Government outsources information system hosting service
14 - 11 - 2003

The Information Technology Services Department today (November 14) signed contracts with three companies on the provision of information systems hosting services.

Speaking at the contract signing ceremony this afternoon, the Director of Information Technology Services, Mr Alan Wong Chi-kong, said the arrangement marked a major milestone both in the Government's information technology (IT) outsourcing programme and in the development of IT infrastructure.

The contracts enable government departments to outsource the management and operation of their information systems, which are located in the department's data centres.

Currently, the department provides central data centre services to government bureaus and other departments at its data centres.

It is expected that the demand for data centre services will increase as the government embarks on a range of e-government initiatives.

Under the new arrangement, the contractors will provide the management, operation and system support services for the new information systems, while the department will provide office space and support facilities.

The outsourcing arrangement enables the Government to tap into existing market resources to enlarge the delivery capacity of its hosting services without increasing its staff.

It is also an important launch-pad for the government to explore the "on-demand" or "utility" computing model under which shared IT facilities could in future be made available to client departments in a cost-effective manner.

The three companies awarded with the contract are Hewlett Packard HK SAR Limited, Jardine OneSolution (HK) Limited and National Computer Systems Pte Limited.

The contracts will take effect on November 17 for a period of 36 months with an option to extend by 24 months.

The Government has been pursuing an active IT outsourcing strategy. The arrangement of standing offer agreements has proved to be an efficient means of obtaining quality IT products and services at competitive prices, Mr Wong said.

Under such agreements, IT assignments are open to bidding by contractors and are awarded to the contractors that satisfy the requirements and offer the lowest price.

An example of a successful standing offer agreement is the Information Technology Professional Service Arrangement launched in June last year. So far, 218 IT projects and service work assignments with a total value of $178 million have been commissioned under the arrangement.

Nearly 90% of the projects were commissioned within 40 working days and 46% started within 20 working days, thus enabling both the departments and service providers to make substantial efficiency gains through the shorter development period.

In collaboration with the Government Logistics Department, a new series of standing offer agreements on the supply of server systems and related services were launched last month.

The current standing agreements cover all kinds of IT products and applications services that are readily available in the market, Mr Wong added.

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