SINGAPORE: The central procurement entity set up in the
headquarters of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) would carry out
all procurements exceeding $70,000, which includes all tenders, for
the Home Team Departments (HTDs).
This was revealed in the second report of the Public Accounts
Committee which released its report on Friday.
The Committee had requested for an update from MHA on the
actions taken to address the lapses reported in the Report of the
Auditor-General for FY 2010/11.
The Auditor-General had observed irregularities at every stage
of the management of two projects undertaken by the Police Coast
Guard which resulted in the Singapore Police Force being grossly
overcharged.
MHA said the central entity would subsequently work with the
user departments on the management of the contract, including
monitoring contract performance and handling contract
variations.
The Committee had also asked for an explanation for lapses in
the procurement carried by some of MHA's HTDs as highlighted in the
AGO's report for FY 2011/12.
The HTDs are the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, two
divisions of the Singapore Police Force, the Singapore Prison
Service and the Police Logistics Base.
MHA said the main causes for the irregularities in procurement
and project management included a lack of specialist procurement
knowledge and skills, and failure of the project management company
in discharging its responsibilities under the contract.
With regard to MHA's projects managed by external project
managers, the Committee was informed that MHA has tightened its
control over the project management company and stepped up its
monitoring of the company's performance .
MHA is also conducting a review of its overall requirements
across all its departments for the provision of project management
and facility management services.
It said it would examine how best to structure a new contract
for the provision of such services.
MHA said it had recovered most of the overpayments and amounts
overcharged from the term contractors and related project
management fees from the project management company.
MHA is working on raising the competency level of procurement
officers. It is developing a competencies and training framework
for procurement officers and a procurement manual.
- CNA/de