During FY19 (April 2019 – March 2020), the Singapore government expects to award ICT contracts worth SGD 2.5 -2.7 billion (USD 1.83 billion – 2.05 billion). Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) will be eligible to participate in over 80% of the contracts.
To make it easier for businesses to work with the government, the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) has worked with the Ministry of Finance to streamline and introduce new procurement methods for ICT contracts. A new co-development partnership model has been put in place for industry to co-develop projects with agencies on the Singapore Government Technology Stack (SGTS). Dynamic contracting will be enabled in upcoming bulk tenders to allow new suppliers and requirements to be introduced throughout the contract period. The government is also incorporating outcome-based procurement for Call for Solutions that will enable transition from crowdsourcing innovative solutions to project pilot and subsequent deployment, without the need to call for an additional tender.
More than 60% of the money will be directed towards enhancing five key government platforms under the Digital Government Blueprint released in 2018. These five platforms are:
SGTS, a “digital backbone” of reusable, interoperable and scalable micro-services and digital infrastructure that enables public agencies to design, develop and deploy digital services more quickly and securely
National Digital Identity (NDI), a digital credential for users to transact with government and businesses using a single trusted digital identity
Smart Nation Sensor Platform (SNSP), a nationwide sensor platform to help public agencies enhance situational awareness and provide more pre-emptive and responsive services to citizens by collecting, sharing and analyzing data
Moments of Life (MOL), the integration of different government services, to be delivered to the citizen around a specific moment in his or her life
Adaptive Digital Workplace (ADWP), an enabling digital platform for public officers to work more productively and collaborate better with other officers
Key upcoming initiatives include the below:
By the third quarter of FY19, the Government will launch “SG-Verify”, a facility for businesses to perform secure identity verification and data transfer through QR scanning. This will provide businesses an alternative for visitor registration and access, customer acquisition at roadshows, or any other use cases that require identification. This is part of NDI.
Under SNSP, the Lamppost-as-a-Platform trial will commence in the third quarter of FY19 in one-north and Geylang. The trial will assess the efficacy of leveraging lampposts to provide connectivity to and power various kinds of sensors, by testing out use cases that support municipal, mobility and security domains.
By the third quarter of FY19, Moments of Life, which was first launched in June 2018 for families of young children below six years old, will be expanded to include new services that cater to other key life stages, for example in helping seniors lead active and engaged lives.
As part of the public sector’s shift to commercial cloud, cloud-based Microsoft 365 suite of products will be progressively rolled out starting from second quarter of FY19.
(Source: Government Technology Agency of Singapore; Business Times Singapore; Today Online; Vulcan Post)
