Data on Post-disbursement Audits on Productivity Solutions Grant-funded Projects
Ministry of Trade and IndustrySpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong’s inquiry into the audit percentage, grant recovery amounts, and enforcement actions regarding Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) projects. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Gan Kim Yong stated that over 1,100 projects totaling $8.7 million were audited in three years, with half involving the food, beverage, retail, and services sectors. Approximately 3% of audited projects were non-compliant, leading to the clawback of disbursed grants and subjecting the companies involved to enhanced scrutiny for future applications. Enterprise Singapore withholds or claws back grants for breaches of conditions, while solutions that fail to drive productivity are removed from the pre-approved list. These measures, combined with sampling-based audits, ensure the grant remains fit-for-purpose and that businesses effectively enhance their processes.
Transcript
2 Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry (a) what percentage of Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) projects approved in the last three years have undergone post-disbursement audits, broken down by grant quantum and sector; (b) what is the total amount of grants recovered from companies found to be non-compliant with grant terms or unable to demonstrate meaningful productivity improvements from their PSG-funded purchases; and (c) what specific enforcement actions have been taken in these cases.
Mr Gan Kim Yong: The Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) supports businesses to improve productivity and enhance business processes through a wide range of pre-approved solutions. Post-disbursement of the grant, Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) conducts regular audits on a sampling basis to ensure compliance to the grant conditions.
In the last three years, more than 1,100 approved PSG projects, with a total grant quantum of $8.7 million, were subjected to post-disbursement audits. About 50% of these were from the food and beverage, and retail and services sectors, with the remaining from sectors including manufacturing and engineering, building and construction, and wholesale trade. This breakdown is broadly in line with the PSG application numbers across these sectors.
About 3% of the projects subjected to post-disbursement audits were assessed to be non-compliant with the grant conditions and required rectification actions, such as a claw back of disbursed grants.
For recipients found to be in breach of the grant conditions, EnterpriseSG will withhold or, if disbursement had been made, claw back the grant. EnterpriseSG will also subject these companies to enhanced scrutiny for future applications.
Pre-approved solutions found to be less effective in helping companies achieve productivity improvements will be removed from PSG’s list as part of agencies’ regular review to ensure PSG remains fit-for-purpose.