Singapore government bulk tenders for PCs and other IT products and services look set to become history as the government takes steps to move towards a utility-based Standard ICT Operating Environment (SOE) by 2009.
The estimated contract value of the SOE is S$1.5 billion (US$915 million), and it makes up the lion"s share of the S$2.2 billion worth of IT tenders expected to be called by the government in FY2005.
Speaking at an industry briefing last week on business opportunities for IT in the public sector, Chan Yeng Kit, chief executive officer of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), said the SOE will greatly enhance the operating efficiency in government. "It will reduce the time needed to deploy new ICT services in government, improve our ability to respond to ICT security threats and most importantly, make it easier to operate and maintain our desktops and networks."
Wu Choy Peng, deputy chief executive of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore and Government Chief Information Officer, said the public sector by and large still uses different types of hardware and software. The SOE is an attempt to standardize, consolidate and aggregate IT requirements across the government sector to achieve greater economies of scale, she said.
According to IDA, the government is expected to realize at least 30 per cent net savings per year once the SOE is fully deployed.
The SOE initiative is the latest move by the government towards greater centralization in the procurement of commodity IT products and services. "In the early years, we wanted the government agencies to innovate and gave them the flexibility (to do their own procurement). But in recent years, the talk has been about demand aggregation and economies of scale," said Wu.
The scope of the SOE includes the standard desktop operating environment, standard network operating environment and standard messaging environment. "We will move from buying assets on a piecemeal basis to a utility model," said Wu.
Under the SOE, the government will procure ICT services on a per user per month basis.
The utility model is not new to the public sector and it has proven to work well in some instances, said Wu. She gave the example of the government email system which was first introduced about 10 years ago and which charges on a per user basis. The user base has grown from 30,000 subscribers to about 60,000 today.
"The utility model makes the expenditure a lot more predictable, and we do not have to worry about scaling the hardware or software."
Moving beyond this, the SOE will encompass the network layer, the operating system layer and desktop, and applications such as email and productivity suites, but will exclude servers because these are tied to applications, she said. It will involve technology and desktop refresh every two to three years.
According to Wu, one key challenge in the SOE undertaking is the scale of the deployment -- she estimates that there are between 80,000 and 90,000 desktops deployed in the public sector.
Another involves the development of a sustainable business model to operate the SOE in such a way that it is attractive to government and the service providers.
"Do you transfer assets? How do you transfer assets? What is the standard industry practice? There are asset issues and pricing issues to be addressed, as well as challenges in change management," said Wu.
An open tender for the SOE will be called this year, and service rollout is expected to begin from 2Q 2006, with the deployment taking place in two phases through 2009.
Phase 1, from 2006 to 2008, will cover ministries, departments and organs of state. Phase 2, from 2007 to 2009, will cover statutory boards and schools under the Ministry of Education.
Meanwhile, bulk tenders will continue until the asset transfer model is in place for the SOE. Bulk tenders will be called for PCs, notebooks, PDAs, printers and other accessories next month, IT audit services in June, IT applications in October, and servers and storage systems in March next year.
SIDEBAR
Other key service-wide projects up for tender in FY2005
Cyber-Watch Center
As part of the National Cyberthreat Monitoring Center, the Cyber-Watch Center initiative will cover critical government systems in its first phase and also involve the procurement of managed security services. (estimated procurement value: S$10 million)
Centrally Administered Desktop Firewall
This encompasses desktop personal firewall, desktop IDS and desktop anti-spyware with central management. (S$5 million)
Government Remote Access Infrastructure 2
Central remote access gateway to support secure access via dialup, Internet PPP roaming, GPRS and 3G. (S$4 million)
IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings
To develop and implement a central monitoring system, personnel records system and Internet and messaging system for the IMF/WB meetings to be held in September 2006.
(Central Monitoring System -- S$500,000 to less than S$1 million; Personnel Records System -- less than S$500,000; Internet and Messaging System -- less than S$500,000)
Security Health Scorecard
To develop a Security Health Scorecard for the public sector and an IT system to collect and report the security health indicators. (S$500,000 to less than S$1 million)
My.eCitizen
To develop a personalized portal that allows members of the public to subscribe to SMS and email alerts for government e-services, and to come up with a sustainable business model for operating the portal and offering value added services to subscribers. (S$500,000 to less than S$1 million)
Business Continuity Readiness Assessment Framework
To develop a Business Continuity Readiness Assessment Framework and the tools and questionnaires to conduct the assessment. (less than $500,000)