Local designer Kelley Cheng of publishing and design consultancy The Press Room recently took issue with a particularly horrible creative brief posted on the Government-to-business procurement portal GeBIZ.
Unlimited changes for everything? Able to present everything in any Chinese fonts? All work done within two working days? Inhumane indeed the clauses were, and her post went viral on Facebook, eliciting rage from the creative industry.
Multiple Demands for Unlimited Changes for Design Services on Gebiz. As a designer, I Protest, Do you? Please share this post if you are against Unlimited Changes – Be the Change you want to see in the world.
Posted by Kelley Cheng on Sunday, 14 February 2016
With all the furore online, the Ministry of Finance looked into matters, and agreed that the whole thing was pretty unfair. Apparently, the brief has been sourced back to a local school, and as such, the Ministry of Education has removed the specification from the school’s posting.
“MOF will issue a circular to remind all government agencies of standing procurement principles, which includes ensuring that all procurement specifications are reasonable and fair,” they wrote on Facebook.
The Ministry of Finance has received feedback that some tender or quotation documents posted on GeBIZ, the government…
Posted by Ministry of Finance (Singapore) on Wednesday, 17 February 2016
Cheng rejoiced over the statement, but not before clarifying that she was not rallying a call against GeBIZ — rather just some unfair conditions in selected documents.
“I speak up in the hope for open communication, for creatives to work hand-in-hand with government agencies to create a sustainable and dynamic environment for our design industry, and I am positive that all the people who have spoken up simply hope for the same,” she wrote in a Facebook post.
“While I did not expect such attention on my personal post, I am happy that it has resulted in a positive outcome where the relevant government agency has reached out to me and assured that they will look into unfair clauses in tender documents.”
The can of worms however has been cracked open in the aftermath of the incident, and many other fellow creative professionals have begun speaking out about further flaws embedded in the system.
Cheng too has her own thoughts on other aspects that can be improved:
If collective outrage is what it takes for the system to improve, then rage on creative people.
