Regarding the recent incident concerning Government procurement of bottled drinking water, the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury (SFST), Mr Christopher Hui, convened an urgent meeting with relevant parties today (August 17) and decided at the meeting that a three-pronged approach would be taken to investigate into the incident and conduct a review on the system with a view to avoiding re-occurrence of similar incidents.

     Mr Hui said, "The incident has brought up concerns among government colleagues and drawn extensive attention from the public. I have therefore invited the Audit Commission to conduct a review on the tender exercise in question. I will establish a task force, with me as the Chair, to work with other government bureaux and departments to comprehensively review the existing Government procurement regime. I have also instructed the Government Logistics Department (GLD) to step up its remedial action for the incident."

     The follow-up actions that the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) will take are:
 
(1) The FSTB has proactively invited the Audit Commission to review the tender exercise for the subject bottled drinking water contract to find out if there are any negligence or deficiencies in the process;
 
(2) A task force chaired by the SFST will be established with representatives from the Civil Service Bureau, the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, the Development Bureau and the Department of Justice to review the existing Government procurement regime with a view to plugging possible loopholes and avoiding re-occurrence of similar incidents. The FSTB anticipated that report on the preliminary recommendations will be available after three months; and
 
(3) The GLD has been tasked to take up the main responsibility to continuously monitor the contractual performance of the suppliers of bottled drinking water, step up its remedial action regarding the contract of bottled drinking water in question, as well as follow up with relevant government departments on other government contracts undertaken by the same contractor and its persons-in-charge to take an overall look on their performances.
 
     At the same time, the GLD has informed all bureaux and departments to recall the bottled drinking water in question and made relevant arrangements.

Ends/Sunday, August 17, 2025
Issued at HKT 21:40

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