Public procurement rules overhauled to discourage fraud

New system will discourage single bids and lengthen bid submissions.

The Ministry of Finance will enhance the rules on handling of single bids, said the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance  (MOF) Tharman Shanmugaratnam  in address to parliament.

"Over the past three years, procurements that attracted single bidders accounted for about 2% of the total value of contracts awarded each year. Most of these procurements were quotations of below $70,000 in value each. A number of tenders above $70,000 in value also attracted single bids despite an average tender opening period of 20 days," he said.

"There are practical reasons why we should not prevent contracts from being awarded in such cases. But we will tighten approval procedures and ensure that quotations are kept open long enough to encourage potential suppliers to take part," he added.

The Minister of Finance also said that for procurements where only a single bid is received, MOF will require the officers responsible to provide additional justifications to the Approving Authority within each agency, setting out why they consider the single bid competitive or reflective of market prices, before a decision is made to award the contract. Depending on size of their procurements and the risks involved, individual agencies may decide on other enhancements to the approval process where there is a single bid.

"We will also extend the minimum opening period for suppliers to submit bids for quotations (i.e. for government contracts of between $3,000 and $70,000 in value), from the current requirement of four working days to seven working days," he said.

"This again is a matter of balance - we want to give suppliers a full chance to participate, but not extend the opening period for these lower value contracts to a point where it slows down the routine functioning of Government. Where there are exigencies which require a shorter opening period, the approval of a Director (or equivalent) may be sought," he added.

"For larger procurements, which are handled by tenders, the minimum opening period is already set at 14 calendar days (or 25 calendar days if the tender is covered under Singapore’s international trade agreements). In practice, many tenders are open for longer than the minimum period," he said further.