COMPANIES supplying essential services to Government stand a better chance to win the contracts if they include business continuity measures in their tender bids, said Coordinating Minister for National Security S. Jayakumar on Friday.
He said this recommendation has been approved in September by the Security Policy Review Committee, which he chairs.
Speaking at the National Security Seminar on Friday morning at the Singapore Management University, Prof Jayakumar, who is Deputy Prime Minister, said: 'To enhance corporate resilience in Singapore, selected Government or public agencies will consider tenderers' level of BCM-readiness as part of the procurement process.'
'This will encourage companies supplying essential services to Government to adopt BCM measures. It will also provide the government with an added level of confidence that essential services would not be disrupted.'
'In the longer term, we will look at moving towards preferring suppliers of essential services which are BCM-ready during our procurements.'
The minister said the government will also provide financial incentives to companies to encourage them to be BCM-ready. They can apply for such funds to defray the cost of BCM-certification.
'I would see BCM-certification as similar to that of the ISO 9000 - a mark of achievement which, in this case, highlights a company's value-add to customers and stakeholders because of its resilience in the face of uncertainties and threats,' said Prof Jayakumar, urging the private sector to embrace BCM as an integral component of its strategic plans. .
An inter-agency task force was set up earlier this year to formulate implementation strategies to enhance corporate resilience through adopting BCM processes.
The panel consulted the business community to ensure that its recommendations were pro-enterprise.
