📋 Tender Overview
Following is a question by the Hon Chau Siuchung and a written reply by the Acting Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Mr Joseph Chan in the Legislative Council today October 7
Question
Regarding outsourced service contracts awarded by tender by the four major procuring departments ie the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department FEHD the Leisure and Cultural Services Department LCSD the Housing Department HD and the Government Property Agency GPA for employing nonskilled workers will the Government inform this Council
1 of the respective numbers of cases in each of the past two years and the current year to date where contractors of the four major procuring departments were issued with verbal and written warnings or default notices or were subject to deduction of service payments and termination of contracts owing to their failure to comply with contract provisions with a breakdown by type of service ie security service cleansing service and other services
2 of the number of cases in each of the past two years and the current year to date where the contractors concerned failed to implement the measures to which they had committed in the Heat Stroke Prevention Work Plan submitted with their bids for the contracts
3 given that as reported FEHD has incorporated the relevant requirements into its contracts in accordance with the Guidance Notes on Prevention of Heat Stroke at Work the Guidance Notes and stipulated that contractors must conduct heat stress risk assessments and formulate corresponding workrest arrangements of the details of the cases in each of the past two years and the current year to date where FEHD contractors contravened the relevant requirements and the penalties imposed and whether LCSD HD and GPA have incorporated the relevant requirements into their contracts in accordance with the Guidance Notes if so the details of the cases in each of the past two years and the current year to date where their contractors contravened the requirements of the Guidance Notes and the penalties imposed if not the reasons for that
4 under the marking schemes currently adopted by the four major procuring departments for outsourced service contracts of the midpoint of the maximum marks for the various technical assessment criteria ie wage rates working hours demerit records past service performance records and other assessment criteria as well as the respective technicaltoprice weightings in terms of percentage and
5 whether the four major procuring departments have plans to progressively increase the weightings accorded to wage rates and working hours in the assessment with a view to encouraging tenderers to provide better employment terms and conditions for nonskilled workers if so of the details if not the reasons for that
Reply
President
In response to the question regarding nonskilled worker service contracts having consulted the four major procuring departments ie the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department FEHD the Leisure and Cultural Services Department LCSD the Housing Department HD and the Government Property Agency GPA our consolidated reply is as follows
1 A breakdown of the followup actions taken by the four major procuring departments in the past three years up to August this year against contractors of outsourced nonskilled worker contracts for noncompliance with contract terms is set out at Annex 1
2 and 3 The Government has all along attached great importance to the protection of occupational safety and health of outsourced workers employed by government service contractors For government service contractors employing nonskilled workers tenderers for service contracts that involve nonskilled workers performing duties outdoors in an indoor environment without airconditioning andor in the vicinity of high temperature installations are required to submit a Heat Stroke Prevention Work Plan Work Plan certified by a Safety Officer who has a valid registration with the Labour Department LD Procuring departments will also stipulate in the tender documents the minimum proposals of the Work Plan to be submitted by the tenderers which include adopting measures by making reference to the Guidance Notes on Prevention of Heat Stroke at Work published by the LD such as conducting risk assessments of heat stress and implementing appropriate heat stroke preventive measures based on the risk assessment results Any tender submitted without a Work Plan will not be considered in the tender assessment Contractors who fail to comply with the measures committed in the Work Plan may also be issued with demerit points under the Demerit Point System
The four major procuring departments have incorporated the relevant requirements mentioned above into the relevant nonskilled worker service contracts In the past three years up to August this year no case of noncompliance with the Work Plan was found by the four major procuring departments
4 The technical to price weightings under the tender marking schemes and the marks for certain technical assessment criteria of the existing outsourced nonskilled worker contracts of the four major procuring departments are set out at Annex 2
5 The Government has all along been committed to protecting the remuneration as well as labour rights and benefits of nonskilled workers under outsourced government service contracts Under the current procurement policy procuring departments must include wages and working hours as assessment criteria in the marking schemes for nonskilled worker contracts The marks assigned to wages should be no less than 25 per cent of the total technical marks while no such restriction is imposed on working hours Procuring departments will having regard to the nature of the contracts formulate and adopt appropriate assessment criteria and weightings on the premise of striking a balance between protection of workers rights and benefits and effective use of public funds
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