Ministry's Purchase of Document Generator System and Efforts to Integrate System with Existing Platforms

Mr Png Eng Huat asked the Minister for Manpower with regard to the Report of the Auditor-General for FY15/16 on the Ministry's purchase of a Document Generator System (DGS) (a) whether there is a provision made for the integration of a DGS in the original specifications for the $27.49 million Foreign Domestic Worker System (FDWS); (b) who advised the Ministry to procure the additional DGS at a cost of $432,407; and (c) who are the suppliers of the FDWS and DGS.

Mr Lim Swee Say: In 2012, MOM initiated a multi-year project to redevelop our IT systems for the processing of all work pass types comprising EPs, S Passes and Work Permits (covering FW and FDW).

We called a tender in 2013 for phase 1 of the project covering the FDW system (FDWS). The scope included a common document generator system (DGS) to handle the high volume of correspondences (letters, notices, advisories etc) not just for FDWs but across all the work pass types. The phase 1 tender, excluding the DGS, was awarded to Thoughtworks in 2014. The DGS was separately awarded to NCS as NCS had proposed a software product that was more scalable and hence could be used by the entire work pass IT system for all the work pass types.

However, as the project progressed, we discovered that more time was needed to fully integrate the common DGS with the FDWS. This would potentially delay the launch of FDWS and consequently incur additional cost as we would have to extend the use of the existing IT system. Hence, on balance, we decided to adopt a custom-built solution offered by Thoughtworks for the FDWS alone at no additional cost to us. The custom-built solution was suitable as the FDWS has a lower volume of correspondences. FDWS went live starting from December 2014 with the full launch in December 2015.

Although the common DGS was not used for the FDWS, we will be using it in the subsequent phases of the IT redevelopment. It will be used to handle the higher volume of correspondences for the EPs, S Passes and other Work Permits as originally intended. Hence, the common DGS procured in phase 1 of the project will be put to good use in subsequent phases of the project which will start in 2017.