MINDEF found doing business with a $1 firm

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

source: http://www.tremeritus.com/2014/11/08...with-a-1-firm/


November 8th, 2014 | Author: Editorial

Yesterday (7 Nov), TRE published an article (‘MINDEF spends $26K for 1 PLA officer to learn English‘) highlighting that MINDEF had spent $25,900 in September engaging a training consultancy firm to teach English to a PLA officer from China.

The tender was awarded to a company called Language Works Pte Ltd.

The matter came to the public’s attention when NCMP Lina Chiam asked Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen to elaborate on the expenditure in Parliament on Wednesday (5 Nov).

Dr Ng first explained the supposed advantages of militaries sending their officers on exchange programmes so as to establish better ties.

“But one of the problems in doing this is, of course, language of instruction,” Dr Ng explained. So, for some foreign officers who attend SAF’s military courses, MINDEF has to help them gain language proficiency so they can benefit from their time here, he said.

“And for this particular (PLA) officer which the Member asked for, we required a personalised 360-hour course. One-on-one, 360-hour course, is standard to get them to the level of proficiency conducted by a qualified English instructor,” Dr Ng added.

Explaining the tender, he said, “We had about five or six people, companies, who replied. The contract was awarded to the lowest offer that met the requirements and this was the amount of $25,900, which worked out to about $70 an hour. All this was in strict compliance with government’s regulations.”

MINDEF did not award the tender to the lowest bidder

TRE searched GeBiz, the official government procurement site, and found that MINDEF had indeed put up the said tender on 28 August 2014.

6 companies had bid for the tender. However, the tender was not awarded to the lowest quote.

There were 2 companies whose bids were higher than Language Works’ $25,900. But 3 other companies submitted a lower bid, with Megatrons’ being the lowest at $21,240:

Cyber Aided Computer Training Center – $24,000
Globibo – $25,860
Megatrons – $21,240

Apparently, these 3 companies were deemed by MINDEF not to have “met the requirements”, since Dr Ng said, “The contract was awarded to the lowest offer that met the requirements…”

Hence, Language Works must have met MINDEF’s stringent “requirements”. However, Dr Ng did not elaborate in Parliament how those 3 companies with lower bids failed to meet its requirements.

Language Works Pte Ltd

According to ACRA, Language Works was set up in October 2011. Its principal activities are:

Language instruction
Corporate training services and motivational course providers

However, its paid-up capital is only $1:

The $1 share is held by a Singaporean, Sun Liqin:

Not too long ago, PAP town councils were found doing business with a $2 company. It seems quite fashionable for the PAP government and MPs to do business with $1-2 companies nowadays.

What do you think?


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