The Auditor-General Office (AGO) –which helps to strengthen the accountability of public sector bodies in handling public funds and resources – has released its auditing report on Thursday (22 July) which revealed lapses in the Health Promotion Board’s (HPB) management of fitness trackers stock.
During its checks, AGO found that about 268,191 excess fitness trackers bought for the National Steps Challenge (NSC) were not put to use although the seasons had ended between one and five years earlier.
The trackers were given free to eligible participants who signed up for the challenge to encourage people to exercise more. Each tracker cost between S$10.38 and S$24.90, depending on the model.
It also found that some of the trackers had mouldy straps and watch faces, adding that the two-year warranty for the remaining 35 per cent will expire by December 2021.
“Excess trackers not put to use by HPB had resulted in a significant sum of public funds wasted over the last five years, as the usability of these trackers would deteriorate over time due to the expiry of warranty and technology obsolescence,” it asserted.
Following AGO’s observation, HPB carried out a full stock account in January this year and uncovered the full stock showed that the number of excess trackers was 341,208, which amounted to S$5.39 million in total.
AGO also said HPB’s processes were “inadequate” in ensuring that the movement of fitness trackers was properly monitored and the trackers properly accounted for.
The receipt and distribution of the devices involved manual processes and multiple external parties such as suppliers and event organisers.
“However, there was no proper process to centrally monitor and account for the movement and stock of trackers. The records maintained were fragmented and incomplete, and there was no periodic reconciliation of the records with the stock on hand,” it noted.
There was also no documentary evidence on the scope or results of the annual stock checks carried out by HPB at an outsourced vendor’s warehouse.
AGO said that its test checks of the warehouse stock showed a shortfall of trackers compared to records maintained by HPB and the vendor.
Following AGO’s checks, HPB consolidated its records and found that there was an estimated shortfall of 17,909 fitness trackers worth S$720,000 in total.
“However, given the fragmented and incomplete records, there was inadequate assurance that this represented the actual shortfall,” AGO stated.
Lapses in HPB’s loyalty programme
Meanwhile, AGO also found lapses in the management of HPB’s loyalty programme between April 2018 to June 2020.
The loyalty programme launched by HPB in 2017 allows members to earn and accumulate health points through the Healthy 365 app which can then be used to redeem rewards issued by HPB or merchants. HPB will reimburse the merchants the value of e-vouchers used by members.
The lapses included control weaknesses in the creation and maintenance of loyalty programme member accounts, manual adjustments of health points and rewards, and monitoring of suspension of accounts.
“These weaknesses could expose HPB to the risk of individuals gaming the system by making use of ineligible or fictitious accounts to earn health points/redeem rewards, or making unauthorised adjustments of health points/rewards,” said AGO.
AGO found the use of 594 loyalty programme accounts belonging to deceased people, which were used to earn health points and redeem rewards, with 139 of the accounts created after the date of death.
A total of S$14,900 worth of health points were accumulated by these accounts, of which S$6,300 had been redeemed and paid for by HPB.
“This happened because HPB did not have guidelines on the monitoring and deactivation of LP accounts belonging to deceased persons. There were also no system checks in place to prevent the creation of LP accounts using NRIC numbers of deceased persons,” it added.
HPB said it has since blocked the use of 594 accounts belonging to deceased persons and had lodged a police report.
HPB’s response to AGO’s findings
In response to AGO, HPB explained that the excess trackers were due to over-procurement, given the over-estimation of demand at the onset or during the initial distribution period of the NSC seasons.
“While excess trackers not given out for the season would be utilised for exchanges on an ongoing basis, it was challenging to achieve zero wastage as the trackers would have reached the end of useful life after two years and could not be utilised thereafter,” it said.
HPB also informed AGO that it had since begun to dispose of the excess trackers from NSC seasons 1 to 3 as these were “obsolete”.
CNA reported that HPB has issued a statement on Thursday noting that it has taken steps to remediate the lapses and strengthen its processes.
It noted that the number of sign-ups in the National Steps Challenge programme grew more than five-fold from 156,000 sign-ups in Season 1 to 900,000 in Season 5.
HPB claimed that of the 341,208 excess trackers, 120,000 were still functional.
It added that close to 48,000 have been used for replacements and exchanges of faulty trackers and those with expired warranties.
“The remainder will continue to be allocated to replacements and exchanges as well as to support community partners, companies and other government agencies in their health and wellness initiatives,” the agency asserted.
HPB said it would be “more conservative” in its projections for future instalments of the programme, adding that additional purchases of trackers will be done only when excess bookings are received from participants.
The agency noted that user account suspensions will be automated by September this year, with regular reports generated for reviews. “Clean-up exercise” will also be conducted to block the use of unauthorised accounts, such as those registered using the NRICs of deceased people.
“HPB is in the process of ascertaining the amount of overpayments for such unauthorised accounts and will take action to claw back the rewards from those who had made improper redemptions,” said HPB.
Netizens say the fitness trackers “waste of taxpayers’ money” due to “poor quality”
Penning their thoughts under the comment section of CNA’s Facebook post, many netizens claimed to have problems with the fitness trackers, noting that the “poor quality” fitness trackers were “waste of taxpayers’ money”.
One netizen wrote: “Waste of Taxpayers’ $… Especially with this pandemic…. Cash is extremely needed. Think the Govt should be prudient & give Excess to its Citizens !!”
