The Centre will serve as a one-stop centre to deliver new standards of Government and Municipal Services for users and investors

Singapore & Saudi Arabia, 11th March 2008 – NCS Group, a leading information technology and communications engineering service provider in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions, announced the win of a professional consulting services contract with the Saudi Arabia General Investment Authority’s (SAGIA) Economic Cities Agency (ECA) to design a new Smart Services Centre for the new Economic Cities.

In a conscious effort to build and develop the six new Economic Cities in Saudi Arabia to cater to the different focused industries, the ECA has been tasked to lead the set-up of a regulatory framework and investment incentives, and the offering of government services. One of the key areas identified is the establishment of a Smart Services Centre for the new Economic Cities.

The Smart Services Centre will serve as a one-stop centre for all interactions with the government through a holistic and customer-focused straight-through workflow process. The Centre will also provide the two umbrella services categories identified by the ECA, namely, Government Services and Municipal Services, through an integrated approach.

In the area of Government Services, the Centre will serve as a gateway for services offered by the different Ministries and Authorities. Under Municipal Services, it will provide building licences and other municipal licensing services for the respective Economic Cities’ tenants and investors. Although this is an existing function, the Smart Services Centre will allow for higher effectiveness and faster turnaround time for both users and investors through better business planning and structure integration into the Centre.

The Smart Services Centre is set to make a difference through providing quality service to users and investors. Consultants from NCS Group will work closely with the ECA to design the centre. NCS will be supported by its partner, Innovax Systems Private Limited. SPRING Singapore, will also share its experience in managing EnterpriseONE (www.business.gov.sg), an initiative which enables entrepreneurs to access relevant government information and assistance programs. The project will effectively harness Information Technology and Workflow Design to ensure faster turnaround time and higher satisfaction levels for investors and users in the Economic Cities.

NCS Group, the Top IT Services Provider for the Singapore Government, will leverage its extensive government domain knowledge and e-government experience in Singapore and the region to deliver a solution based on state-ofthe-art technologies and international best practices. The solution will include Portal Information Architecture, e-Services Delivery and Integration Framework,Call Centre and IVR Infrastructure and Workflow Design, amongst others.

Mr Ahmed Al-Bader, SAGIA ECA General Operations Director said “The Smart Services Centre is one of our key initiatives and a fundamental structure which the new six Economic Cities will rely heavily upon. The centre will provide world class services that will facilitate and transform Saudi Arabia into a highly attractive and friendly place for investors and tenants. We are very pleased to have NCS Group as our valued partner and we are confident that NCS, with its impressive track record of ICT delivery for the Singapore Government, has the domain and technical competence to deliver a world-class Smart Services Centre for us.”

“More importantly, through this strategic partnership, NCS will be sharing with ECA and SAGIA its experience and expertise in the areas of workflow design, technology best practices and development. It will definitely help to speed up our route to deploy best practices in Government and e-Government services for Saudi Arabia,” he added.

Mr Lum Hon Fye, Chief of Global Business, NCS Group said, “NCS is proud to partner the ECA to design a world-class Smart Services Centre. The project is yet another boost to NCS following our recent wins in the Middle East, and we will work closely with the ECA to deliver new levels of Government and Municipal Services to its clients.“

“With more than 25 years of proven public sector experience in Singapore and the Asia Pacific and Middle East Regions, NCS is confident of delivering new standards of ICT excellence to benefit the government and citizens of Saudi Arabia,” he added.