Singapore companies eye e-Gov projects

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• Over US$1 billion in ICT opportunities from international organisation-funded projects
• IE Singapore organises inaugural e-Government sharing session with the World Bank in Washington

MR No.: 052a/09
1 October 2009

A study showed that there are about US$1.1 billion worth of potential Infocomm Technology (ICT) opportunities from about 100 projects funded by international organisations (IORGs), with the World Bank (WB) as the major source. Commissioned by International Enterprise (IE) Singapore and conducted by Development Finance International, the findings came from a research study to identify the current addressable ICT market from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and African Development Bank[2]. Singapore’s ICT players will be looking to capture some of the US$1.1 billion IORG-funded projects, especially in the e-Government (e-Gov) area, where Singapore is a renowned leader.

Singapore’s proximity to Southeast Asian countries places it in a strong position to bid for projects in this region. The study focused on the Southeast Asia market and showed that there was a potential US$582 million worth of ICT projects within Southeast Asia. For other regions beyond Southeast Asia, the study showed that the prominent addressable ICT projects were: i) the Middle East & North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa – at least US$220 million; ii) Asia – at least US$115 million; iii) Latin America – at least US$113 million; and iv) Europe & Central Asia – at least US$54 million.

Of this US$1.1 billion amount, e-Gov-related projects made up the majority, accounting for 98%. The categories of e-Gov projects include administration, education and finance, health and municipal services, etc.

Singapore ICT Day @ The World Bank

Valuing the partnership with IORGs such as the WB, IE Singapore continues its efforts to work with the WB through an inaugural Singapore ICT Day @ The World Bank in Washington (held on the morning of 30 September 2009, Washington time) to share Singapore’s experience in e-Gov adoption, and how these solutions can be replicated or customised for the WB’s member countries as they develop their e-infrastructure. About 50 WB senior officials, WB’s partners and clients (including foreign government officials from Ghana, Moldova, Russia, Tanzania, Ukraine and more) attended this first-of-its-kind workshop at the actual event or through webcast.

The workshop was themed “The Singapore Experience: Ingredients for Successful Nationwide e-Transformation”. Six Singapore-based companies that participated in the workshop were Crimsonlogic Pte Ltd, IDA International Pte Ltd, Infotech Global Pte Ltd, NCS Pte Ltd, novaCITYNETS Pte Ltd and Web Synergies Pte Ltd.

Said Mr Yew Sung Pei, Assistant Chief Executive Officer, IE Singapore, “e-Government is one area Singapore-based companies can effectively share with developing countries as we have accumulated much relevant experience and expertise through adopting and implementing it for the country. One source of such projects is international organisations like the World Bank who offer much project funding in their efforts to help develop their member countries. We hope to kick-start similar industry specific sessions for other sectors and with other international organisations following this inaugural workshop, to allow Singapore-based companies the opportunity to showcase their capabilities to key decision makers in international organisations.”

“Information and communication technologies can fundamentally transform governments. e-Government applications can increase the efficiency of the public sector; improve transparency and governance; enhance efficiency and reduce costs of government services such as business permits and family records; and help extend the delivery of public services such as health and education to the population at large,” said Mr Mohsen Khalil, World Bank Group Director for Information and Communication Technologies. “The World Bank Group is partnering with governments and the private sector to help countries around the world in the design and implementation of appropriate policy frameworks and models for e-Government applications, and to facilitate learning from the success stories and experiences of countries such as Singapore, a leader in this field.”

Singapore’s e-Gov journey

Topics shared by the companies during included the role of ICT in Singapore’s public sector transformation, Singapore’s 30 years of e-Gov journey, and the concept of Public Services Infrastructure for effective deployment of government services (please refer to Annex 1 for the programme and synopsis). In particular, the close public-private collaboration was highlighted as playing a pivotal role in the success of Singapore’s e-Gov adoption. Today, 1,600 services are readily available over the Internet. Examples include income tax e-filing, the Online Business Licensing Service, SingPass, which allows a comprehensive suite of online services to be easily accessible by citizens and residents with one password linked to their identity card number, the electronic road pricing system, TradeNet, the world’s first nationwide electronic trade documentation system and more.

Singapore’s e-Gov companies’ strengths lie in their ability to design, develop and re-engineer e-Gov solutions to enable the seamless delivery of services to the public, as well as integration across functions.

Singapore has since earned several firsts in the global e-Gov sphere, including first place ranking in the World Bank Report on Ease Of Doing Business 2010; the 2009 Waseda University International e-Government Rankings; the Accenture Annual e-Government Ranking 2007; and the annual World Economic Forum’s Networked Readiness Index from 2002 – 2006.

Examples of e-Gov / public infrastructure projects overseas

10. Ecquaria Technologies’ Qatar Service Platform (QSP) took off in February 2008 with the successful pilot launch of seven e-services with Qatar’s Ministry of Economy and Commerce to facilitate business registration and establishment in the country.

In May this year, Singapore Technologies Electronics Ltd (ST Electronics) was awarded contracts by the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA), Bangladesh, to supply, install, test and commission a Container Terminal Management System (CTMS) and a Management Information System (MIS). This is the first Terminal Operations solution that ST Electronics is undertaking. Work is expected to be completed by December 2010.

NCS has worked with the WB to assess and identify strategic e-Gov services for Pakistan in 2007. Earlier on in 2003, NCS worked with the Sri Lankan government to prepare an e-Gov blueprint sponsored by the WB.