Replies to Questions from Finance Committee Members

Examination of Estimates of Expenditure 2003-04
CONTROLLING OFFICER'S REPLY TO
INITIAL WRITTEN QUESTION
Head : 25 – Architectural Services Department Subhead :
Programme : (1) – Monitoring and Advisory Services
Controlling Officer : Director of Architectural Services
Reply Serial No.
ETWB(W)008
Question Serial No.
Director of Bureau : Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works (for Programme (1) –
Monitoring and Advisory
Services)
Question : The target vetting time set by the Architectural Services Department is very long, which is
21 days for vetting tender documents, 30 days for vetting budget and design, and as long as
90 days for vetting final accounts. Can both the target and actual time for vetting be
shortened ?
Asked by : Hon. CHOW LIANG Shuk-yee, Selina
Reply : The purpose of the vetting exercise is to ensure that government subvented and joint-venture
projects conform to government requirements and value-for-money principles. The vetting
process involves professionals from a number of disciplines who would have to go through
complex and voluminous contract documents, design submissions or measurement records.
In view of the level of details involved, the performance targets are considered reasonable.
Notwithstanding these targets, in practice we adopt a flexible approach to facilitate the
subvented and joint-venture projects. We accept staged submissions and where necessary
we may give priority to the vetting of specific submissions.
Gototop
Signature
Name in block letters C. H. YUE
1000
Post Title Director of Architectural Services
Date 18 March 2003