Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Christopher Hui today convened an urgent meeting with relevant parties on the recent incident concerning government procurement of bottled drinking water.

It was decided at the meeting that a three-pronged approach would be taken to investigate the incident and conduct a review of the system with a view to avoiding a re-occurrence of similar incidents.

Firstly, the Financial Services & the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) has proactively invited the Audit Commission to review the tender exercise for the subject bottled drinking water contract to find out if there is any negligence or deficiencies in the process.

Secondly, a task force chaired by Mr Hui will be established with representatives from the Civil Service Bureau, the Commerce & Economic Development Bureau, the Development Bureau and the Department of Justice.

The task force will review the existing government procurement regime with a view to plugging possible loopholes and avoiding a re-occurrence of similar incidents.

The FSTB anticipates that a report on the preliminary recommendations will be available after three months.

Thirdly, the Government Logistics Department (GLD) has been tasked to take up the main responsibility of continuously monitoring the contractual performance of the suppliers of bottled drinking water.

The department will step up its remedial action regarding the contract in question, and will follow up with relevant government departments on other government contracts undertaken by the same contractor and its persons-in-charge to take an overall look at their performances.

Mr Hui said the incident has brought up concerns among government colleagues and drawn extensive attention from the public.

The GLD has informed all bureaus and departments to recall the bottled drinking water in question and made relevant arrangements.

Additionally, the Audit Commission said it carries out regular audits under the Audit Ordinance to ensure that financial and accounting transactions involving the Government, and public money, are proper and conform to accepted accounting standards.

It highlighted that the Government's tender exercise for procuring bottled drinking water falls within the scope of its work.

The commission added that it undertakes to identify any deficiencies when auditing the accounts. Where any deficiencies or irregularities are detected, it will candidly report these, and will write to government bureaus or departments to make recommendations for improvements and follow-up actions.