RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE GPA/W/10
5March 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-0781)
Committee onGovernment Procurement Original: English
APPLICATION FOR ACCESSION BYSINGAPORE
Description oftheGovernment Procurement Regime inSingapore1
Thefollowing communication hasbeenreceived from thedelegation ofSingapore withthe
request thatitbecirculated totheParties totheAgreement onGovernment Procurement (1994).
1Thisnotewasearlier distributed asaninformal document, dated 26February 1996.GPA/W/10
Page2
BRIEF WRITE-UP ONTHE GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT
REGIME INSINGAPORE
1. Economy-wide Information
1.1 Thegovernment procurement activities inSingapore areundertaken bytheGovernment
Ministries andDepartments, aswellasStatutory Boards.
1.2 Asacitystate, Singapore doesnothavesub-central government entities.
1.3 Withtheclosure oftheCentral Procurement Office from1May1995, thecentralized
purchasing ofaverylimited number ofproducts suchaspaper, riceisnowunder the
responsibility oftheExpenditure Policies UnitoftheMinistry ofFinance (Budget
Division). Asfortheremaining items which constitute thebulk ofgovernment
purchasing activities, theyaredecentralized toindividual Ministries, Departments or
Statutory Boards, whowillmake theirownarrangements. There isnovalue limitfor
eachpurchase/contract. However, allthegovernment procuring entities havetoadhere
tocentral policies andguidelines issued bytheMinistry ofFinance (Budget Division).
1.4 Ingeneral, nofixed procurement schedules aredrawn upbytheprocuring entities;
instead theprocurement isperformed asandwhen required.
1.5 Asexplained inparagraph 1.3above, thebulkofgovernment purchasing activities
havebeendecentralized toindividual Ministries, Departments orStatutory Boards.
However, there areseveral central government procurement functions which are
performed bythefollowing entities:
(a) Ministry ofFinance (Budget Division)
- Formulate thegovernment procurement policies andguidelines which
need tobecomplied with byalltheGovernment Ministries and
Departments aswellasStatutory Boards.
(b) Expenditure Policies UnitoftheMinistry ofFinance (Budget Division)
- Perform centralized purchasing ofaverylimited number ofproducts
suchaspaper andriceforMinistries andDepartments.
- Registerthesuppliersforgovernmentprocurementinrespectofgeneral
goods andservices.
(c) Pharmaceutical Department oftheMinistry ofHealth
- Perform centralized purchasing ofpharmaceutical products for
Ministries, Departments andStatutory Boards.
- Register thesuppliers forgovernment procurement inrespect of
pharmaceutical products.GPA/W/10
Page3
(d) Construction Industry Development Board
- Register thesuppliers forgovernment procurement inrespect of
construction services.
2. General Procurement Policies andPractices
2.1 Outline ofeconomy-wide procurement policies
(a) TheSingapore Government adopts thefundamental principles offairness,
openness andcompetitiveness foritsgovernment procurement policies.
(b) Allthegovernment procuring entities ofSingapore arerequired tofollow the
central policies andguidelines issued bytheMinistry ofFinance (Budget
Division).
(c) Ingeneral, Singapore hasnospecial government procurement programmes
toachieve specific social andeconomic objectives suchasassistance toSMEs,
disadvantaged regions, ortosupport specific industry sectors orinfant industry.
2.2 Outline ofprocurement policies andpractices
(a) Government procurement procedures inSingapore arebased onatendering
system. Tenders areinvited byusing theopen, selective orlimited tendering
procedures.
(b) Open procedures areusedforalltenders exceeding S$30,000. Anopentender
requires thatthetender begiven thewidest possible circulation toattract the
largest number oftenderers. Thisisdonebyadvertising thetenders inthelocal
orinternational press. Publishing intheGovernment Gazette maybedoneif
itisadvantageous todoso.These advertisements willprovide theminimum
information necessary forfirms toknow whatisrequired, overwhatperiod,
andwhether theissue oftenders isrestricted toregistered suppliers under
specific Supply and/or Financial categories. Advertisements willasktenderers
toapply totheprocuring entities fortender forms. English isthepreferred
language inwhich thenotices appear.
Thefollowing details areincluded inatypical tender notice: name ofprocuring
entity, description ofproducts/services/construction services tobeprocured,
tender opening andclosing dates, conditions ofparticipation, instruction on
payment andcollection oftender documents.
