The winning Xponents and HTX teams demonstrated excellence in their work
The Emergency Video System (EVS) team receives the Minister for Home Affairs Home Team Achievement Award from Minister
Shanmugam (front row, fifth from left). (Photo: MHA)
Several outstanding Xponents and HTX teams who have demonstrated efficiency and competency in major operations, cases and projects, or displayed high standards of innovation and service excellence in the course of their work, were recognised for their exceptional work with awards from Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law Mr K Shanmugam at the Minister’s Awards Presentation Ceremony on 22 October 2024.
The Minister for Home Affairs Home Team Achievement Award (HTAA) recognises teams which have achieved exceptional outcomes through inter-agency collaborations and contributed significantly towards keeping Singapore safe and secure.
- HTX, SPF, and SCDF – Emergency Video System (EVS)
- SPF and HTX – Scam Website Disruption
- MHA HRD, SPF, SPS, SCDF, ICA, HTA, HTX, ISD, YRSG, GRA, and CNB – Ensure Strong Branding and Effective Outreach Strategies and Implementation for Successful Recruitment
- MHA HRD, MHA CPCG, MHA FAD, MHA P&O, SPF, SPS, SCDF, ICA, HTA, HTX, ISD, YRSG, GRA, and CNB – Home Team Day
In his awards presentation speech, Minister Shanmugam lauded SPF and HTX’s Scam Website Disruption project: “To really help protect Singaporeans from scams, SPF and HTX have partnered GovTech to develop what we call the Scam Analytics and Tactical Intervention System (SATIS). SATIS uses AI and machine learning to make it easier, faster, to detect, analyse, and disrupt scam websites targeting Singaporeans. Now, as of July this year, 42,000 such websites have been identified using SATIS.”
The Scam Website Disruption team receive the Minister for Home Affairs Home Team Achievement Award
from Minister Shanmugam (front row, fifth from left). (Photo: MHA)
The Minister for Home Affairs Operational Excellence (OE) Award recognises teams for outstanding competency and operational excellence in major operations and cases. This year the following OE award-winning projects involved HTX:
- HTX – Low-code Enterprise Application Platform (LEAP)
- HTX – Development of Project Hub in HTX
- HTX – Enhancement of ICA’s Power Resiliency (Phase 0)
- HTX – Recovery of Operational Availability for 2nd Generation PH (2GPH) Boats
- HTX – MHA-CISCO Enterprise Network Platform Agreement
- HTX and ICA – HText
- HTX and SPF – Improving the SPF’s Digital Services
- ICA, HTX, NEC, NCS, Oracle, Idemia, and Dell – Successful Upgrade of Multi-Modal Biometrics System (MMBS) Database
- SPS, HTX, and GovTech – Self-Help and Rehabilitation e-Application (SHARE) and Electronic Monitoring System (EMS) 2.0
- SCDF and HTX – SCDF Advanced Command Control & Communications System (ACES) Mid-Life Upgrade
- SPF and HTX – Revolutionising the Management of Found and Unclaimed Properties by Found and Unclaimed Property Office (FUPO)
- SPF, SCDF, HTX, and the Elections Department (ELD) – Presidential Election 2023
- SPF and HTX – Body Worn Camera (BWC) 2.0
- SPF, SCDF, ICA, SPS, CNB, HTA, GRA, YRSG, HTX, ISD, MHA TCD – Home Team Learning Management System (HTLMS 2.0)
- SPF, SCDF, ICA, SPS, CNB, HTA, GRA, YRSG, HTX, ISD, MHA P&O, MHA HRD, MHA FAD, and MHA CPCG – Organisation of the Home Team Festival 2023.
In his speech, Minister Shanmugam explained how SHARE supports the rehabilitation journey of supervisees: “Now, what does SHARE do? SHARE provides the supervisees access to a centralised job database. What do they look for? They look for jobs. Instead of looking for it themselves, there's a centralised job database, and also a centralised community support resource available so they can go check their rehabilitation journey, they can take charge of their progress, and this has helped Prisons streamline its case management, so they can give more focused support, targeted support, timely support, to the families, and to the supervisees.”
He also discussed the artificial intelligence (AI) tool HText: “HTX and ICA have jointly developed something they call HText. It's one of the Home Team’s first ventures involving Generative AI and Large Language Models. Now this is a very significant development for the Home Team. The trials have increased, improved ICA’s, intel and sense-making capabilities. With HText, what you get is emails, news, reports, all relating to border security – aggregated, and also you get classification and summarisation of immigration offences that gives actionable insights to the officers. ICA’s sense is that HText has achieved good results, and we look at it, likely to roll it out to other Home Team Departments.”
