LCQ2: Government outsourced service contracts
16.11.2022

Following is a question by the Hon Lam Chun-sing and a written reply by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui, in the Legislative Council today (November 16): Question: Regarding those government outsourced service contracts (contracts) involving mainly the employment of non-skilled employees, will the Government inform this Council: (1) of the number and total value of the contracts awarded by various government departments for all service categories and the number of non-skilled employees involved in each of the past three years, and a breakdown of such figures by three service categories (i.e. (i) security, (ii) cleansing and (iii) other services); (2) among the contracts mentioned in (1), of the number and percentage of those contracts in respect of which the successful tenderer was the one offering the lowest tendered sum, with a breakdown of such number of contracts by procuring department and the relevant percentages; (3) of the following information, as at October 1 this year, in respect of each of the four major procuring departments (i.e. (i) Leisure and Cultural Services Department, (ii) Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, (iii) Housing Department and (iv) Government Property Agency): (A) a breakdown of the (a) number, (b) monthly salary range and (c) average daily number of working hours of the non-skilled employees employed by the contractors of the contracts (contractors) under the department, by the three aforesaid service categories (set out in Table 1); and Table 1 Procuring department Security service Cleansing service Other services (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (B) a breakdown of the number of non-skilled employees employed by the contractors under the department by the three aforesaid service categories and the range to which the committed hourly wages in the tender belonged (i.e. hourly wages at (a) $37.5, (b) $37.6 to $39.9, (c) $40 to $42.5, (d) $42.6 to $45, (e) $45.1 to $47.5 and (f) $47.6 or above), as well as the respective percentages (set out in Table 2); and Table 2 Range of hourly wages Security service Cleansing service Other services Total (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) Subtotal % (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) Subtotal % (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) Subtotal % (a) &hellip; (f) Total (4) on preventing non-skilled employees from suffering heat stroke at work in hot environment, of the respective current numbers of contractors under each major procuring department (i) who have provided non-skilled employees engaged in outdoor work in summer with uniforms made of dry-fit materials, and (ii) in respect of which the relevant tender documents had already incorporated heat stroke prevention measures as practice guidelines when tenders were invited for the contracts; the respective percentages of such contractors? Reply: President, Having consulted the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), the Government Property Agency (GPA) and the Housing Department (HD), our consolidated reply to the question raised by Hon Lam Chun-sing is set out below: (1) and (2) As regards the government outsourced service contracts that rely heavily on the deployment of non-skilled workers (service contracts) awarded by the four major procuring departments through tendering, a breakdown (by category of service) of the number of contracts, the value of contracts, the number of non-skilled workers involved and the number of contracts awarded to bidders with the lowest-priced bid in the past three financial years are set out at Annex 1. (3) As for part (A), regarding the existing service contracts awarded by the four major procuring departments through tendering, figures (by category of service) on the number of non-skilled workers involved, the range of committed hourly wages and the average maximum number of working hours in a day as at October 1, 2022 are set out at Annex 2. As for part (B), regarding the existing service contracts awarded by the four major procuring departments through tendering, figures (by category of service) on the committed hourly wages pledged by the contractors and the number of non-skilled workers involved as at October 1, 2022 are set out at Annex 3. (4) In January 2021, the Labour and Welfare Bureau released the "Report on Review of the Improvement Measures for Non-skilled Employees Engaged by Government Service Contractors Implemented with effect from April 1, 2019". The report recommended that two improvement measures for non-skilled workers working in a hot environment be included during tendering, namely (i) requiring contractors to provide uniforms with dry-fit properties for non-skilled workers performing in outdoor work in summer; and (ii) including measures on preventing heat stroke in tender briefs as guideline for good practice. The requirements pertaining to the relevant measures have been included in all applicable service contracts tendered by the four major procuring departments on or after April 1, 2021.