Government’s FY22 ICT spending to hold steady, close to $4 billion

Government’s FY22 ICT spending remains steady at $3.8 billion

• Spending on application systems using Artificial Intelligence (AI), sensors and data science doubles to $2 billion;

• $1 billion for application systems on Government Commercial Cloud

• More systems will be co-developed with industry

The Government will spend up to an estimated $3.8 billion on info-communications technology (ICT) procurement this year, as it continues to re-engineer government digital infrastructure and build better digital services for citizens, businesses and public officers[1].

In total, the Government has invested about $12.6 billion in ICT over the last four years. These investments have laid a firm foundation of common infrastructure and platforms for the Government to work more closely with industry to deliver better digital services and generate greater value for the digital economy.

More projects utilising AI, Sensors & Data Science

Almost 70 per cent ($2.6 billion) of the Government’s projected FY22 ICT spending will go towards application development – to build new applications and upgrade existing ones. The value of projects adopting emerging technologies such as machine learning, sensors and the Internet of Things (IoT), and data science will more than double from $0.79 billion in FY21 to $2 billion in FY22, as the Government looks to harness the potential of such technologies to a greater degree.

The Judiciary is exploring the use of automated speech-to-text audio services to improve the transcription process for judicial proceedings. Transcription is currently carried out manually by human operators, and such an audio service could potentially complement the work of transcribers in some cases.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) is working with the Government Technology Agency (GovTech) to implement the Smart Facility Management (FM) system in all schools to improve energy and water efficiency. When ready, this system will be able to monitor utility consumption, increase labour productivity by automating facilities management processes, as well as collect data for improving maintenance.

More systems to be developed on Government Commercial Cloud

Since the announcement of the “Cloud First” Strategy in October 2018, about 55 per cent of eligible government systems have been migrated to the Government Commercial Cloud (GCC), putting the 2023 goal of 70 per cent within reach. Deploying applications on GCC has helped the Government’s ICT infrastructure become more agile and resilient, and accrued average cost savings of between 30 and 40 per cent for each system migrated to the cloud. The Government has spent more than $200 million since 2018 to build up cloud infrastructure and capabilities. In FY22, about $1 billion in procurement opportunities has been set aside for projects that will be developed on the cloud.

More collaboration opportunities with industry

The proportion of projects co-developed with industry has increased from about 11 per cent in FY2020 to 20 per cent in FY2021. This is projected to increase further to about 27 per cent ($1.04 billion) in FY22. Bulk tenders[2] have facilitated closer collaboration with industry partners, who have become familiar with the Government’s common platforms and can work alongside government developers to build applications efficiently.

For projects that are outsourced, we expect an increased proportion will be built on and utilise the Singapore Government Technology Stack (SGTS) to streamline and simplify the development process and enable code reuse across public agencies (see Annex A for details on SGTS).

SMEs to benefit from procurement opportunities

Opportunities for Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) remain plentiful, contributing close to 80 per cent of all potential procurement opportunities for FY2022. GovTech continues to engage our vendors through organising sessions to share about our processes and tools and encourage co-development. GovTech also regularly shares the Government’s demand forecast with vendors awarded tenders, so they can plan their resources and build capabilities in areas which are relevant for upcoming projects.

Technical assessment requirements for ICT tenders

The Government will progressively include the requirement for technical assessments in ICT tenders as part of the evaluation process. These assessments can take the form of coding tests and scenario-based tasks to provide an objective framework to assess the capabilities of vendors’ technical teams. Currently, the assessment of vendors’ capabilities is based on CVs and relevant professional certifications, which may not objectively reflect the competency of teams involved. Technical assessments will be tagged to individuals and not companies and will have a validity period of three years.

Mr Kok Ping Soon, Chief Executive, GovTech, said: “Our past ICT investments have laid a strong foundation for the future. Since the launch of the Digital Government Blueprint in 2018, the Government has succeeded in building platforms and products that have improved service delivery and benefited citizens and businesses, such as Singpass and GoBusiness. As GovTech looks towards charting the next bound of digital government for Singapore, we are excited to invite our partners to come onboard and realise this vision together.”

ISSUED BY THE COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING GROUP
GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY AGENCY OF SINGAPORE

[1] Spending has remained at a similar level to FY21, when projected ICT spending was also $3.8 billion. In FY20, the estimated sum was $3.5 billion.
[2] Bulk tenders aggregate demand for ICT needs common across the Government such as data science and application development.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Joycelyn Chan (Ms)
Communications & Marketing Group
Government Technology Agency
Tel: 9088 0733
Email: Joycelyn_Chan@tech.gov.sg

Lester Wong (Mr)
Communications & Marketing Group
Government Technology Agency
Tel: 9190 5932
Email: lester_wong@tech.gov.sg