The Star Service Award (SSA) recognises Home Team officers who delivered outstanding service and exceeded customers’ expectations. This year the following Xponents received MHA Commendation Star Service Awards:
- Seah Kian Hwee Shawn
- Vivi Chew Zhu Qian
- Lee Kok Yong Leonard
- Tan Kah Ying
The Home Team Innovation Award (InnovA) recognises teams and exceptional Home Team officers in the area of innovation. This year the following Xponents received InnovA awards in the Champion (Individual) Category:
In the Project category, the following awardees involved HTX:
- SPS and HTX, Prison Automated Screening System (PASS) – Platinum award
- SCDF and HTX, Road Traffic Accident XR Simulator – Gold award
- ICA and HTX, NCC Cargo Paperless Clearance – Silver award
- SCDF and HTX, HazMat Work-Rest Cycle Study – Commendation award
- SCDF and HTX, Project Asclepius – Commendation award
- ICA and HTX, Special Assistance Lane (SAL) – Commendation award
- HTX and SPF, MiniX 2 – Commendation award
- HTX, VEEN – Commendation award
- HTX, Power App – Commendation award
- HTX, Credibility Assessment Lab – Commendation award
- SPF and HTX, Mobile Crash Barrier (MCB) Spreader Beam – Dare-to-Try award
- SPF and HTX, Qstick – Dare-to-Try award
- HTX and SPF, Purging of Air in Seawater Systems – Dare-to-Try award
- HTX, Project HAI-TextOracle – Dare-to-Try award
What did the Xponents think about their MHA Awards?
Zhang Ying, Head (Emergency Ops Systems), Civil Defence Programme Management Centre (PMC), who worked on the HTAA-winning Emergency Video System (EVS) project, shared: “We are proud that our EVS (Emergency Video System) team, comprising HTX, SCDF, and SPF, has received the Minister for Home Team Achievement Award for our outstanding work in implementing EVS to enhance emergency response capabilities and strengthen public safety. Since its commissioning in March 2024, the EVS has been instrumental in supporting SCDF and SPF Operations Centres during numerous emergency situations, providing real-time situational awareness and improving operational support. At HTX, we are deeply fulfilled knowing that the new capabilities we developed contribute to the Home Team’s mission and grateful for the recognition of our efforts and achievements.”
Dr Ng Gee Wah, Director, Q Team Centre of Expertise (CoE), who worked on the HTAA-winning Scam Website Disruption project, said: “It’s a great honour to receive this award. This recognition not only validates our team’s efforts but also fuels our determination to keep pushing harder – as fighting scams is a constant cat-and-mouse game, and we remain committed to staying ahead in protecting our communities from this evolving threat.”
Annie Sng, Director, Intel PMC, who also worked on the HTAA-winning Scam Website Disruption project, shared, "I’m proud to be part of a cohesive team that overcame tight timelines to combat scams through innovative solutions, process improvements, and strategic partnerships. This award recognizes our team’s dedication and potential, inspiring us to drive further impact in tackling the evolving scam landscape."
Charlie Choa, Head, Digital Services PMC, who worked on the OE Award-winning Improving the SPF’s Digital Services project, said: “This is a testimony to the hard work put in by the DSPMC team. We would like to thank all SPF colleagues for the collaboration that make this happen and look forward to making SPF Digital Services even better for Singapore.”
Houston Yap, IT Consultant, Digital Services PMC, who worked on the OE Award-winning SHARE project, shared: “I felt greatly honoured to represent DSPMC in receiving the Minister's OE award for SPS SHARE. Just as our bodies have many parts, each with a special function, so too does our team work together. Collaborating with the prison rehabilitation officers, we've found that each of us plays a vital role. Without one another, we couldn't have achieved this recognition.”
Wang Jiale, Engineer, Q Team CoE, who worked on the OE Award-winning HText project, said: “It was a huge honour to receive this award. Q Team is grateful for ICA and HTX Intel PMC’s strong support on this journey. Gen AI has immense potential to transform various facets of HT ops and we look forward to what the future holds for HText and similar Gen AI projects across HTX.”
SSA awardee Shawn Seah Kian Hwee, Engineer (Sensemaking Application), AI Engineering, xData, said: “I’m so grateful for this honour, and for the acknowledgement of my work. The thing about awards is that they become moments in time that you never forget, and for me, it’s always the experience and the joy of having done what I set out to do.”
Platinum InnovA awardee Arka Ray, Lead Engineer, Q Team CoE, shared: “Receiving the award among other talented and capable colleagues within the Home Team, seeing the myriad of different efforts and achievements we have all worked towards, has been humbling and will continue to push me towards making innovations that keep us safe and secure.”
Dr Saravana Kumarasamy, Deputy Director (Modelling and Simulation), Human Factors & Simulation CoE, who worked on the InnovA Gold Award-winning Road Traffic Accident XR Simulator project, said: “Receiving this award is both an honour and an inspiration for the team to continue exploring new frontiers in Extended Reality (XR) technology and its applications within the Home Team.”
Kee Ein Cern, Deputy Director (Profiling), Biometrics & Profiling CoE, who worked on the InnovA Commendation Award-winning Credibility Assessment Lab, said: “My colleagues and I are immensely grateful for the support given by our Management to force-multiply HTDs’ profiling and investigations capabilities. The Credibility Assessment Lab is an embodiment of foresight and innovation; values which Xponents espouse.”
Cherry Tan, Engineer (Digitalisation Planning & Strategy), xDigital, who built the InnovA Commendation Award-winning Power App project, shared: “Receiving the InnovA award for my Power Apps solutions is an incredible honour that both humbles and inspires me. This recognition validates the impact of our low-code innovations and fuels my passion to keep pushing boundaries, and is a testament to the transformative power of intuitive, user-centric solutions in today's digital workplace.”
We congratulate all the awardees and look forward to the new innovations they are building!
