that the price should be changed and he has issued instructions which require the additional costs to be claimed as and whe
become known.
221. As a result of the audit observation, demand notes for $355,000 and $143,000 were issued to the piling contractor in November 1984 and June 1985 respectively and as these were not settled, the case has been referred to the Legal Department to commence legal proceedings to recover the sums due.
222. An investigation into the professional and technical aspects of this case was conducted by the Building Development Department in early 1978. The investigation concluded that the piling contractor was negligent in making a seriously defective pile but that the project structural engineer who resigned in October 1977 had performed his duties without any apparent misconduct and that there was no clear evidence of collusion between Architectural Office staff and the contractor. The investigation report highlighted that the project clerk of works spent very little time on the site because of other commitments and his assistant, who was a new recruit, had no experience in supervising piling work.
223. The piling contractor was removed from the list of approved suppliers of materials and specialist contractors for public works in June 1978 and the Director of Building Development has informed me that it is now the normal practice that site staff of the right calibre are provided for the supervision of piling contracts on a full time basis, working outside normal office hours if required. Site staff are also briefed by the project structural engineer on any characteristics of the piling system used that require particular attention on site. The Director has also informed me that a revised contract specification for piling works has been put in force allowing the project structural engineer to order three additional loading tests without incurring additional payment if one loading test fails to comply with the acceptance requirements, and that consideration is being given to the use of sonic and vibration tests in future piling contracts using in situ concrete piles as a supplementary means to expand the scope of testing for defective piling work.
Audit Department Hong Kong
16 October 1985
N. B. STALKER
Director of Audit
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