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[h=2]AIM-PAP Saga: The Explanation that explains nothing![/h]
January 5th, 2013 |
Author: Contributions

The main issue with the sale of town council management software to a PAP owned company with a clause that gives the PAP company the right to terminate use of the software if an opposition takes over the town council is that of conflict of interest. It is equivalent to the Democratic Party selling the US Social Security computer software to a company it owns then giving the company the right to stop the Republicans from using it when it recaptures the presidency in elections. The AIM deal gives enormous power to the PAP to stop the opposition from running the town councils effectively when they are chosen by the constituents to be representatives in parliament. Therein lies the conflict of interest. The rights of the people are not protected and they are put at risk.
“Dr Teo has now confirmed that this third party, AIM, is “fully-owned” by the PAP. In other words, the PAP-managed Town Councils saw it fit to sell away their ownership of the systems, developed with public funds, to a political party, which presumably could act in its own interests when exercising its rights to terminate the contracts“. – Sylvia Lim, WP Statement
Professor Teo Ho Pin’s 26 paragraph explanation does not address this conflict of interest issue which was the main point brought up by Sylvia Lim.
I really you suggest you read his statement in full to understand what he is saying [Why the PAP town council entered into transaction with AIM]. I challenge you to find the logic in his statements that can explain that no conflict of interest has occurred.
In skirting the central issue, Teo Ho Pin’s 26 paragraphs detailing PAP’s Town Councils rationale and timeline for the sale really gives us an insight on how a PAP elite thinks and make decisions. I would like to share my thoughts as I run through his 26 paragraphs. As usual, here is a summary:
In moving custom software to a new version of operating system and Oracle database, all that is needed for total assurance is some software porting, if necessary, regression testing which can be done by NCS.
This is a strange recommendation by D&T. Post 1990s software is written for re-use. Rarely in the software industry do we see new versions of software written from scratch – it is a massive waste of money. For Town Council management software you can imagine that 80-90% of the original written code can be reused given they do the same thing year after year -day in day out . Selling the IP to a 3rd party to far below cost of development does not make sense because you sign away your right to use the old source codes. Now you pay the price of full development of new software.
According to Teo HP, D&T recommended that the “unmaintainable” software ownership be moved to a third party to own and “provide regular maintenance”. Somehow AIM, a $2 company without a permanent office is able to maintain an “unmaintainable” software. It turned out AIM did this by signing up NCS to do the maintenance. The town councils engage NCS through AIM rather than directly and that is more efficient?
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Lucky Tan
* Lucky Tan is an avid online blogger since 2005. He likes to study the thoughts of Singapore leaders and the laws of Singapore. He blogs at http://singaporemind.blogspot.com.

The main issue with the sale of town council management software to a PAP owned company with a clause that gives the PAP company the right to terminate use of the software if an opposition takes over the town council is that of conflict of interest. It is equivalent to the Democratic Party selling the US Social Security computer software to a company it owns then giving the company the right to stop the Republicans from using it when it recaptures the presidency in elections. The AIM deal gives enormous power to the PAP to stop the opposition from running the town councils effectively when they are chosen by the constituents to be representatives in parliament. Therein lies the conflict of interest. The rights of the people are not protected and they are put at risk.
“Dr Teo has now confirmed that this third party, AIM, is “fully-owned” by the PAP. In other words, the PAP-managed Town Councils saw it fit to sell away their ownership of the systems, developed with public funds, to a political party, which presumably could act in its own interests when exercising its rights to terminate the contracts“. – Sylvia Lim, WP Statement
Professor Teo Ho Pin’s 26 paragraph explanation does not address this conflict of interest issue which was the main point brought up by Sylvia Lim.
I really you suggest you read his statement in full to understand what he is saying [Why the PAP town council entered into transaction with AIM]. I challenge you to find the logic in his statements that can explain that no conflict of interest has occurred.
In skirting the central issue, Teo Ho Pin’s 26 paragraphs detailing PAP’s Town Councils rationale and timeline for the sale really gives us an insight on how a PAP elite thinks and make decisions. I would like to share my thoughts as I run through his 26 paragraphs. As usual, here is a summary:
In 2003, PAP town councils wanted to “harmonise” their computer systems and jointly called an open tender for a computer system based on a common platform.
It is strange that these systems are stove-piped and harmonisation is done on hindsight. The head of PAP town councils didn’t have the foresight to achieve cost savings and cost sharing by getting the town councils to work together?
NCS was chosen to provide this system from Aug 1, 2003 to Oct 31, 2010, with an option to extend the contract for one year.
