It asked if mechanisms are in place to relook whether large-scale projects should be delayed or cancelled. Substantial expenditure had been incurred and will be incurred in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. New grant schemes were implemented to support businesses and individuals, and to deal with the public health and economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, said the report. The committee is of the view that while it is important to respond quickly to the evolving pandemic situation, there is a need to ensure proper controls, governance and accountability over the use of public funds.
The committee also asked about the activation of emergency procurement (EP) at the whole-of- government (WOG) level, and stressed the importance of subjecting key Covid-19 expenditures to analytics and audit checks.