The Government today released a consultation paper to invite views from the information technology industry on its procurement arrangement for IT professional services.

It explained that it has been striving to foster development of the local IT industry, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), by enlisting them in government IT projects.

The Government also implemented the Standing Offer Agreement for Quality Professional Services as part of the IT outsourcing strategy.

The current agreement will expire in the second half of next year. In preparation for the next agreement, the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer launched a one-month consultation on improvements to the present arrangement.

The office aims to cope with the latest changes in the IT market and increase the chances for SMEs to join the agreement.

The enhancement measures under consideration include removing the upper limit of the number of contractors and reorganising existing service categories to encourage more contractors to bid for individual projects.

Interested parties may forward their comments and suggestions by December 15 via email.