pilot new innovative solutions proposed by industry and to push the envelope in providing services to its employees and citizens,” said RADM(NS) Tay.

TREATS aims to identify suitable technologies for trials with government agencies and encourage innovation in the public sector. “Infocomm companies should leverage this opportunity to test-bed cutting edge solutions to meet business needs expressed by our agencies,” he said.