SINGAPORE — The Parliament’s public accounts watchdog has expressed concern that some public sector entities have not been “sufficiently diligent” in ensuring compliance with procurement rules, even though steps have been taken in recent years to address the issue.

The Public Accounts Committee noted that procurement continued to be an area prone to lapses — 12 of 35 observations reported in the latest Auditor-General report were related to “laxity in the area of procurement”.

For example, 46 instances of small-value purchases made by national water agency PUB and totalling S$112,400 appeared to have been split from 13 higher-value purchases to avoid the call for open quotations.

The committee also noted other irregularities in PUB procurement, such as 11 incidents where approval for purchases was not sought. “The committee was concerned that procurement was not conducted in a proper manner and controls had been circumvented, which would expose the system to fraud and abuse,” it said in a 20-page report released yesterday.

In response, the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources told the committee that the PUB has taken several measures, including tighter controls on the use of small-value purchases. “PUB has issued letters of warning to officers for making split purchases and would take disciplinary action against officers who repeatedly fail to comply with procurement procedures,” said the committee, which comprises eight Members of Parliament.

Procurement lapses in the public sector have been a recurring issue in recent years, and mistakes such as contract mismanagement and the waiver of competitive bids without valid reasons have been flagged by the Auditor-General.

The committee also expressed concern about the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) extension of a car park enforcement contract with a contractor despite the company’s apparent “underperformance”. The URA’s surprise field audits found high absenteeism rates among patrolling officers of between 70 and 80 per cent since 2010, the committee noted.

The committee also noted that lapses in computer access controls have continued to surface in public-sector agencies. With the extensive deployment of IT systems and the appointment of more outsourced vendors to manage IT systems, the committee said it was concerned about the potential risk of data loss, privacy infringements and misuse of data by both public officers and outsourced vendors.

To minimise the risk of misuse of data, the Finance Ministry laid out six measures it has introduced, which include stating rules relating to data confidentiality in public-sector contracts for outsourced vendors.

The Ministry of Communications and Information also said government agencies are required to conduct security reviews and audits periodically to ensure compliance with security policies and standards.

While the committee acknowledged the responses of both ministries, it said it was concerned that despite the rules, lapses continued to occur, many of which were due to a lack of diligence on the part of personnel involved.

“The committee urged public-sector agencies to exercise greater vigilance in IT controls and to be proactive in seeking the Infocomm Development Authority’s assistance when necessary, to better manage their IT access rights, data protection and IT projects,” it said.