SINGAPORE — When a public service officer receives a complaint from a resident in future, the officer would be expected to know how the case should be handled — even if it falls outside his agency’s purview — and to follow up on the outcome, under a new standard protocol the Municipal Services Office (MSO) intends to develop.

The public will be able to submit feedback to the MSO through a new one-stop mobile application serving as a single point of contact to handle complex municipal issues that could involve multiple agencies. It would also allow users to send in pictures and tag their locations.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Grace Fu, who has been tasked to head the new MSO, shared these details during a visit to the Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) office yesterday, one of a series of visits she is making to better understand the scope of work the MSO could cover.

Acknowledging that different government agencies have their own ways of addressing public feedback, Ms Fu said a standard protocol is meant to facilitate better coordination among the participating agencies despite having different systems.

“So even if you call a particular agency on a matter that’s not related to that agency, we will have an understanding amongst the public service officers on the way to capture the information and the way to handle the feedback, to transfer it to the relevant agency and also to start tracking,” she said.

The tracking mechanism that would be put in place, she said, should guarantee that the public receives an answer at a stipulated time, ensuring the effectiveness of the process and operationalising the “no wrong door” policy. No timeline was given as to when the standard protocol and the app would be rolled out.

The establishment of the MSO, which comes under the Ministry of National Development (MND), was first announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during the National Day Rally in August, in response to laments among residents that complaints and feedback can end up bounced between agencies instead of being quickly resolved. The office is meant to be the place to turn to mainly for complex cases in which the public is unsure who to call.

Even before the MSO sets up its office on Oct 1, it has already received feedback and has begun processing them, said Ms Fu. More straightforward cases are being redirected to the relevant agencies, with the MSO taking charge in more complex cases.

Apart from the LTA, Ms Fu has also visited the Singapore Police Force and will make site visits to all the other agencies working with the MSO, such as the Housing and Development Board (HDB) and PUB.

The LTA said the bulk of feedback it receives is on vehicle-related issues such as the Certificate of Entitlement and only a small proportion deals with municipal issues relating to the upkeep of facilities. Ms Fu gave an example of maintenance of road infrastructure as a municipal issue the MSO could work on with the LTA, which could also involve town councils and the HDB.

Stressing the role of the MSO as a coordinator and arbitrator to solve bottlenecks and deadlocks, Ms Fu said: “It’s important for the MSO to identify the areas (that) impact the public most. What we want to do is, given the limited time and resources, apply our attention to those that would bring most benefit to the most people.”