Opening Speech by Mr K H Lau, Director of Information Technology Services at the Seminar for SMEs on Tendering of Government IT Projects on 3 - 8 - 1999

Honoured Guest Speakers, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon! Thank you all for sparing your time to attend this seminar. Today we are going to touch on a very interesting topic that is the tendering of Government Information Technology (IT) projects.

I believe this topic is of interest to all of us. It is because that while commercial firms are, I suppose, eager to do business with the Government, I would like to point out that the Government is equally anxious to receive quality and competitive tender proposals from the IT firms of various sizes. In fact, as far as IT projects are concerned, the Government has set up an ambitious target of outsourcing as much as two-thirds of all the new projects by the year 2001. One of the objectives of doing so is to facilitate the development of the IT industry locally. The ambitious target and the objective that can only be achieved by the active participation and support from the IT industry, no matter they are large firms or small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

Last Wednesday, a newspaper reported that "Small to medium-sized firms dealing in software and information technology will be favoured in future tenders for government projects". I must point out here that this report is totally untrue and unfounded. It is always the principle of the Government to maintain a non-discriminatory and a level-playing field in Hong Kong and that of course includes the Government tendering exercises. Although SMEs play a vital role in the IT industry of Hong Kong, we have never and will not give any favouritism to any firms in the open IT tendering exercises. I wish you all understand our position on this.

Recalling that since the beginning of this year, my Department has been changing and our Department role is no longer restricted to the provision of IT services inside the Government. Our new role now includes the promotion and enhancement of IT infrastructure and standards throughout Hong Kong, and the use of IT in the community. Outsoucing of Government IT projects, seen from this perspective, is not only an important means for my Department to develop and build more IT systems to the other Government departments faster and with larger capacity; it is also our bid to boost the IT industry locally by creating demands.

In order to do business with the Government, it is a usual practice for the commercial firms like yours to submit tender proposals. Today we have invited three experts inside the Government to explain the tender procedures and related topics. We hope that by making clear the relevant concepts and procedures, more eligible firms, especially those SMEs, will be encouraged to consider submitting their tender proposals and hence to participate more actively in the Government IT outsourcing strategy. This will not only benefit the Government but will at the same time benefit the IT industry and the community as a whole, which is our ultimate objective.

Apart from today's seminar, we are also trying our efforts in enhancing our communications with the IT industry by organising various events like "happy hour" gatherings or seminars on other topics. These events are for the purpose of listening to the voice from the industry players like you and explaining to you any new initiatives relating to IT from the Government. At the same time, I would also welcome you to talk to us if you are planning to hold any of the similar events.

I believe you will enjoy today's presentations and find them informative. Thank you.

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