Clarification on Straits Times Report on 26 April 06

6 May 06

Please refer to the report “$500m plan to revamp IT systems in schools” (Straits Times, 26 Apr 06).
We wish to clarify that the main reason for revising the projected contract value of the Standard Operating Environment (SOE) from $1.5 billion to $2 billion is due to extending the contract period from five to eight years. With the extended contract period, there will be the need to refresh technology in addition to the day-to-day ICT services. The additional amount of $500m is therefore not just meant for the schools only. The projected contract value of $2 billion is for both the public sector and MOE Schools but excluding MINDEF. However the MOE schools portion is expected to be less than that for the public sector as the technical and operational requirements will be simpler.
We would also like to highlight that MOE schools today are using standardised operating systems, anti-virus software, e-mail and networking systems. SOE is expected to bring about greater operational and cost efficiencies in terms of streamlined backend processes to deliver IT services in schools. Schools will also not need to deal with multiple vendors.
We would appreciate your publication of this clarification in the next edition of the forum page.

Chan Tee Miang
Director
Organisation Development
Ministry of Education

Pauline Tan (Ms)
Director
Government Infrastructure & Technology
Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore