Forum Replies

We would like to thank Mr William Claxton for his feedback on GeBIZ and the e-invoicing system in his letter 'Automation a myth' (Straits Times, Jun 12).

The government procurement system, GeBIZ has been a convenient platform for all vendors who wish to transact with government agencies. Continuous improvements wherever cost-effective have been made to the system in response to feedback from the users. Further improvements to include alerts as suggested by Mr Claxton are currently being worked on for implementation.

The e-invoicing system (Vendors@Gov) was introduced to enable government vendors to access a single location to invoice all government agencies. We have been rolling this out since 2008. Various Ministries, government schools and selected Statutory Boards, such as the Land Transport Authority (LTA), Housing Development Board (HDB), Central Provident Fund Board (CPFB) whose combined invoices make up 80% of transactions have already implemented a fully-automated workflow at the back-end, with automated acknowledgement to confirm receipt of e-invoices. The Accountant-General's Department (AGD) is working closely with the remaining government agencies to progressively link up their financial systems to enable these functionalities.

The Singapore Government has systematically and consistently invested in infocomm technology to improve operational efficiency and enhance service delivery to the public and businesses. These improvements have helped Singapore maintain its high rating on most international surveys on the ease of doing business. In addition, most users of government e-services have given positive assessments of their experiences. Nonetheless, there is still much to do and we will continue to strive for further improvements and integration of our services.

In this respect, we welcome feedback and ideas to meet the demands of our customers.

CHIN SAU HO DIRECTOR
(CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS AND SERVICES)
MINISTRY OF FINANCE