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By Goh Chin Lian
A WATCHDOG body has raised concerns about 'underlying weaknesses' in the way government agencies make purchases and manage contracts with vendors, and mooted a central agency to handle procurement across the Government.
In a report focusing on financial lapses committed by various ministries and statutory boards, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) noted that the mistakes have been attributed to a poor grasp of the rules among public officers. Fcuk me, this cannot be true! We have the world's most highly paid civil service!
These men could have been unfamiliar with procurement principles, it added, or may have lacked the expertise or experience to oversee large projects. Great manpower management by civil service!
As a result, observed the oversight committee of MPs, the Government was overcharged for some purchases and projects, and could not recover the money in some cases. In other cases, tenders were awarded and bills paid even though projects did not meet the requirements. Anybody got fired? I mean transferred?
The PAC was tracking agencies' responses to financial irregularities identified by the Auditor-General's Office (AGO). It noted that procurement and contract management lapses in six ministries and their statutory boards accounted for 10 out of the AGO's 22 observations.
'Such lapses undermine the government procurement principles of open and fair competition, transparency and value for money and could erode public confidence in public sector procurement,' the watchdog said in a 19-page report submitted to Parliament yesterday.
The pointed assessment comes a year after the PAC urged the Finance Ministry to spell out a whistle-blowing policy for statutory boards. Last year's report had emerged in the wake of multimillion-dollar cheating scandals at the Singapore Land Authority and two other public agencies.
Chaired by MP Cedric Foo (Pioneer), the committee suggested that a central procurement agency could help smaller ministries and statutory boards that lacked expertise in managing large projects and procurement.
A WATCHDOG body has raised concerns about 'underlying weaknesses' in the way government agencies make purchases and manage contracts with vendors, and mooted a central agency to handle procurement across the Government.
In a report focusing on financial lapses committed by various ministries and statutory boards, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) noted that the mistakes have been attributed to a poor grasp of the rules among public officers. Fcuk me, this cannot be true! We have the world's most highly paid civil service!
These men could have been unfamiliar with procurement principles, it added, or may have lacked the expertise or experience to oversee large projects. Great manpower management by civil service!
As a result, observed the oversight committee of MPs, the Government was overcharged for some purchases and projects, and could not recover the money in some cases. In other cases, tenders were awarded and bills paid even though projects did not meet the requirements. Anybody got fired? I mean transferred?
The PAC was tracking agencies' responses to financial irregularities identified by the Auditor-General's Office (AGO). It noted that procurement and contract management lapses in six ministries and their statutory boards accounted for 10 out of the AGO's 22 observations.
'Such lapses undermine the government procurement principles of open and fair competition, transparency and value for money and could erode public confidence in public sector procurement,' the watchdog said in a 19-page report submitted to Parliament yesterday.
The pointed assessment comes a year after the PAC urged the Finance Ministry to spell out a whistle-blowing policy for statutory boards. Last year's report had emerged in the wake of multimillion-dollar cheating scandals at the Singapore Land Authority and two other public agencies.
Chaired by MP Cedric Foo (Pioneer), the committee suggested that a central procurement agency could help smaller ministries and statutory boards that lacked expertise in managing large projects and procurement.
