Participating agencies may reap cost savings of up to 15%

BY OH BOON PING

TWENTY further bodies could next year be included in a government initiative which delivers human resources and financial services to public sector agencies.

Participating agencies may also reap cost savings of up to 15 per cent on functions transferred to the Centre for Shared Services - Vital.org or CSS.

The CSS, which began operations in April, provides services such as compensation and benefits, payroll and training and scholarships administration.

Eighteen government bodies using common human resource and finance systems have already joined the scheme. They include the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Manpower and National Research Foundation.

The current cost of those functions for those entities is estimated at between $25 million to $30 million every year.

By pooling functions, the CSS hopes to realise cost savings of up to 15 per cent for each agency in the second or third year of operation, while achieving greater efficiency through economies of scale, standardisation and streamlining of procedures.

By April next year, CSS said it expects another 20 government agencies to join the scheme.

There are plans to include functions like asset and inventory management. At the launch yesterday, Minister of State for Finance and Transport Lim Hwee Hua urged the department to 'move up the value chain and provide value-added services, such as conducting analysis and providing reports to support decision-making by the client agencies'.

The CSS currently has a staff strength of 350, and expects to add another 200 when the new members join the scheme next year.