數碼21資訊科技策略諮詢委員會會議 Digital 21 Strategy Advisory Committee meeting
今天是新一屆數碼21資訊科技策略諮詢委員會第一次會議召開的日子。今屆的新會員當中包括了沈運生教授,香港業界對他認識,多數是由於他在科大電腦系任教,曾任系主任及香港政府的科學顧問,但我認識沈教授,卻是差不多二十五年前在普度大學時,沈教授除了在大學任教外,更是普度華人團契的領袖,當年為我施浸的正是沈教授。
說回這個數碼21資訊科技策略諮詢委員會,雖說是港府資訊科技決策的最高諮詢組織,但幾個月才開一次會,真的有用嗎?這問題不容易有肯定的答案,但我認為有參始終也有機會,也能瞭解多些決策者的可為與不可為。
在這次會議中討論較激烈的主題,是政府資訊科技採購的問題。政府採購資訊科技產品及服務,佔可觀的市場份額,但近年出現了很多嚴重的問題,例如很多大型政府資訊科技項目都出現「爛尾」情形;中小企和本土公司一直都不容易拿下政府的單子,即使拿到也常因政府部門項目管理的不善,令成本大增甚至不能完成項目,對這些情況,政府資訊科技總監辦公室(OGCIO)顯得不能有效地指導各政府部門。
就算是早前業界由我所屬的香港資訊科技商會統籌,多家服務供應商共同成功爭政府開放項目知產權,但有些部門仍不完全依隨指引,令單仲偕議員在會議上又要再提出向政府詢問,總之,問題仍未解決。這個問題,我必定會繼續關注跟進。
We had the first meeting of the new term of the Digital 21 Strategy Advisory Committee today. Among the new members today is Prof Vincent Shen, who is known to most of those in the industry in Hong Kong as a Professor of Computer Science in HKUST, formerly the department head and science advisor to the Hong Kong Government. But the Vincent that I knew from Purdue University 25 years ago was the leader of the Purdue Chinese Christian Fellowship. In fact, I was baptized by Vincent then.
Let's get back to the meeting today. Although the D21SAC is the "highest-level advisory committee" for IT, with only a meeting every three months, how effective is it? This is not easy to answer. But I do believe that participation is the right thing to do, and it helps us understand what policy-makers can or cannot do.
One of the more hotly debated topics this time was again about government IT procurement. Government IT procurement makes up a sizable proportion of Hong Kong's market. But a number of serious problems have been occurring with alarmingly increasing frequency. For instance, many large government IT projects have gone into troubles. Local companies or SMEs find it consistently difficult to get government contracts, and even if they get a job, troubles often still follow when project are mis-managed, leading to cost overruns. It seems that even OGCIO facing these problems are finding it hard to effectively direct all the IT departments in all the government branches.
Even though HKITF has coordinated with many concerned government IT suppliers to successfully get the government to open up the IP rights of delivered government projects, some departments are still found to be not following this new government guideline. Our IT legislator Mr Sin Chung-kai brought this up again in the meeting, and I will also commit to follow up accordingly.