S'pore SOE contenders await tender results

Singapore's Ministry of Education (MOE) is still evaluating bids for the pre-qualification tender phase of the Standard ICT Operating Environment (SOE) for schools and educational institutions, ZDNet Asia has learned. The results were originally slated to be revealed this month.

The MOE said in May it received four bids, at the close of a pre-qualification tender to shortlist potential service providers. The proposals were submitted by Ednovate@SG consortium led by SingTel, Team AdVance consortium led by Singapore Technologies (ST) Electronics, a Civica-led consortium, and local systems integrator NCS.

At that time, the Ministry said results for the pre-qualification tender would be made known in July, with the final tender targeted for April 2009.

However, ZDNet Asia understands that the MOE is still evaluating the proposals and has not reached a decision. It is not clear when the results for the exercise will be announced.

When contacted, representatives from ST Electronics and NCS confirmed they have not heard from the MOE regarding the results of the pre-qualification round. The ST Electronics spokesperson added that the consortium expects the results "to be announced soon".

The first phase of the SOE project last year saw two rounds of delay in announcing the winning bid of the official tender. The project was eventually awarded to the oneMeridian consortium led by EDS.

The initiative aims to create a common government infocomm infrastructure to enhance operational efficiency, and will involve the standardization of desktop, messaging and network environment across most public sector agencies in Singapore.