Problem-plagued project to build web-based financial management system to be put up for re-tender
The Treasury has abruptly terminated a $350 million information management contract with IBM and threatened the technology giant with a lawsuit.
The move leaves the government's much-touted transition to an accrual-based accounting system mired in delay and uncertainty.
The project, described by IBM as 'one of the largest and most ambitious e-government projects to be initiated in Greater China', will be put up for re-tender in the second half, government sources told the South China Morning Post.
'The project has experienced serious delays and the first rollout was not delivered on April 1 this year,' a Treasury spokesman said.
IBM Hong Kong spokeswoman Florence Ma Koon-yee confirmed the termination, saying the firm would work with the Treasury to enable 'a smooth transition'. She did not elaborate.