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The Government published a gazette notice today (January 23) to invite tenders for the provision of professional services to undertake information technology (IT) projects in the Government under the Standing Offer Agreement for Quality Professional Services (SOA-QPS) scheme.
It also gazetted today two tender invitations on the procurement of about 2,500 personal computers for two government departments, namely the Trade and Industry Department and the Inland Revenue Department. The personal computers are being acquired to replace outdated equipment in the departments with the objective to improve operational efficiency.
The Government Chief Information Officer, Mr Jeremy Godfrey, said, "The two initiatives provide some excellent business opportunities for the IT industry.
"The SOA-QPS scheme, for example, reinforces the Government's IT outsourcing strategy by enlarging its delivery capacity for IT services and accelerating the delivery of IT solutions to support the next generation of e-government services, and helps to encourage the further development of the local IT industry," he said.
The SOA-QPS covers four categories of IT services: pre-implementation and independent programme/project management services; ongoing services; implementation and combined system development services; and information security services.
The Government will award about 50 standing offer agreements for all the categories for a contract period of 48 months in the coming tendering exercise. The existing agreements for similar services will expire in June 2009.
"The increase in the number of the standing offer agreements from 40 to some 50 would further increase the opportunities for participation by IT contractors, including the small and medium enterprises (SMEs)," Mr Godfrey added. Under the existing agreements, SMEs are already actively participating in the scheme.
A major characteristic of the SOA-QPS is that it will place emphasis on service quality and innovation. A marking scheme with 70% weighting on quality and 30% on price will be adopted for selecting tenderers for the award of standing offer agreements. Moreover, the Government has responded positively to the IT industry's suggestion of putting more emphasis on quality for the marking scheme of individual assignments.
The tender document for SOA-QPS is available for collection at the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, 6th floor, North Point Government Offices, 333 Java Road, North Point, Hong Kong. It can also be downloaded from the following website: www.ogcio.gov.hk/eng/tender/etennot.htm .
The tender documents for the two personal computer tenders are available for collection at the Government Logistics Department, 9th floor, North Point Government Offices. Suppliers who have subscribed to the Electronic Tendering System of the Government Logistics Department may also download the tender documents from the website of the Electronic Tendering System: www.ets.com.hk.
Ends/Friday, January 23, 2009
Issued at HKT 11:05
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