Quality Service With a Heart

20 Apr 2022

Beyond delivering advanced tech solutions, our technologists as well as our procurement specialists are just as committed and dedicated when it comes to providing quality service!

In recognition of their outstanding contributions towards service excellence, an individual and two teams from DSTA received MINDEF Star Service Awards at MINDEF’s Quality Service Day held on 13 April 2022.

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Director (Policy & Transformation) Christine Zhuo

Director (Policy & Transformation) Christine Zhuo from Procurement Programme Centre received the MINDEF Star Service Award (Leader) for her exemplary leadership in leading and transforming her team to deliver excellent service.

Christine has played a pivotal role in transforming procurement standards in support of MINDEF and the SAF over the years. In particular, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she led her team in providing emergency procurement efforts to meet urgent requirements from the whole of government (WOG), MINDEF, the SAF and DSTA. Christine has also contributed significantly to the Procurement Training Programme jointly organised by DSTA and the Singapore University of Social Sciences, as well as the development of the Next Generation Procurement System which facilitates smart procurement for all government agencies.

“In DSTA, it is never about the individual – it is always about teamwork. Through great team spirit, determination and perseverance, we were able to achieve our desired outcomes, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been with me throughout this journey,” she said.

Two other teams received the MINDEF Star Service Initiative Award, which recognises exemplary initiatives that have demonstrated citizen-centricity, service innovativeness and a total organisational approach to service delivery.

One of them was the EzFix team, which comprised members from DSTA and the Singapore Army. The team developed EzFix, a mobile app designed to transform the older, more laborious method of reporting infrastructure defects into a simpler and more user-centric process. Instead of reporting defects via email or a maintenance helpline and logging cases manually, the new app allows MINDEF and SAF personnel to report defects directly to the enterprise facility management portal, thereby reducing processing time and speeding up maintenance works.

“We’re glad that our project has made a meaningful and positive impact! Our biggest takeaway from this experience would be learning the value of perseverance. We went through a long journey of identifying and overcoming various obstacles during the app’s development, and I’m glad we persevered and never stopped giving our best,” said Senior Engineer (Enterprise IT) Koh Wan Ting, who was one of the team members.

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Senior Engineer (Enterprise IT) Koh Wan Ting (right) and her Army teammate.

The NS Fit@Home team, with members from DSTA and the Singapore Army, received the award for delivering an innovative virtual programme that aims to help our NSmen maintain an active lifestyle and remain operationally ready amid the pandemic. Dubbed Fit@Home, the programme has since been incorporated into the NS Portal's existing booking digital service.

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The team received the award from Permanent Secretary (Defence) Chan Heng Kee (third from left). The team included Programme Director (NS) Kevin Koo (third from right) and Head (NS Admin Solutions) Catherine Chua (far right) and members from the Singapore Army.

“We leveraged everyone’s technical knowledge and skillsets to deliver the best results possible, and we succeeded thanks to good teamwork and the Army’s support. We are very honoured and grateful that our efforts are appreciated, and we are definitely inspired to keep up the good work,” said Head (NS Admin Solutions) Catherine Chua.

Congratulations to all our winners!

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