Teo does not tell us how much NCS is paid to develop the system. This piece of information is of public interest. We would like to know how much money is spent on such a system when it is sold for $140K
In 2010, PAP town councils jointly appointed Deloitte and Touche Enterprise Risk Services (D&T) to advise on the review of the computer system.
After a comprehensive review, D&T identified various deficiencies and gaps in the system which was becoming “obsolete and unmaintainable”.
After just 7 years of use, the system is “obsolete and unmaintainable”. Let me ask you a question : How many new services did you receive from your town council in those 7 years? Town councils do the same thing year in-year out like landscaping, clearing rubbish, collecting conservancy etc but the NCS software becomes “unmaintainable”.After a comprehensive review, D&T identified various deficiencies and gaps in the system which was becoming “obsolete and unmaintainable”.
After a comprehensive review, D&T identified various deficiencies and gaps in the system. The main issue, however, was that the system was becoming obsolete and unmaintainable. It had been built in 2003, on Microsoft Windows XP and Oracle Financial 11 platforms. By 2010, Windows XP had been superseded by Windows Vista as well as Windows 7, and Oracle would soon phase out and discontinue support to its Financial 11 platform. – Teo H P.
Teo Ho Pin further elaborates on this saying D&T main finding is that Windows XP and Oracle Financial 11 platforms would be superseded. I’m quite surprise that they have to pay expensive consultants to find this out – something you can know by spending 10 minutes reading Microsoft’s and Oracle’s roadmap online. The important thing to note is when these products are superseded by new ones e.g. Windows 7, these vendors will keep their products backward compatible so that custom software written for Windows XP and older version of Oracle will still work on new versions. Companies that do not want to waste money simply stick to Windows XP (I’m sure many of you work in companies that still uses Windows XP) and older versions of Oracle so long as they get the job done and have no major issues.
In moving custom software to a new version of operating system and Oracle database, all that is needed for total assurance is some software porting, if necessary, regression testing which can be done by NCS.
D&T suggested the option of having a third party own the computer system, including the software, with the town councils paying a service fee for regular maintenance.
After serious consideration, the PAP town councils decided to call for a tender under which only the intellectual property in the old software would be sold. The ownership of the physical computer systems remained with the PAP town councils.
Teo H P says that shared ownership of IP (Intellectual Property) is “cumbersome”. Why? The PAP Town Council has been sharing the IP for 7 years before they tried to sell it off.After serious consideration, the PAP town councils decided to call for a tender under which only the intellectual property in the old software would be sold. The ownership of the physical computer systems remained with the PAP town councils.
This is a strange recommendation by D&T. Post 1990s software is written for re-use. Rarely in the software industry do we see new versions of software written from scratch – it is a massive waste of money. For Town Council management software you can imagine that 80-90% of the original written code can be reused given they do the same thing year after year -day in day out . Selling the IP to a 3rd party to far below cost of development does not make sense because you sign away your right to use the old source codes. Now you pay the price of full development of new software.
According to Teo HP, D&T recommended that the “unmaintainable” software ownership be moved to a third party to own and “provide regular maintenance”. Somehow AIM, a $2 company without a permanent office is able to maintain an “unmaintainable” software. It turned out AIM did this by signing up NCS to do the maintenance. The town councils engage NCS through AIM rather than directly and that is more efficient?
On June 30, 2010, PAP town councils advertised the tender in the Straits Times. Five companies collected the tender documents: CSC Technologies Services, Hutcabb Consulting, NCS, NEC Asia and Action Information Management (AIM).
On July 20, 2010, AIM submitted a bid which was the only one received by the town councils.
After assessing that AIM’s proposal was in the PAP town councils’ best interests, the tender was awarded to AIM.
Teo H P explained that the Town Council saved $8000 in the leaseback without the considering the loss of intellectual property with the potential of reuse in a new development. Teo does not tell us the cost of developing the original software. He does not tell us how much it pays consultants for what looks like trivial findings and simple decisions. ….but I’m still glad he took the trouble to write his 26 paragraphs. It tells us the PAP Town Councils are not very good at saving costs for residents and residents have to pay more and more each year for the same services. Reading the 26 paragraphs tells us cost cutting and keeping expenses low for residents does not seem feature in their thought processes.On July 20, 2010, AIM submitted a bid which was the only one received by the town councils.
After assessing that AIM’s proposal was in the PAP town councils’ best interests, the tender was awarded to AIM.
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Lucky Tan
* Lucky Tan is an avid online blogger since 2005. He likes to study the thoughts of Singapore leaders and the laws of Singapore. He blogs at http://singaporemind.blogspot.com.