HK to Outsource Two-Thirds of IT Projects by 2001

HONG KONG, August 3 (Xinhua) -- An official in charge of information technology sector appealed to commercial firms to take part in the Hong Kong government's outsourcing efforts by submitting tender proposals.

Lau Kam-hung, director of Information Technology Services of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), told a seminar on tendering procedures for Information Technology (IT) providers that the government was eager to receive tender offers of high standard at competitive prices.

"We hope to greatly increase the number of tenders on offer for IT providers," Lau said.

The HKSAR government has set an ambitious target to outsource over two-thirds of all IT projects by the year 2001 with a view to fostering the growth of the local IT industry. The target could only be achieved with the full cooperation of IT firms of all sizes, according to Lau.

He said the government intends to make sure that small and medium sized firms can participate fully on equal terms in future tendering exercises, he said, adding that they will not play favorites.

"We will look at things like the size and duration of projects to make sure that all firms in the industry, regardless of size, have a genuine opportunity to compete for future opportunities," he said.

Lau said that outsourcing of government IT projects was not just a way of providing more and better IT for government departments and faster than the government could do it on its own.

"It is also a way for us to boost the IT industry by increasing the demand for its services," he said.
The new task of his department includes enhancing IT infrastructure and technical standards throughout Hong Kong, and promoting the use of IT in the community generally, Lau said.