Selective tendering isnormally conducted foralltenders under S$30,000. It
isalsousedinexceptional cases where theproject isconfidential orsensitive.
Insuchinstances, invitations totender aresenttoselected firms.
Limited tendering isusedincases involving purchase ofspecialized systems
andequipment from solesuppliers. Itisalsousedincases ofemergency or
when itismanifestly inthepublic interest. Thecircumstances andreasons for
granting suchwaivers areendorsed bythePermanent Secretary andsubmitted
forapproval totheTenders Board.GPA/W/10
Page4
Ontheaverage, opencompetition accounts forabout 85percentofthetotal
number oftenders called orabout 60percentofthevalue oftenders, when
excluding defence procurement contracts.
(c) When drawing outthetender specifications, theprocuring entities arerequired
tousefunctional specifications wherever possible without specifying brand
names. They alsoneedtoensure thatnopreference isgiven toanytenderer.
(d) Theminimum period oftender notice (i.e.thenumber ofdaysfrominvitation
toclosing oftender) forcontracts which areadvertised locally isnotlessthan
3or8weeks forconventional anddesign-and-build projects respectively. And
ifthecontracts areadvertised bothlocally andoverseas, thentheminimum
period isnotlessthan12weeks.
(e) Alllocalandforeign suppliers interested inparticipating inSingapore ’spublic
sector tenders arerequired toregister asgovernment contractors under the
appropriate Supply andFinancial categories withtheExpenditure Policies Unit,
Pharmaceutical Department orConstruction Industry Development Board.
Companies orfirms seeking registration willhavetheirbackground, finances
andability toprovide asatisfactory service checked bytheregistration
authorities, andarerequired topayanon-refundable registration fee.
Non-registered firms could beallowed toparticipate onlyintenders for
non-recurring goods, services orworks where local expertise islacking, or
incases where thelocalcontractors areunable toexecute theircontracts, or
areunable toreach acertain highstandard.
(f) Arotating listofsuppliers isgenerally notusedexcept forprofessional services
suchasauditing andlegalservices.
(g) Tenders areawarded tothelowest bidmeeting tender specification infull.
Successful tenders arenotified upon approval bytheTenders Board.
(h) Asuccessful tenderer willberequired togiveasecurity deposit forsupply
ofgoods, services orworks which aretobecontracted foroveraperiod. The
security deposit canbepaidintheform ofacheque, banker 'sguarantee,
insurer 'sguarantee, oraguarantee from afinance company. Thesecurity
deposit should be5percentoftheestimated value ofthetendered goods,
services orworks. When thecontract expires, thesecurity deposit orany
balance duetothecontractor should berefunded inaccordance withtheterms
ofthecontract.
(i) Singapore does notgive specific preferences todomestic suppliers in
government procurement except forlocal contractors withconsistent good
performance ingovernment construction works.
(j) Singapore doesnotmaintain anylocal-content schemes andtherearenopolicies
toencourage theuseofdomestic inputs, eveninthecontext ofgovernment
procurement.
(k) There isnopreference forsmall- andmedium-size enterprises ingovernment
procurement ofSingapore.GPA/W/10
Page5
(l) Within theframework oftheASEAN Preferential Trading Arrangements,
ASEANcountriesaccordeachotherapreferentialmarginof2.5percent,which
should notexceed US$40,000 worth ofpreferences pertender, inrespect of
international tenders forgovernment procurement ofgoods andauxiliary
services fromuntied loans. Thepreferential margin should beapplied onthe
basisofthelowest evaluated andacceptable tender (Article 7oftheAgreement
onASEAN Preferential Trading Arrangements).
(m) TheMinistryofFinance(BudgetDivision)investigatescomplaints/appealsfrom
thesuppliers andinitiates anyremedy action ifthisisdeemed necessary.
3. Laws andRegulations Related toGovernment Procurement
Currently, there isonlyonelawwhich isrelated togovernment procurement. Itisthe
Government Contracts Act(Chapter 118)which provides alistofpublic officers whocanexecute and
signcontracts onbehalf oftheGovernment.
Therearenolegislationorregulationsthatgiveexemptiontothenormalgovernmentprocurement
practices.