Mr. Chan Yeng Kit, CEO of IDA, shared that the government will continue to invest in infocomm as partnership with the industry is vital for continued growth
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This was announced by Mr. Chan Yeng Kit, Chief Executive Officer of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), who was giving the opening address at the Industry Briefing 2007. Mr Chan said, "The active participation of industry is critical, to develop innovative infocomm solutions for the public sector." To that end, the Government has consistently maintained its level of investment in infocomm and will increase its involvement to strengthen the partnership with the industry.
For the financial year of 2007, more than 340 tenders will be called. The government agencies who will be calling tenders include IDA, Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), National Environment Agency (NEA) and Singapore Land Authority (SLA). Several innovative solutions to benefit the public are also being planned.
One such project is the Digital Concierge, which represents the Government's commitment to creating seamless and personalised services for visitors to Singapore. This project will identify Singapore as a place where technology shapes excellent service. Another example is IDA's Distributed Computer Forensic Investigation Infrastructure, which aims to enhance the Government's current incident response and management processes. When fully implemented, the system will allow government agencies to quickly investigate and manage potentially compromised systems from a central location within the Government's network and take further remedial actions.
Other key projects include IDA's Total Solutions Centre; MINDEF's Integrated Enterprise Information System for National Service Management; MHA's Future Responder System and Immigration Facial Screening System (i-FACE); NEA's New Waste Management System; and SLA's Singapore Title Automated Registration System (STARS21).
Ms Pauline Tan, Senior Director of the Government Chief Information Office in IDA, provided a brief heads-up for the 340 new infocomm tenders worth about $730 million expected to be called in the new financial year 2007
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Mr Chan also announced the opening of the tender for the Government's highly anticipated Standard ICT Operating Environment (SOE) project, which had already garnered much industry interest. The total estimated value of the SOE tender is no more than S$1.5 billion and the project is aimed at standardising the desktop, messaging and network environment for the public sector. "By 2010, public officers will enjoy new capabilities and technologies to do their work better. Operational efficiencies will be improved when agencies share a common infrastructure to work as One Government," said Mr Chan.
Mr Chan also shared that local companies have benefited from the Government's investment in infocomm. In FY06, they were awarded 63% of total infocomm contracts, while multi-national companies (MNCs) garnered 37%. For contracts worth S$500,000 and less, local companies took the lion's share of 115 contracts, with 65 awarded to MNCs. Some FY06 projects included IDA's CyberWatchCentre and SingPass Authentication and Issuance Services; MINDEF's Human Resource Transformation; and MHA's Cargo Screening System.
The Industry Briefing 2007, which addressed the topic of "Business Opportunities for Infocomm in the Public Sector", provides infocomm businesses with an early indication of government procurement plans which allows them to better respond to government tenders. This year's Industry Briefing was attended by about 700 participants.
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