Singapore's Public Accounts Committee has criticised widespread procurement irregularities across government ministries, warning that public sector bodies are not sufficiently diligent in following procurement rules — despite years of effort to strengthen oversight.
In a report produced in response to audit observations in the auditor-general's financial report for 2012/13, the committee said public procurement "continued to be an area prone to lapses", identifying four recurring problems:
- Waiving competition on weak grounds
- Allowing bid alterations by certain bidders after the tender had closed
- Not disclosing evaluation criteria up front in tender documents
- Not evaluating tenders properly
The committee said it was concerned that, even with efforts over the last few years to enhance procurement rules and procedures across the public sector, "there were indications that some public sector entities were not sufficiently diligent in ensuring compliance with procurement rules."
Ministries and bodies criticised
The report highlighted problems in five ministries and the National Research Foundation of the Prime Minister's Office. The committee sought written explanations from the bodies concerned.
Among the projects singled out for criticism was a tender by the Republic Polytechnic (RP) for the supply and management of support officers, worth $9.42 million (£4.49 million). The tender evaluation committee had "justified that the awarded tenderer's prices were 'fairly reasonable' although the price for the major cost component was three times higher than that of the other shortlisted tenderer."
In response, the Ministry of Education acknowledged that RP could have exercised greater diligence and care, and that "the tender approving authority had not critically questioned the basis of the recommendation".
Purchases split to avoid scrutiny
The committee found 46 instances of small value purchases totalling $112,400 (£53,686) made by the Public Utilities Board (PUB) that "appeared to have been split from 13 higher value purchases to avoid calling open quotations". In response, the PUB tightened controls and introduced quarterly reviews and procurement training.
The committee noted that "laxity in oversight and monitoring of outsourced projects by a few public sector agencies had resulted in overpayment to contractors and irregularities in tendering processes".
URA parking contract extended despite poor performance
This included the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) $10.38 million (£4.96 million) deal with a contractor to manage car parking, which was extended twice despite "surprise field audits showing high absenteeism rates of the patrolling officers of between 70 and 80 per cent since 2010". In response, the URA said it had "implemented several key measures" to "prevent patrolling officers from straying out of their assigned cluster of car parks".
Human factors at the root
In a statement quoting the committee's report, the Ministry of Information said: "The committee observed that a significant proportion of procurement lapses was due to human factors and not the lack of rules and procedures. The committee would like to emphasise the importance of public officers having the right values, attitudes, skills and expertise to prevent lapses and fraud."
The findings echo concerns that are far from unique to Singapore. Across the UK public sector, procurement irregularities including inadequate competition, undisclosed evaluation criteria and contract splitting have been documented in National Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee reports for decades. Strong procurement rules matter only when the people applying them are motivated and equipped to follow them.