Singapore

SINGAPORE Snapshot

• Singapore is the 5th most competitive country in the world and a global commerce, finance and transport hub. Singapore ranks on the top of the Doing Business survey with transparent regulations and fast and easy to follow processes. It is also the least risky country for investment.
• In 2021 Singapore realised 7.5% GDP growth with 70% of value added from the service industry and 25% from goods producing in the manufacturing industries, construction and utility.
• Netherlands captured the largest share of Singapore’s FDI to the EU with S$103.3 billion in 2020.
• In 2020 the EU27 was Singapore’s second most important partner in service trading after the US and the fourth in goods trading.
• The role of SMEs is dominant in the economy with 99% of share in all cc. 290 000 enterprises out of which 20% are foreign owned.
• Singapore is in the forefront of the sustainability agenda in Asia and it is recognised as one of the 20 most carbon efficient country. Singapore as the “City in a Garden” has successfully demonstrated that steady economic growth and improving sustainability can go hand in hand and lead to green prosperity.
• Singapore launched the Singapore Green Plan 2030 - the national roadmap towards sustainable development and net-zero emissions. The Green Plan charts ambitious and concrete targets across all sectors over the next 10 years. It will be enabled by a Green Government pathway, with the public sector leading the environmental sustainability efforts.

Why Singapore?

• Singapore has an open public procurement system with fewer restrictions on foreign competition than most GPA signatory countries
• SMEs actively participate in public procurement, for example in the past years 80% of ICT procurement opportunities were open to SME.
• Procurement opportunities are published in English in the eProcurement Portal.
• It is worth noting that due to the specificity of city-state Singapore does not have local authorities, and the decentralization of procurement is institutional, not local. This means that individual agencies and state institutions independently diagnose their needs and meet them through public procurement (within the framework of the applicable legislation). Each agency is responsible for making their own procurement decisions and may individually adopt more stringent internal rules on their procurement activities. On occasion, agencies may combine purchases (also known as a “bulk purchase”) to enjoy economies of scale.
• Roughly 58% of public procurement is issued in the field of construction, 31% for services and 11% for goods.
• Tender notices and Quotation notices are posted on the Government Electronic Business (GeBIZ) web-site. GeBIZ also contains information on tender schedules (bids after a tender closes) and tender awards.