Despite blacklist, new drivers got licences due to flawed programme

AUDIT REPORT | A flaw in the Road Transport Department’s (RTD) mySikap system has resulted in at least 365 new drivers being wrongly issued full driving licences, according to the Auditor-General's Report.

The report said these drivers had either held Learner Driver’s Licences (L) or Probationary Driver’s Licences (P) that had been blacklisted, but were given full driving licences despite this.

“This is because the L and P driver licensing submodule does not have a function for detecting and blocking licences that had been blacklisted in the enforcement module,” said the Auditor-General’s 2016 Series 1 Report, which was tabled in Parliament on Monday.

The finding was based on inspections of the RTD branches in Johor, Penang, Kelantan, Sabah and Kuala Lumpur.

It said these five RTD branches had collectively issued a total of 1.1 million L, P, and full licences between 2014 and 2016, of which 297,770 had been blacklisted. Of the blacklisted licences, 86,226 (29 percent) were still active.

“Of the blacklisted (licences) that are still active, 365 blacklisted L and P licence holders were still able to obtain or renew full licences,” the report says.

The report quoted the RTD responding to the finding as saying that the problem had been rectified on March 16 by adding additional checks to the system.

“The system initially developed could not detect the blacklist (status) for different licence types - namely L and P licences - to full licences during the application and renewal of licences.

“Therefore, the counter operator had allowed the transaction to proceed,” the department said.

Several weaknesses found in the deal

The report said the mySikap system was approved in 2010 to replace the RTD’s ageing Sikap system, which was developed in 1993. The RM282 million contract was awarded via a restricted tender.

However, the audit found several weaknesses in the deal.

Among others, the report said the RTD did not stipulate a complete service level agreement, and it lacked any clauses that would allow it to impose a fine on the vendor when it fails to deliver.

Between January and July 2015, the vendor failed to resolve 1,219 complaints within the stipulated timeframe, with delays of up to 161 days.

“However, the vendor could not be fined because there is no penalty clause stated in the service level agreement,” the report added.

The RTD promised to address the shortcomings and to add penalty clauses to the agreement.

The report also chastised the project for failing to conduct a detailed study to determine the computing power needed to run the mySikap system.

As a result, the mySikap system faced disruptions on the first day of its roll-out on Nov 1, 2013, because the mainframe computer running it could not cope with demand.

The vendor then lent a more powerful mainframe to the RTD as a stopgap measure.

All told, the RTD bought three mainframe computers between 2009 and 2014 to run the mySikap system, at the cost of RM218.89 million, including hardware, software, licensing and maintenance.

“In the audit’s opinion, the mySikap mainframe capacity demand was not studied carefully, and this resulted in imprudent spending and also affected the RTD’s and the government’s image during mySikap’s national rollout,” the report adds.- Mkini