SOEasy to work as ''One Government''

S$1.3B Standard ICT Operating Environment Tender Awarded to oneMeridian

By 2010, public officers will enjoy an agile infocomm environment that promotes innovation and enhances productivity at work, with the establishment of a Standard ICT Operating Environment (SOE) for the public sector. The S$1.3 billion SOE (Public Sector) tender was awarded to oneMeridian, the consortium led by EDS International. The other key members in the consortium include Alcatel-Lucent, Avanade, CISCO, Frontline, Microsoft, Singapore Computer Systems and SingTel.

The SOE will enable public officers to work together as One Government and improve overall operational efficiency in the public sector. Emphasising this outcome, Mr. Lim Hup Seng, Deputy Secretary (Performance) of the MOF said, "SOE will allow more than 60,000 public officers to enjoy a robust, connected, innovative and agile infocomm environment."

Greater Efficiency, Cost Savings, Collaboration, Mobility and Agility

SOE will consolidate infocomm services into a single environment which will allow government agencies to achieve greater efficiency in infocomm usage and cost savings. This involves harmonising desktops, messaging and network environments across all government agencies. Agencies can then fully utilise and benefit from integrated infocomm services and allocate resources optimally resulting in operational efficiency that will bring about S$500 million in cost savings to the Government. This translates to 28% over current expenditure for equivalent services.

SOE will introduce collaborative tools such as instant messaging, desktop video conferencing services and whiteboard sharing that will enable public officers to easily connect and collaborate within and across multiple agencies.

Individual public officers can also look forward to greater mobility at work as they can seamlessly access government resources from anywhere and anytime. All users will enjoy smooth and swift delivery of infocomm services, such as more regular and non-intrusive security updates. This will enable the government to respond faster to the changing infocomm environment.

SOE Tender Evaluation & The Winning Bid - oneMeridian

Commenting on the tender bids, RADM(NS) Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer of the IDA said, "We are pleased with the quality of all the proposals submitted. The proposal submitted by oneMeridian offered the most compelling infocomm solutions that fit our purpose and is the best value for money."

With SOE being the biggest government infocomm project in terms of scope, scale and value, a rigorous and thorough tender evaluation was conducted throughout the 2-stage Selective Tendering process. The 2-stage Selective Tendering consists of a Pre-Tender Qualification Stage and Tender Cum Qualification Notice Stage. In the Pre-Tender Qualification Stage, consortia were qualified based on financial strength; expertise and deployment track record; programme management; and technical competencies to deliver SOE. Subsequently, the qualified consortia were consulted on the draft SOE specifications to enable the Singapore Government to fully exploit emerging infocomm technologies and leverage on industry best practices. In the Tender Cum Qualification Notice Stage, companies that were not qualified during the pre-tender qualification stage could be considered for qualification. However, no new submissions were received.

At the close of the Tender Cum Qualification Notice Stage, four bids were submitted by the qualified consortia1. All tender bids were evaluated on technical merits before price to ensure that technical evaluation was conducted without price influence. The bids were evaluated by a multi-agency evaluation committee comprising 53 representatives from six government agencies, through a rigorous and carefully evaluated process.

SOE Implementation Timeline

SOE will be implemented in phases for a total of 74 government agencies, excluding the Ministry of Defence and its agencies which have developed their own system, and Ministry of Education (Schools) which will be building a separate system. By July 2009, the first batch of government agencies such as MCYS, MICA, MOF, PSD and IDA will enjoy the full benefits of SOE.

The tender was earlier scheduled to be awarded in Oct 2007. The evaluation took more time given its complexity. The SOE will be fully implemented on schedule by 2010. Major SOE implementation milestones have remained unchanged. Some adjustments to the timeline have been made to take into account the delay in the tender award. In particular, the transition schedule of government agencies has been adjusted to even out the implementation workload.

JOINTLY ISSUED BY INFOCOMM DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE AND MINISTRY OF FINANCE