SINGAPORE - How government agencies buy, contract, and pay for services during future emergencies is being reviewed, after the Auditor-General's Office (AGO) flagged lapses in spending during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Responding to the AGO's report on Wednesday (July 20), the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said it is studying how to improve such procedures in scenarios where services need to be made quickly available amid fast changing conditions.
"Drawing from the lessons learnt, MOF is reviewing our emergency procedures to provide better guidance to agencies in managing procurement, contracts and payments," MOF said, adding that the review should be completed by the end of the 2022 financial year next March.
An advisory will also soon be sent out to all agencies on good practices to adopt for future emergencies, such as better supervision and documentation of decisions.
The AGO, in its annual report, had flagged lapses in payment and assessment of costs during Covid-19 by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and the Health Promotion Board (HPB), which spent $1.51 billion in total on manpower services, accommodation facilities and meal catering from January 2020 to March 2021.
During the pandemic, government agencies had to quickly make decisions on these services, which the AGO said were mostly done using short-term direct contracts that had to be swiftly evaluated and approved.
While the AGO highlighted good practices by the agencies, it recommended that the Government look at the whole life cycle of the buying, contracting and payment of services in an emergency so agencies have better guidelines on how to manage these in the future.
It also suggested that the Government better organise its inter-agency capabilities such as finance and human resource management to better support such future efforts that involve the whole of government.
MOF said it will learn from the past three years and review how resources can be better organised across agencies to support their finance, procurement and internal audit functions. The Public Service Division – the Government’s central human resource agency – will also provide more central guidance in leading and coordinating the surge in manpower during future emergencies.
The ministry noted that while there were lapses, the AGO had concluded that MOM, SLA and HPB had in place the necessary policies and processes, and had cited good practices like MOM making an open call after the emergency eased to invite food caterers to submit quotations for migrant workers' meals, leading to a reduction in costs.
"Many good practices were maintained even in an emergency, but some lapses occurred. Efforts have been made on the recovery of overpayments, putting in place documentation to reflect decisions taken, and reviewing past transactions to ensure accuracy," MOF said.
It added that public agencies had to act quickly to shift from their pre-pandemic roles to new emergency roles in the last three years, which often involved a quick surge in their operations.
HPB, for instance, had to increase the number of its swab personnel from 650 to 5,100 within two months from May to July 2020.
"The past two years of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic were an extraordinary period for Singapore and its public officers. Despite the challenging conditions including the time criticality of some functions, public agencies and officers strove to maintain high standards of integrity, service and excellence," said MOF.
On other lapses identified by the AGO, MOF said the relevant agencies have taken steps to address those issues after identifying the causes. It will also continue to strengthen the competency of its officers and establish career paths so its talent pool does not erode.
The ministry also reiterated that it has a zero-tolerance approach to fraud and corruption and that potential offences are thoroughly investigated. Where wrongdoing is found, disciplinary actions are meted out, it said.
