Mr James Kang: When government data is mashed with private sector ideas, co-creation will reap quantum benefits, creating solutions that were not possible before.

Despite the subdued economic climate which has seen many countries cutting down on IT spending, the Singapore Government continues to sustain its investments in infocomm and plans to call S$1.2 billion worth of new tenders this financial year (FY 2012). This was announced at the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore’s (IDA) Industry Briefing 2012 on Business Opportunities for Infocomm in the Public Sector, which took place on 31 May 2012.

The projected spending represents a slight increase in value compared with the last financial year, when the government awarded 638 infocomm contracts worth more than S$1.12 billion. In total, about 254 new infocomm projects are planned for FY 2012, in areas such as learning management systems, data analytics, e-services and portals, and business process management.

“ICT continues to be a very strategic investment for Singapore,” said Mr James Kang, Assistant Chief Executive, Government Chief Information Office, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. The Government's continued investment in infocomm will help to enhance operational efficiency and productivity within the public sector and improve public service delivery to citizens and businesses. For the infocomm industry, this presents business opportunities to provide innovative solutions and services to the public sector.

To encourage innovation and co-creation with the infocomm industry, the Government will be piloting a new approach to acquiring innovative ICT solutions. The Call-for-Solution will provide the infocomm industry with greater flexibility to propose ICT innovations based on problem statements by government agencies. Working prototypes will be submitted for evaluation by IDA and participating agencies, and contracts will be awarded to selected proposals for pilot and implementation. If a solution presents commercial value, IDA will also provide support in productising the solution for export.

At the Industry Briefing, IDA also announced a Call-for-Collaboration (CFC) to harness data for value creation. Under this CFC, businesses can use government data to develop impactful solutions to enhance productivity, aid in analysis and planning or create new business value. “When government data is mashed with private sector ideas, co-creation will reap quantum benefits, creating solutions that were not possible before,” said Mr Kang.

The CFC is a multi-agency effort led by IDA and the Ministry of Finance in collaboration with other government agencies such as the Department of Statistics, Energy Market Authority, Health Promotion Board, Land Transport Authority, National Environment Agency, National Library Board, National Parks Board and Singapore Land Authority.

The Government will also be looking for innovative infocomm solutions for the Workplace of the Future that aims to transform the public sector workplace and capabilities. The aim is to improve productivity and empower public officers to share knowledge, work smarter and faster, and collaborate better across agencies for improved service delivery.

Another project is the Government Cloud (G-Cloud), where the Government plans to have the G-Cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service available end of 2012. This will provide agencies with access to efficient, scalable and resilient cloud computing resources designed to meet government requirements in terms of performance, governance and security.

IDA also gave a heads up on several key projects under the Social Service Sector ICT Masterplan, a joint initiative with the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports and the National Council of Social Service. These included demand aggregation of common ICT packages for voluntary welfare organisations; development of an ICT blueprint to achieve a holistic view of clients and integrated service delivery; enhanced mobility for social service personnel to access data on the move; and improvement of information management within the sector.

The Industry Briefing also included presentations by various public agencies on their infocomm investment plans. Mr Koh Jin Hou, Head of the Corporate IT Resource Management Department at the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) Information Systems Division, spoke about the continued rollout of LEARNet, which allows servicemen to access learning resources through portable devices. “The ability to provide contextualised information to the workforce will be the key enabling concept in improving workforce productivity. We will reduce many hours spent on information gathering, and allow time to be focused on analytical and decision-making functions,” said Mr Koh. Separately, the Access Control for Enterprise Systems will be developed to enhance the management of access control.

For the Central Provident Fund Board (CPFB), a key project highlighted at the Industry Briefing was the re-development of its Member & Employer Systems to improve the Board’s business agility and enhance operational efficiency through the streamlining of business processes. This will enable the systems to respond quickly to the implementation of new policy initiatives and schemes. CPFB is also revamping the CPF website and eServices to enhance the customer service experience. “Through the revamp of the website, we will be able to provide more intuitive, user-friendly and interactive services to members of the public. We will also be able to improve and enhance our service levels to customers through automation and by leveraging technology and best practices,” said Ms Chia Swee Fong, Deputy Director (IT Revamp) at the Central Provident Fund Board.

Another agency that presented at the Industry Briefing was the Ministry of Manpower (MOM). Mr Chai Ming Yao, Senior Assistant Director (Applications) at MOM, spoke about its three-year plan to integrate, simplify and enrich its online digital experience. MOM will also be implementing two key projects, namely the Work Pass Integrated System (WINS) and a business analytics platform called INSIGHTS@MOM.