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The Government announced today (February 26) that with the approval of the Central Tender Board, an international consortium led by PCCW Business e-Solutions Ltd. has won the contract for the provision of hardware, software and related services for the implementation of the Smart Identity Card System (SMARTICS) and the supply of 1.2 million blank smart cards at a one-off value of HK$162,689,356. Apart from local companies, the consortium also comprises a mix of reputable international companies including those from Switzerland, USA, Australia, Singapore and the UK.

The Deputy Director of Immigration Mr. T P Wong, who is in charge of the Smart ID Card Project, said that a public tender for the project in question was gazetted on July 20, 2001. Upon the close of the tender on September 28, 2001, a total of 11 proposals were received.

He said that the procurement of the SMARTICS was governed by the Stores and Procurement Regulations and World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO GPA). "Non-discriminatory and fair treatment to all was strictly observed throughout the tendering process," he stressed.

For the sake of transparency, the Government had published the tender evaluation procedures and criteria, the marking scheme and assessment criteria, the mandatory requirements to be fulfilled by tenderers and the requirements for demonstration and benchmark test so that everyone would know clearly how the tender proposals would be assessed. In addition, a briefing session was held on August 2, 2001 to explain the key components of the tender document and to clarify any point of doubt raised by potential tenderers. All questions on the tender received were answered in writing and all recipients of the tender document were provided with a copy of the correspondences.

In view of the complexity of the system and stringent requirements on data privacy and data security, much weight has been attached to the quality of the SAMRTICS. A marking scheme with a price to quality ratio of 40 : 60 instead of the normal price to quality ratio of 70-60 : 30-40 as suggested in the Stores and Procurement Regulations of the HKSAR Government was adopted.

The tender proposals were assessed by an Inter-departmental Assessment Panel headed by Mr. Wong. The Panel comprised senior officers of Security Bureau, Information Technology Services Department and Immigration Department. Experts from the Printing Department, Government Laboratory, Department of Justice and Government Supplies Department had rendered valuable assistance to the Assessment Panel by giving their professional views on the quality of the security printing, conducting forensic tests on the sample cards, providing legal opinion on contractual matters and giving advice on tendering procedures.

In accordance with the provisions promulgated in the tender, an international consortium led by PCCW Business e-Solution Ltd. has won the contract. Its proposal has met all the mandatory requirements of the tender, passed all the prescribed evaluation stages approved by the Central Tender Board and attained the highest combined quality and price score. The one-off value of HK$162,689,356 is payable in six installments upon satisfactory completion of each stage as stipulated in the tender.

Mr. Wong said, "I am pleased that the tender was selected after a competitive, transparent and fair exercise. It has a good mix of local and overseas companies renowned in their respective field of expertise. I look forward to working with the consortium for the smooth and successful implementation of the SMARTICS."

"There are stringent safeguards in the contract including guarantees from essential sub-contractors to ensure that the consortium will fully discharge its contractual obligations. The Government will closely monitor the performance of the consortium through a vigilant quality assurance and review programme to ensure timely implementation of the project."

Immigration Department plans to roll out the new system in the Registration of Persons Offices in mid 2003 and start the region-wide ID card replacement exercise a few months later.

End/Tuesday, February 26, 2002

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