Human resources: Government Chief Information Officer Howard Dickson said the contracts will provide a competitive and reliable source of IT staff for government departments.

The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer has awarded three-year standing offer agreements to 10 companies to provide information technology contract staff services to government departments, starting September 1.

The contracts are non-exclusive in nature and will complement other agreements the Government has for IT professional services on an assignment basis.

Speaking at the contract-signing ceremony this afternoon, Government Chief Information Officer Howard Dickson said the contracts would help to provide a competitive and reliable source of IT staff for government departments, allowing them maximum flexibility to adjust their IT manpower levels in response to different phases of IT project implementation.

Under the new batch of standing-offer agreements, IT staff service draw-down requirements will be open to the 10 contractors for bidding and awarded to those offering the most suitable personnel fulfilling the price and qualification requirements.

The introduction of a second-tier bidding mechanism under the new agreements is a new initiative that aims to enhance the contracts' competitiveness and ensure cost-effective services will continue to be supplied under the changing market conditions.

Companies awarded the standing offer agreements include:

*Automated Systems (HK) Limited;

*Camcentre Limited;

*CL Technical Services Limited;

*EDPS Systems Limited;

*InfoTech Services (Hong Kong) Limited;

*Manpower Services (Hong Kong) Limited;

*QUESCO Systems Limited;

*Synova Inc.;

*Unihub Limited; and

*Verossity Limited.