so who is going to answer for the 260 billion losses?
Panel finds 11 lapses at stat boards, ministries
Oversights include failure to seek bids for contract and letting six chalets go to waste
By Clarissa Oon, Senior Political Correspondent
A $26 MILLION decision by the National Heritage Board (NHB) has been called into question by a parliamentary committee.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has rejected the board's reasons for giving a $26 million contract to an existing contractor instead of putting it out for open competition.
This was among 11 lapses at ministries and statutory boards that were probed by the PAC after they were spotted by the Auditor-General, Mr Lim Soo Ping.
Another was at the Ministry of Defence (Mindef), which gave a contract to a sub-contractor that had been blacklisted by the public sector.
The PAC described these oversights in its latest annual report released yesterday.
It said the NHB's $26 million contract was for the construction of exhibition galleries at the National Museum. Two years earlier, it had given a $7.75 million contract to a company to design the galleries.
The board explained that it had given this designing company the additional $26 million worth of contract work to avoid any delay.
Calling for tenders would have delayed by eight months the December 2006 opening of the redeveloped National Museum, it said.
Also, the designer's price for the additional works was within the board's budget and very few contractors could do such specialised and complex construction, it told the PAC.
But the PAC was not convinced.
It called on the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts to do more to ensure transparency, fairness and value for money in future museum projects.
The ministry has since introduced extra checks to ensure competitive procurement for major projects such as the National Art Gallery, which is slated to open in 2013.
The PAC is made up of eight MPs, led by Mr Cedric Foo. It examines various government accounts, focusing in its latest report on omissions in procurement and property management, as well as administrative delays in the public sector.
These were first highlighted by the Auditor-General in his annual report for the financial year ended March 2008.
In the case of Mindef, the sub-contractor it used had been barred from public-sector projects because of corruption.
Mindef said its procurement agent, the Defence Science and Technology Agency, did not check the debarment status of sub-contractors as government rules did not require it.
The rules have since been tightened following discussions between the PAC and the Finance Ministry, which is in charge of procurement policies.
The PAC also took one agency to task for letting six government chalets go to seed and not leasing them out for more than 14 years.
It asked the Public Service Division (PSD) of the Prime Minister's Office to explain why these chalets were found in a dilapidated condition during the audit, and not put to productive use.
The PSD said the chalets were to have been returned to the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) to be redeveloped. However, their redevelopment was put on hold in 1998.
The PSD agreed that the chalets should have been better managed and returned them to the SLA last November.
Panel finds 11 lapses at stat boards, ministries
Oversights include failure to seek bids for contract and letting six chalets go to waste
By Clarissa Oon, Senior Political Correspondent
A $26 MILLION decision by the National Heritage Board (NHB) has been called into question by a parliamentary committee.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has rejected the board's reasons for giving a $26 million contract to an existing contractor instead of putting it out for open competition.
This was among 11 lapses at ministries and statutory boards that were probed by the PAC after they were spotted by the Auditor-General, Mr Lim Soo Ping.
Another was at the Ministry of Defence (Mindef), which gave a contract to a sub-contractor that had been blacklisted by the public sector.
The PAC described these oversights in its latest annual report released yesterday.
It said the NHB's $26 million contract was for the construction of exhibition galleries at the National Museum. Two years earlier, it had given a $7.75 million contract to a company to design the galleries.
The board explained that it had given this designing company the additional $26 million worth of contract work to avoid any delay.
Calling for tenders would have delayed by eight months the December 2006 opening of the redeveloped National Museum, it said.
Also, the designer's price for the additional works was within the board's budget and very few contractors could do such specialised and complex construction, it told the PAC.
But the PAC was not convinced.
It called on the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts to do more to ensure transparency, fairness and value for money in future museum projects.
The ministry has since introduced extra checks to ensure competitive procurement for major projects such as the National Art Gallery, which is slated to open in 2013.
The PAC is made up of eight MPs, led by Mr Cedric Foo. It examines various government accounts, focusing in its latest report on omissions in procurement and property management, as well as administrative delays in the public sector.
These were first highlighted by the Auditor-General in his annual report for the financial year ended March 2008.
In the case of Mindef, the sub-contractor it used had been barred from public-sector projects because of corruption.
Mindef said its procurement agent, the Defence Science and Technology Agency, did not check the debarment status of sub-contractors as government rules did not require it.
The rules have since been tightened following discussions between the PAC and the Finance Ministry, which is in charge of procurement policies.
The PAC also took one agency to task for letting six government chalets go to seed and not leasing them out for more than 14 years.
It asked the Public Service Division (PSD) of the Prime Minister's Office to explain why these chalets were found in a dilapidated condition during the audit, and not put to productive use.
The PSD said the chalets were to have been returned to the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) to be redeveloped. However, their redevelopment was put on hold in 1998.
The PSD agreed that the chalets should have been better managed and returned them to the SLA last November.
