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SCMP Reporter

Updated at 6.48pm:
The Social Welfare Department (SWD) on Tuesday dismissed recent claims in the media it wasted HK$240 million on a contract termination with an IT contractor.

The allegation was made by the Chinese-language tabloid The Sun in a front-page report on Tuesday.

It accused the department of wasting HK$240 million after it terminated a data bank installation project with a contractor in mid-September.

In response to the report, a department spokesman explained on Tuesday that most of the HK$240 million was spent on another project ? which has been completed ? and only a small amount was spent on the project, which was later terminated.

He said the department obtained the sum in 2002 for setting up two computer systems ? the Technical Infrastructure (TI) and Client Information System (CIS).

The spokesman said TI had been running smoothly since its launch a year and a half ago. He said the CIS part, accounting for HK$30 million of the total budget, had to be terminated because the contractor ?failed to provide a system which could fulfil the requirements of the contract.?

?The department has so far paid a small amount of the contract price to the contractor and it is considering reclaiming the fund,? the spokesman said. ?It is, therefore, wrong to suggest that SWD has wasted HK$240 million.?

He said the delayed installation of the system would have no impact on the department?s work. The department would re-tender the project and expected that the system could come into operation in about two years? time.

The spokesman also rejected the report?s speculation that the posting out of principal social work officer Kok Che-leung was linked to the incident.

?It is a normal posting arrangement with no relation whatsoever to do with this matter,? he said.

?We expressed regret over such an inaccurate report which had been made without seeking verification with the department,? the spokesman said.



SWD dismisses suggestions it wasted millions terminating IT contract