ROYAL Brunei Technical Services (RBTS) needs to adopt best-market practices and innovative procurement strategies to be able to maximise its budget, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) said yesterday.

"We need to adopt best market practices and innovative procurement strategies such as public-private partnerships and performance-based periodic contracts," said Dato Paduka Hj Abdul Majid Mangarshah.

By adopting these strategies, RBTS, which supports Mindef's Directorate of Finance and Acquisition and is accountable for spending about 40 per cent of the annual defence budget, can ensure that the money is spent to achieve the best outcome for the front line.

Dato Paduka Hj Abdul Majid said the ministry is "rightly concerned" that the procurement processes are efficient and effective.

"This preoccupation is justified because the Ministry of Defence is accountable for a large sum of the government's money," he said during a workshop at the Rizqun International Hotel in Gadong.

"We need to move from compliance-focused transactions to a higher value knowledge-based procurement. We need to move from ad hoc purchasing to a more proactive, informed and planned analysis of the customer" needs, he said.

For the 2008/2009 fiscal year, the defence budget allocation is $508.86 million.

Yesterday saw RBTS and Singapore's Defence, Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) collaborate in carrying out a "Procurement Processes Workshop", where 34 RBTS and Mindef participants attended to learn from the experiences of DSTA speakers.

The workshop will be held for two and a half days. The DSTA's team of speakers comprised of Brigadier General (Rtd) Sin Boon Wah, the deputy chief executive of Strategic Development, and three other senior officers.

Dato Paduka Hj Abdul Majid said he hoped the workshop would play a vital role in improving defence procurement functions, enhancing support to defence capabilities and operations and at the same time help acquire cost-effective solutions that will optimise governmental budgetary limitations.

Source: The Brunei Times