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The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) today (December 28) invited tenders for provision of professional services to undertake information technology (IT) projects in the Government under the Standing Offer Agreement for Quality Professional Services (SOA-QPS) scheme.
"The SOA-QPS scheme reinforces the Government's IT outsourcing strategy by enlarging its delivery capacity for IT services and accelerating the delivery of IT solutions to support the next generation of e-government services. It also provides excellent business opportunities for the IT sector and helps further the development of the local IT industry. The total contract value for the scheme is estimated to be over $1 billion over four years," a spokesman for the OGCIO said.
The SOA-QPS covers four categories of IT services: (i) pre-implementation and independent programme/project management services, (ii) ongoing services, (iii) implementation and combined system development services, and (iv) information security and independent testing services.
Independent testing is a new service introduced under the scheme.
"Contractors will provide independent testing services for client departments. They will employ professional testers and adopt internationally recognised standards, methodologies and tools to ensure the completeness and effectiveness of the testing process, with a view to better assuring the quality of the information system," the spokesman said.
In this tendering exercise, the Government will award a total of about 70 standing offer agreements to suppliers in the four categories for a contract period of 48 months. During the contract period, bureaux/departments may invite proposals for individual IT projects from suppliers in the relevant service categories and select contractors to undertake the assignments based on technical and price assessments.
The existing 53 standing offer agreements for similar services will expire in July 2013. The increase in the number of agreements to about 70 will further increase the opportunities for participation by IT contractors, including small and medium enterprises.
"As service quality is of utmost importance to the success of IT services delivery, we have enhanced the quality assurance and control mechanism of the SOA-QPS scheme to ensure that our contractors would provide high-quality services," the spokesman said.
A notice on the tender invitation was gazetted today.
The tender document is available for collection at the reception counter, OGCIO, 6/F, North Point Government Offices, 333 Java Road, North Point, Hong Kong. It can also be downloaded from www.ogcio.gov.hk/en/business/tender_eoi_rfp/open_tender_notice.htm　.
Prospective tenderers are invited to attend a tender briefing session on January 11. The tender submission deadline is noon on February 8.
Ends/Friday, December 28, 2012
Issued at HKT 12:46
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