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 FY2015/2016 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 FDWS and DGS.

In 2012, the Ministry of Manpower initiated a multi-year project to redevelop our information technology (IT) systems for the processing of all work pass types comprising Employment Passes (EPs), S Passes and Work Permits covering foreign workers (FWs) and foreign domestic workers (FDWs).

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, such as letters, notices, advisories and so on, not just for FDWs but across all the work pass types. The phase 1 tender, excluding DGS, was awarded to Thoughtworks in 2014. DGS was separately awarded to National Computer Systems (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 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 FDWS alone at no additional cost to us. The custom-built solution was suitable as 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 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 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.