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Government purchasing a "big business"

The Government Supplies Department will call for tenders with an estimated total value of $4.7 billion in goods and services in the coming financial year.

Speaking at a roundtable luncheon of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce today (Wednesday), the Director of Government Supplies, Mr Nigel Shipman, described the Government purchasing as "big business".

"This means that selling to the Hong Kong Government can be big business too, for those who can provide good quality products at competitive prices," he said.

He stressed that the Government was keen to encourage more competition in the tenders from local and overseas suppliers, without giving preference to any particular source of supply.

The aim is to select the product that represents best value for money for the Government.

"This aim is best secured through fair and open competition in our tendering system," he said.

Open tenders are used whenever the items to be purchased can be satisfactorily obtained in this way.

In cases where open tendering would not be an effective means of obtaining the requisite supplies, restricted or selective tender procedures are used.

Although most of the contracts are awarded on the basis of competitive tendering, Mr Shipman said: "We try to identify sources that offer reliability and value and seek long-term relationships with them."