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