LCQ9: Outsourcing of IT projects

Following is a question by the Hon Cyd Ho and a written reply by the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang, in the Legislative Council today (February 18):

Question:

In 2002-03, the Government outsourced information technology (IT) projects at a total value of about $1.5 billion. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) of the items, contractor, cost and progress of each of the outsourced IT projects, broken down by the relevant policy bureaux; and

(b) whether the authorities have assessed the savings in manpower resources as well as the expenditure on staff salary and fringe benefits achieved by the outsourcing of the above projects; if so, of the number and ranks of posts deleted and the amount of expenditure saved; if not, the reasons for that?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a) In 2002-03, the value of Government IT work undertaken by private contractors amounted to about $1.44 billion, involving a total of 403 projects. Details of these projects are set out in the Annex.

(b) The Government has adopted a vigorous outsourcing policy for its IT projects with a view to utilising the latest and state-of-the-art technologies and services to enhance the quality and efficiency of public services, as well as creating a local market of sufficient size to foster the development of the local IT industry. The outsourced IT projects mentioned in paragraph (a) above are all related to the launching of new services or initiatives. They are not existing projects developed or implemented by Government in-house staff. The outsourcing of these new projects does not involve any post deletion within the Government or savings in expenditure on the benefits of the staff concerned.

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

- END -