Chan Yeng Kit, chief executive officer of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), said local authorities plan to call for S$2.2 billion (US$1.3 billion) worth of IT tenders over the next 12 months. He was speaking at an industry briefing to detail the government's technology budget and upcoming procurement plans.
The amount is a three-fold increase from the previous year, during which government agencies budgeted S$700 million (US$425 million) for IT deals, although only S$610 million (US$370 million) worth of contracts were eventually awarded.
"From our experience, with open competition, tender bids are always lower than the contract value," said Wu Choy Peng, IDA's deputy chief executive, referring to the difference between the budgeted and actual contract values in 2004.
IDA, which oversees technology purchases and deployments for the major government bodies in addition to its role as an industry regulator, is responsible for the bulk of public sector IT spending, Wu said.
This year, the lion's share of the budgeted IT contracts will stem from an ambitious project to streamline disparate hardware, software and IT services that are used by various government departments in Singapore.
Specifically, S$1.5 billion (US$911 million) in deals have been allocated for standardizing desktop and network components across all agencies in the public sector, with the exception of the Ministry of Defense.
Areas like PC operating systems, desktop security packages, e-mail and messaging software, as well as productivity tools, will be harmonized across the board, Wu told CNETAsia. However, she said the choice of server OS and related applications may still vary due to the unique requirements of different government agencies.
IDA's stance on open-source software also remains unchanged, Wu stressed.
IT companies are free to include open-source applications in their proposals, but the final decision will still hinge on TCO (total cost of ownership), said Chan.
As part of this initiative, the Singapore government will steer away from bulk hardware and software purchases. Instead, IDA has opted for a utility-pricing approach where interested vendors are required to suggest rental models for their products and services.
The program will be implemented in two stages over the next five years. It is envisioned to save public sector IT procurement costs and allow for faster deployment of new services and applications as they no longer need to be tested for compatibility across multiple environments, IDA said. Upon completion of this project in 2009, the annual value of government IT deals wil revert to around S$600 million (US$364 million), it added.
Besides the standardization effort, IDA will also be awarding contracts for several projects, such as the establishment of a cyber threat monitoring center and a remote access system which allows civil servants to retrieve e-mails and other corporate resources on the fly.
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