In response to media enquiries on temporary suspension of tendering by Mott MacDonald Hong Kong Ltd and CTA Consultants Ltd, a spokesperson for the Development Bureau today (March 27) gave the following reply:
 
     Mott MacDonald and CTA did not comply with the terms of the engineering consultancy agreement for the Civil Engineering and Development Department and the Planning Department (PlanD)'s Planning and Engineering Study for Kwu Tung South - Feasibility Study, and the minor engineering consultancy agreement for the Water Supplies Department (WSD)'s Construction of Table Hill Low Level Service Reservoir and Associated Mainlaying - Traffic Impact Assessment respectively. The two companies failed to obtain written consent of the respective departments managing the consultancy agreements before disclosing the PlanD's Territorial Population and Employment Data Matrix information furnished by or on behalf of the Government through the respective agreements to third parties involved in non-government development projects.
 
     Mott MacDonald has been temporarily suspended from tendering for all categories of engineering consultancy agreements under the jurisdiction of the Engineering and Associated Consultants Selection Board (EACSB) for not less than two months (from March 24 to May 23). CTA has been temporarily suspended from tendering by the WSD for minor engineering consultancy agreements under the jurisdiction of the department for not less than two months (from March 24 to May 23). The WSD has reported the temporary suspension of CTA to the EACSB according to the prevailing mechanism to provide a reference for other government departments in assessing tenders for engineering consultancy agreements.
 
     Within the suspension periods, for any engineering consultancy agreements involving tenders submitted by the two consultants before the commencement of the suspension periods, the tender assessment panels of related government departments shall, in accordance with the related guidelines of the works technical circular, assess them in detail and seriously consider whether the tenders should be further processed.
 
     The above regulating actions will impact on the consultants concerned in certain ways. Before the expiry of the suspension periods, the consultants shall implement improvement measures for access control of clients' information, which shall be audited by independent audit companies to ascertain the effectiveness of the measures.
 
     To prevent recurrence of similar incidents, the Development Bureau issued a memorandum in November last year requesting all works and related departments to remind consultants employed by them to comply strictly with the "confidentiality" and "conflict of interest" provisions in consultancy agreements.

Ends/Monday, March 27, 2017
Issued at HKT 14:30

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