AGO Report: For 6 Years, Mindef Overpaid for Grass-cutting Services

2018-07-18 , 4:20 pm

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Now, nobody likes to pay for stuff. And don’t even begin to bullshit because it’s pretty much just human nature; we like to get stuff without forking out wads of cash in response, and honestly the more stuff, the better.

But you know something we don’t like even more?

Overpaying for stuff. Now that shit’s just downright tilting.

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And it seems that MINDEF doesn’t really like it either, seeing how it overpaid for grass-cutting services of all things.

Like really, bodyguards for the Trump-Kim summit is one thing, but grass-cutting?

Majestic.

What exactly happened LOL

The Auditor-General’s Office (AGO) released its annual audit report on Tuesday (17 July) and found several lapses at several ministries and government agencies, one of which includes the evergreen MINDEF.

And according to the AGO, MINDEF has actually been overpaying for grass-cutting fees for six years, an amount that culminates in a staggering S$200,000.

How on earth can grass-cutting services cost so damn much?

As it is, it might be because grass-cutting areas were overstated, and these flaws weren’t detected by the ministry’s facilities management agent (FMA) and contract manager Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA).

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Orh hor… I go tell your mother then you know.

“The repeated failures to detect the errors made by the contractor cast doubts on whether the FMA and DSTA had carried out their duties diligently,” the report said.

What’s more, it’s a classic ‘huh isn’t it him who should do it’ scenario playing over here, as the AGO discovered that the DSTA wouldn’t go into specifics unless it was alerted by FMA.

And while the responsibility of monitoring the contractor’s services was left primarily to the FMA, AGO’s discerning is that DSTA is still “responsible for proper contract management and payments”.

And then AGO added that MINDEF is actually responsible for the use of government funds, and should have really ensured that DSTA carries out its roles properly.

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So what now?

The ministry has since informed AGO that it will recover the overpayment from the contractor once the amount has been detailed. They will also make sure to penalise the contractor for over-claiming (ouch) and the FMA for not checking the claims (double ouch).

Is nobody gonna penalise MINDEF though? Halimah, maybe?

But wait

It seems that overpaying for grass undercuts isn’t the only issue here, as MINDEF seems to have run into some violations of its own IT security policy as well.

Apart from a number of unauthorised users mishandling accounts for procurement activities, MINDEF has also had to remove unneeded access rights from September 2017 to January 2018.

These really should have been removed 53 days to 10.7 years earlier.

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“Such weaknesses would expose the system to unauthorised access, thereby increasing the risk of unauthorised procurement activities and risk of the integrity and confidentiality of the date in ePS being compromised,” AGO said.

And it seems that the phrase ‘once bitten, twice shy’ does hold true, as MINDEF has since pledged to continue educating and emphasising on the importance of safeguarding IT accounts.

As well as enhancing the system to prevent the sharing of accounts.

Additionally, it will also stress to its units on the “importance of conducting regular reviews and maintain proper documentation of reviews conducted”.