Tech industry group calls for better access to talent, public procurement chances for SMEs

Singapore

TECH industry trade association SGTech is calling for easier access to skilled foreign talent, in recommendations submitted to the Ministry of Finance for Budget 2022.

Other suggestions include recognising more qualifications; providing more government procurement opportunities for smaller firms; and setting up a digital transformation centre for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

A third of the 15 recommendations had to do with alleviating the industry's talent crunch, starting with a call to facilitate access to foreign talent so that immediate projects can continue.

SGTech noted that some Employment Pass (EP) holders have been unable to get their EPs renewed, affecting ongoing business projects.

The association is not asking for formal EP requirements to be waived, but rather for more applications and renewals to be approved.

It also proposes that "skills-based testing" should be part of the EP application process, with follow-up tracking of whether skills are transferred to local workers.

As the industry shifts away from hiring based on academic qualifications, and towards a more skills-based approach, the government should do the same, said SGTech executive director Yean Cheong.

For government ICT (information and communications technology) roles, the minimum educational requirement should be either a diploma or Institute of Technical Education qualifications, not a university degree - "especially where technical skills can be easily assessed", said Cheong.

As for attracting talent, SGTech proposes a centralised, government-backed hiring platform, to help manage the perceived risk of working in tech startups and SMEs.

With such a platform, if a startup fails within a certain period, its new hires can be placed with anther firm or the government, "addressing the concerns of job security and continuous learning opportunities", said SGTech.

Some other proposals were about support for companies: for instance, a new programme for tech SMEs on business strategy, as well as branding or marketing strategy and execution.

The existing PACT programme, for collaborations between a lead enterprise and other firms, could be widened to support consortiums "of equals", said SGTech, adding that groupings of small companies or startups should qualify for PACT funding too.

There were also recommendations on government procurement.

For experimental technologies in particular, projects could be "scoped into multiple small projects to be awarded as pilots or proof-of-concepts within a sandbox environment", said SGTech.

Similarly, small parts could be carved out of large-scale procurement projects, to allow small companies to participate.

"If we take this further, introducing a requirement for winners of large government projects to apportion parts of the project to be performed by SMEs can foster a healthy competitive environment," said SGTech.

In addition to its recommendations, SGTech had requests related to trade associations and chambers (TACs). One is for temporary enhanced support under the Local Enterprise and Association Development (LEAD) programme, for TAC-led capability development and internationalisation projects.

LEAD usually supports up to 70 per cent of qualifying costs for projects; SGTech is hoping it can provide up to 90 per cent of developmental costs and 100 per cent of manpower support for two years.

With firms having been hit by Covid-19, "stronger government support is needed since companies will struggle to co-fund such developmental projects", said Cheong.

The government could also study what licences, programmes, or schemes might be transferred to TACs to administer, allowing them to deepen industry engagement while providing a revenue stream.

Another request is to let TACs tap digital transformation grants, whether these are existing - such as the Productivity Solutions Grant or Enterprise Development Grant, not open to TACs - or new.

One of SGTech's recommendations was for a digital transformation centre to guide SMEs through this journey. This could be run by SGTech, with services provided together with other industry bodies and partners.