The Government is looking to maintain its IT spending at S$1.2 billion in FY2013 but will be adopting a smarter procurement approach focusing on more “agile” software development and urging public agencies to tap onto the Government Cloud (G-Cloud) for IT solutions. In FY2012, the public sector awarded a total of 577 infocomm contracts, also worth up to S$1.2 billion.

Speaking at the annual Industry Briefing on Business Opportunities for Infocomm in the Public Sector on 23 May 2013, Mr James Kang, Assistant Chief Executive Officer, Government Chief Information Office of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), said that the Government will emphasise on four key areas which include Agile Software Development, Government Cloud Solutions, Data and Analytics and Infocomm Security.

Mr Kang noted that the cloud will be an important infrastructure for the Government and presents a “great value preposition for many agencies”. “We are entering the second phase of the G-Cloud, and that is where we need to put a lot of software – Software-as-a-Service or SaaS – and also systems that are classified up to the confidential level.”

He urged infocomm companies to work with the Government to design software which will offer public agencies the agility, scalability and utility pricing model of software on the cloud. In line with this, the Government will call for a bulk tender on agile software development, which will provide government agencies with access to a range of suppliers with agile expertise, resources and tools, he said.

Mr Kang said, “The world is moving very fast, and we need applications to be up within a month or two. Agile is a whole different paradigm in system development. Instead of prescriptive one-time specifications and long lead time for development, and high risk of failure, it is broken up to many pieces and has a lot of iterations.”

This iterative approach allows for the gathering of constant user feedback, which is especially helpful in enhancing the user experience in citizen-centric applications such as government e-services, websites and mobile applications.

As projects are broken down to many different parts, this will also benefit small-to-medium infocomm companies as it opens up more collaborative opportunities regardless of their size, and also promotes innovation, said IDA. Two-thirds of the upcoming tenders will be valued at S$1 million and below and about a quarter are valued between S$1 million and S$5 million.

The government is also focusing on data and analytics which will help agencies with decision-making to improve operations, planning and policy formulation. An Apps4SG competition was launched last month to encourage citizens, businesses and the government to develop innovative and useful applications to improve the way we live, work and interact using available government data.

In addition, infocomm security has been identified as one of the key areas for enhancement as the government adopts new technology for better service delivery. The government will call for a bulk tender to centralise the provision of data encryption products and services, and another to enhance the Cyber-Watch Centre.

At the latest industry briefing, the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and Singapore Customs also shared some of their upcoming projects. MINDEF’s key projects will focus on business analytics, training and learning, employee collaboration, defence administration and mobility. It includes the enhancement of the Enterprise Knowledge Portal for holistic management of the agency’s knowledge assets, HR system and Integrated Transport Management system. Substantial amount of investments will also be allocated to the Training Evaluation and Training Delivery systems.

Singapore Customs will be implementing several new systems which include the development of a customer relationship management system, customer engagement portal, and customs intelligence and investigation system. It will also be revamping its trade statistics system and corporate website to enhance user experience.