This circular informs all contractors registered with BCA and firms hiring foreign construction workers that with effect from 1 June 2025, the Contractors Registration System (CRS) will be expanded to serve as a nation-wide registry of construction firms. Firms hiring construction S Pass and/or Work Permit holders will be required to register in the CRS. At the same time, the CRS entry requirements for minimum track records (TR) and paid-up capital (PUC) will be raised to keep pace with the current market prices.

2                 Currently, BCA administers the CRS to facilitate Government procurement of construction services. Firms that want to participate in Government tenders or be engaged as first-level subcontractors in public sector projects will need to register under the relevant workheads in the CRS.

3                 The CRS, together with the Builders Licensing Scheme (BLS) and Singapore List of Trade Sub-contractors (SLOTS) also serves as gateways for firms to access foreign construction workers from certain sources. At present, the entry requirements i.e. PUC and TR required across these gateways are different (Annex A).

4                 As announced at the Ministry of National Development Committee of Supply (MND COS) debate 2024, the CRS will expand its scope from a public sector registry for procurement of construction services to a nation-wide registry of construction firms from 1 June 2025. All firms hiring foreign construction workers (i.e. S Pass and/or Work Permit holders) will be required to register in the CRS before submitting their work pass application with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).  This is to ensure that the same minimum standards are applied equally to all firms hiring foreign construction workers, regardless of whether they undertake public or private sector projects.

5                 From 1 June 2025, BCA will also raise the CRS registration requirements for minimum TR and PUC at the entry grade (i.e. C3, L1 and Single Grade) to keep pace with the current market prices (see Table 1). This is to ensure that registered firms have the minimum financial capability and experience to sustain their operations and deliver projects.

Table 1: Changes to CRS entry requirements for minimum TR and PUC

6                 All other existing CRS entry requirements will continue to apply.  These include personnel requirement and other workhead-specific requirements (e.g. additional licensing requirements for all CW workheads and selected CR and ME workheads). For more information, please refer to BCA website (https://www1.bca.gov.sg/procurement/pre-tender-  stage/contractors-registration-system-crs).

7                 Firms that require more time to achieve the required TR can be registered in CRS on a probationary basis. To qualify for the probationary status, firms must have at least $50k PUC, and meet the personnel and workhead-specific requirements that are required for CRS registration today. These firms will be granted one-year CRS registration, and would need to demonstrate that they have achieved $100k TR by the end of the year, to extend their registration by another two years. Firms that cannot achieve the required TR will be de-registered. Deregistered firms will not be able to hire new foreign construction workers, but can keep their existing foreign construction workers until their work passes expire.

8                 Please refer to the BCA website for the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the implementation of the CRS enhancements. Please direct your queries and/or clarifications on this circular to https://www.bca.gov.sg/feedbackform/.

Annex A: Comparison of Existing Entry Requirements for Minimum PUC and TR across CRS, BLS and SLOTS