Riding on the momentum of the Digital
Government Blueprint launched earlier this week, the Singapore Government
announced that it is partnering the industry to accelerate the delivery of
end-to-end digital services to benefit citizens, businesses and public officers.
The announcement was made at GovTech’s annual Smart
Nation & Digital Government Industry Briefing on 7 June, which
was attended by around 1,000 attendees from industry, academia and public
agencies.
Investment in ICT
projects in FY18
It was announced that The Singapore Government is taking
steps to implement the Digital Government Blueprint and will be investing in a
wide range of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) projects in FY18.
The Government will partner the industry across technology
domains such as communications infrastructure, data analytics, robotics and
cybersecurity to harness the transformative power of technology to improve the
lives of citizens, and competitiveness of businesses.
The
Government’s digitalisation effort highlights more opportunities for Small and
Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Last year, SMEs accounted for almost two-thirds of
the total number of ICT contracts awarded by the Government. The trend is expected to continue in the FY18
procurement tenders.
For example, through the Innoleap programme, research
institutes, institutes of higher learning and commercial entities can work with
public sector agencies to solve real-world problems. Another opportunity for
companies to help build a digital government through participating on the
Ideas! portal, a Whole-of-Government crowdsourcing platform for agencies to
collaborate with the tech community and the public to solve their challenges.
“We are excited by the many opportunities to collaborate
with the industry, and are currently engaged on many project discussions with
them. We look forward to working with the industry in using technology to
improve the lives of citizens, serve businesses better, and provide effective
and convenient public services,” said Mr Kok Ping Soon, Chief Executive of
GovTech.
At the same time, the Singapore Government is looking at
reducing the number of touchpoints with different Government agencies in the
licensing process. This is done so through mapping the customer journey and
transforming business processes. To start with, the Government aims to deliver
a digital service that will reduce the time taken and licence fee which companies
have to pay to start a food business.
Moments of Life –
Families mobile app
As outlined in the Digital Government Blueprint, citizens,
businesses and public officers can expect more integrated, easy to use and
seamless digital services organised around their needs.
An example of a user-friendly and seamless services to the
public is the Moments of Life (MOL) – Families mobile application to help
families with children aged six and below. Scheduled to launch in June, the
application seeks to help these families navigate key services such as
searching for preschool and accessing their child’s medical appointments and
immunisation records.
As reported
earlier, the MOL initiative is one of the five strategic projects
under the Smart
Nation Strategic National Projects. It is aimed at providing
personalised and pro-active support to citizens at key junctures of their
lives. By bundling relevant government services across different agencies to
the citizens at key moments of their lives, the need for them to transact
separately with multiple government agencies will be reduced.
This MOL approach of delivering integrated services and
information will be progressively expanded to other key moments of life.
Transforming
government services delivery
The delivery of integrated services is made possible through
the development of common digital and data platforms. The Singapore Government is building key
enabling platforms to transform government services delivery.
For example, the National Digital Identity (NDI) project
will provide a single digital identity for citizens and businesses to transact
with the Government securely and seamlessly. The NDI will also enable digital
signing to allow businesses to process documents more efficiently and securely.
As part of the NDI, the new SingPass Mobile app will be launched in the second
half of this year.
As reported
earlier in March, the NDI System is planned to be operational in
2020, with progressive trials for digital signatures to facilitate paperless
transactions. GovTech will work with the private sector to drive widespread
adoption and develop more value-added services that build on the NDI, such as
signing of digital agreements, for increased productivity and reduced business
costs.
To help government agencies speed up the development of
digital services, GovTech is building the Singapore
Government Technology Stack (SG Tech Stack). The SG Tech Stack is a
self-service platform for agencies to build their digital applications faster
and create a more consistent and connected user experience.
At the same time, public officers will be able to work in a
more digitally-enabled workplace through the Digital Workplace (DWP) programme.
With the DWP Mobile app, public officers will be able to access corporate
digital services on the go, such as booking meeting rooms and car park lots. In
addition, they can synchronise and view their work calendars on personal
smartphones and related devices through CalSync. These DWP solutions will be
available to officers of agencies that subscribe to them and more tools will be
rolled out to enhance the productivity of public officers.