RADM(NS) Ronnie Tay: The Singapore Government will continue to invest in infocomm to drive productivity and innovation within the public sector.

A Flexi Immigration System for smoother clearance, an improved Healthcare System for the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), and a one-stop service portal for transactions relating to foreign workers – these are some of the initiatives in the pipeline as part of the Singapore Government’s projected S$1.1 billion worth of new infocomm tenders for Financial Year 2011 (FY2011).

This is in line with infocomm expenditure for FY2010, where the Government awarded 647 infocomm contracts worth more than S$1.12 billion. The figure excluded the awarded amount of S$850 million for the Schools Standard ICT Operating Environment project.

Speaking at the Industry Briefing 2011 on Business Opportunities for Infocomm in the Public Sector on 19 May 2011, RADM(NS) Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), said the overall outlook for the infocomm industry remained positive, with increased spending in IT and demand for infocomm services. He also noted that the Singapore Government will continue to invest in infocomm to drive productivity and innovation within the public sector.

Pointing to Singapore’s strong performance in international studies such as the 2011 Waseda e-Government Ranking and the Global Information Technology Report, he said, “This is a strong testament to the Singapore Government’s commitment to continually improve the delivery of services and information to citizens and businesses, and the important role of infocomm in fostering economic growth in Singapore.”

At the latest industry briefing, agencies including MINDEF, the Defence Science & Technology Agency (DSTA), the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and the National Environment Agency (NEA) presented some of their upcoming projects. They included:

• A Flexi Immigration Clearance System which will enable the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority to toggle between automated and manned counters to boost operational capabilities and ensure a smoother immigration clearance;
  
  
• MINDEF’s improved Healthcare System, which will provide better quality healthcare services to MINDEF and SAF personnel via the streamlining of business processes and the integration of military healthcare records with the national healthcare systems;
  
  

The annual Industry Briefing provides the infocomm industry with information about infocomm projects that are in the pipeline for Government agencies in the new financial year.

• A new DSTA Intranet that will enhance information accessibility and knowledge sharing, as well as real-time connectivity among all itsstaff;
  
  
• MOM’s integrated Foreign Manpower Management System (inFORM), a one-stop service portal that allows members of the public, employers, foreign workers, domestic foreign workers and business partners to transact with MOM through various channels such as web, mobile and Internet Protocol TV; and
  
  
• The NEA’s Integrated Operations and Command System and the Smart Environment System, both of which will leverage on next generation infocomm, communication and sensor network technologies, coupled with business analytics and predictive modelling capabilities to enhance NEA’s services.

Aside from these projects, the Government is also looking to work with industry to unlock insights from public data and create business opportunities in the process.
To this end, opportunities for the industry are made available through various Calls-for-Collaboration (CFCs). Examples of such CFCs include:

• e-freight@Singapore, a business re-engineering effort to integrate the Singapore air cargo and logistics supply chain; and
  
  
• i-Singapore@Work, which aims to promote the integrated use of the Government’s geospatial data with the private sector’s business data to enhance decision-making and productivity in enterprises.

“By providing data to the public in various forms, developers and companies could use such data to build solutions and services that will enhance competitiveness of different sectors,” said RADM(NS) Tay.