Defence procurement, like any other public sector procurement, is governed by the Government’s Instruction Manual on Procurement which is premised on the principles of transparency, fairness and value for money. For more details, click here
and here.
TRANSPARENCY
Suppliers are engaged through an open and transparent tender system. Procurement opportunities exceeding S$6,000 are published in the GeBIZ portal, which also provides information on the schedule of bids and tender awards. Requirements, evaluation criteria and procedures are communicated clearly in the tender documents.
FAIRNESS
We believe that open and fair competition, besides drawing out the best offers, is the best safeguard against anti-competitive behaviour and restrictive business practices. As such, we offer equitable access to procurement opportunities to all suppliers. We do not accord preferential treatment to any supplier or country.
VALUE FOR MONEY
We strive to achieve value for money throughout the procurement process, from requirement definition, to formulation of sourcing strategy, contract design, contract management and finally, in disposal of assets, to fulfill our responsibility as prudent stewards of defence resources.
CODE OF CONDUCT
All public officers are governed by a clear code of conduct and discipline which prohibits any conflict of interest between the officers’ public duties and their activities outside these official duties.
In any procurement, any officer who is vested with the power to be an approving authority is required to declare any potential conflict of interest and, if necessary, recuse himself or herself from the procurement process.
Public officers must not receive any donation, gift or any other benefit (monetary or goods in kind), offered to them from the public and suppliers.
ANTI-CORRUPTION POLICY
DSTA, like MINDEF, is committed to upholding Singapore’s reputation as a clean, honest and trustworthy country, and one which maintains the highest levels of integrity and incorruptibility. For more details click here.
Operating under Singapore’s anti-corruption framework, DSTA also adopts a zero-tolerance policy towards bribery and corruption. All suspected cases of bribery or corruption will be referred to the CPIB for investigation. Staff who have been convicted of bribery or corruption will be discharged from service in addition to facing punishment meted out by the courts.
Personnel in positions to influence contract awards are regularly rotated after reasonable timeframes and subjected to security vetting. All personnel have to declare their financial status annually in accordance with Government policy.
Suppliers and persons that are convicted in corruption cases in connection with a Government agency or contract will also be debarred from any new tenders or contracts with the entire Government and will be fined, jailed or both. The Government also has zero tolerance for bid rigging, collusion and other anti-competitive behaviour and practices. Suppliers that rigged bids in connection with a Government tender and are found to have infringed the Competition Act will be barred from participation in Government tenders.
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FEEDBACK AND COMPLAINTS
The public and suppliers may provide feedback through the various channels below. All feedback is treated in confidence, with the identity of informers protected under the Prevention of Corruption Act (Cap. 241). Legitimate complaints will not prejudice suppliers’ future or ongoing involvement in tenders and contracts.
SYSTEM OF AUDITS
A comprehensive system of internal and external audits is in place to ensure the adequacy and effectiveness of risk management, control and governance processes in DSTA. Regular audits are conducted by the respective Internal Audit Departments and the Auditor-General's Office or AGO.
THE PROCUREMENT PROCESS
SOURCING
Open competitive sourcing through invitation to quote (ITQ) or invitation to tender (ITT) is the default means of procurement.
Direct sourcing or competitive sourcing by invitation is adopted in exceptional circumstances. These include for instance, procurement of highly specialised and advanced products or services where sources are limited, or where open competition is not appropriate for security reasons.
As part of the sourcing process, DSTA may conduct Request for Information (RFI) exercises or market surveys through GeBIZ, where interested suppliers are invited to submit product and pricing information. Such RFIs in themselves may not result in any subsequent sourcing or contract award as they are conducted for other specified purposes including identification of potential suppliers and assessment of market conditions (such as product availability, market readiness and competitiveness).
EVALUATION AND APPROVAL
Evaluation is carried out in a fair and objective manner, in accordance with the principles of Government procurement. Every proposal is evaluated on its technical merits, contractual compliance and cost.
Major defence acquisitions are subject to an evaluation system based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process. This involves a comprehensive scoring and a robust technical assessment. To ensure that the technical assessment is not influenced by the price, a two-envelope system is used, with the pricing information released to the evaluation team only after the benefits assessment is completed.
As a policy, MINDEF does not require offsets, export credit financing or any other forms of financing arrangements.
Procurements above $90,000 in value must be approved by a tenders' board comprising a minimum of three senior officers.
CONTRACTS
The awarded procurement contract must first be made by the parties in accordance with the Government Contracts Act (Cap. 118). The Singapore Government is not bound by a contract which does not conform to the requirements set out in this Act. The awarded procurement contract, and the performance of the parties’ respective obligations thereunder, is governed by the private law of obligations, as would be the case with an ordinary commercial contract.
A written procurement contract made in Singapore for the Government would have to "be made in the name of the Government and may be signed by a Minister or by any public officer duly authorised in writing by the Minister for Finance, either specially in any particular case, or generally for all contracts below a certain value in his Ministry or department": section 2(1) of the Government Contracts Act.
Read more on: List of public officers authorised to sign contracts
SALES, DISPOSALS AND REVENUE CONTRACTING
DSTA also manages the procurement of disposal services and the sales of redundant or retired assets for MINDEF and the SAF. Similar to the procurement of goods and services, there is a structured process involving segregation of duties, designated approval authorities and proper documentation for accountability and audit trail. The default approach for sales is open sourcing, with direct or competitive sourcing by invitation permitted only under exceptional circumstances.