AGO’s reports — No signs of lapses abating?

[Confuseous]

What is disconcerting is that such lapses recur with amazing regularity year after year, with the AGO lamenting that tender exercises continue to be prone to lapses. I ask myself whether such lapses are due to plain incompetence, complacency, lack of supervision, lax management of public funds or a combination of all these! The Ministry of Finance has reiterated that while robust procurement rules are in place, it is the failure of individual officers that contributes to lapses. Whatever the reasons, it is imperative that our public institutions should meet the highest standards of probity, transparency and accountability.

It is acknowledged that implementing an effective public procurement system based on transparency, fair competition and integrity is not simple. Any system falling short of these standards would create the ideal breeding ground that eats into the vitals of government machinery. This can be seen in the high-profile graft cases in the last few years involving senor public officers, prompting DPM Teo Chee Hean to say that “clear, accountable and transparent” policies and procedures were necessary in tender procurement processes for government contracts.

Once corruption invades the procurement process, the contract is no longer based on best value to the community. The need to uphold ethical behaviour in contracting, both from public officials and contractors, cannot therefore be over-emphasised.

http://www.inconvenientquestions.sg/Archive/2015/8/agos-reports-no-signs-of-lapses-abetting

 

[Confuseous]

What is disconcerting is that such lapses recur with amazing regularity year after year, with the AGO lamenting that tender exercises continue to be prone to lapses. I ask myself whether such lapses are due to plain incompetence, complacency, lack of supervision, lax management of public funds or a combination of all these! The Ministry of Finance has reiterated that while robust procurement rules are in place, it is the failure of individual officers that contributes to lapses. Whatever the reasons, it is imperative that our public institutions should meet the highest standards of probity, transparency and accountability.