Singapore outlines plans for greener digitalisation

Singapore’s Government Technology Agency has announced plans to spend SGD$3.3 billion (US$2.4 billion) on information and communications technology (ICT) over the 2023/24 financial year, including SGD$1 billion for applications developed on the cloud.

The GovTech agency has also introduced a Sustainability Framework to help meet Singapore’s goal to achieve net-zero emissions in the public sector by 2045 and nationally by 2050.

In a presentation earlier this month, Henry Chang, Deputy Chief Executive at GovTech, said the agency would: “Adopt sustainability as a core principle in our digitalisation business and professional way of life”.

He said that digitalisation and artificial intelligence have the potential to address major societal issues but can have serious environmental implications if they are not well-managed, and spoke of the “balancing act” between this opportunity and the carbon footprint.

Estimates vary but suggest that the global energy consumption of ICT solutions ranges from four percent to ten percent today and could reach up to 20 percent or higher in the worst case scenario by 2030. This energy footprint currently represents three to five percent of global carbon emissions, putting it on a par with the aviation sector.

GovTech’s Sustainability Framework incorporates three pillars. Sustainable organisation includes making sustainability part of business decisions and optimising operations with data. Sustainable ICT focuses on the supply chain, equipment and devices, cloud and data centres, and software and data. The third pillar, digital innovation for sustainability, is about using technology such as intelligent monitoring, automated resource optimisation and digital twins to meet environmental goals.

Chang said “sustainable digitalisation” calls for a whole ecosystem effort, including architects, software engineers, infrastructure, data scientists, procurement, and end users.

Cloud

More than 30 percent of GovTech’s projected ICT spending for FY23 is for applications developed on the Government Commercial Cloud (GCC), described as a ‘wrapper’ platform that provides government agencies with a consistent means to adopt commercial cloud solutions.

Since the announcement of the ‘Cloud First’ Strategy in October 2018, about 66 percent of eligible government systems have been migrated to the GCC, towards the goal of 70 percent by the end of 2023.

GovTech is working towards reducing the carbon footprint of cloud infrastructure in the Government Commercial Cloud, encouraging government data centres to meet Singapore’s environmental standards, and optimising code reuse for cloud projects.

“GovTech will explore increasing the containerisation of applications and usage of microservices to further automate and streamline the application development process in FY24,” a statement said.

The agency also expects to spend SGD$400 million on staff computers and printers, which are replaced around every three years.

The tender will incorporate sustainability criteria for the first time, requiring suppliers to comply with environmental and energy standards, and demonstrate packaging and materials reuse. This will constitute five per cent of the tender evaluation.

Collaboration

In addition, the value of projects Singapore co-develops with industry is expected to increase to about 45 percent (SGD$1.49 billion) of total spending in FY23, up from 27 percent and 20 percent in FY22 and FY21 respectively.

Co-developed projects aim to streamline development efforts by leveraging the SG Tech Stack – a common platform for developing digital services – and other government platforms for security compliance and interoperability, as well as reusing software components to build applications efficiently.

More projects will also be awarded through bulk tenders. Almost 76 percent (SGD$2.5 billion) of the Government’s projected FY23 ICT spending will go to projects awarded through bulk tenders, up from 27 percent in FY22. This includes the tender for computers and printers.

By aggregating demand for common ICT products and services across the government, bulk tenders aim to reduce costs, time, and effort for public agencies in procuring these services.

Kok Ping Soon, Chief Executive, GovTech, said: “Our ICT investments in the past five years have laid a firm foundation for the next bound of digital government. The Government will maintain a high level of ICT spending in 2023, as we continue to push ahead with our cloud strategy and find more ways to work closely with the industry through co-developed projects and bulk tenders.

“Providing opportunities for SMEs to take on government projects is also important, as SMEs form a key pillar of our Smart Nation efforts.”