'There are situations for insourcing, a time for outsourcing and a time to go for public-private partnership (PPP). We look at the situation if it's a key area that is part of our strategic value, my sense is that it's something we should own the day-to-day operation,' said Dickson. 'In other words, whether we own the car or rent the car, we need to drive the car.'
Like the private sector, the public sector also leverages external parties for more efficient operation. But different from enterprises, the government has other concerns when it comes to seeking help outside.
'The public private partnership (PPP) is an essential component among all kinds of government projects,' said Jonson Yue, senior manager, solution and industry marketing at HP. 'Striking a balance between private and public sector involvement within e-government projects is a never-ending debate.'
Compared to other governments, Yue said the Hong Kong government has a comparatively higher quality and quantity of outsource projects. Although the OSP will allow an incremental participation from the private sector, a couple of recent e-government projects currently involve the private sector. The proposal to hand over the e-Cert service to the private sector and the outsourcing of the OGCIO's Central Computer Center (CCC) are examples.
Centralized outsourcing
Under the CCC outsourcing contract, 10 information systems for seven government departments current hosted at CCC will be outsourced to Sema Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of international consulting and IT services company Atos Origin S.A.
'[Through this deal] we learned outsourcing is a direction for the government,' said Philip Chua, managing director Hong Kong, Atos Origin. 'It will allow IT to concentrate on their core business and let the infrastructure management to be handled by service providers.'
In addition, the CCC deal is an opportunity for the government to gain experience in managing [outsourcing] initiatives involving multiple departments, said Patricia Lau, consultant at PA Consulting Group. The company provided consulting services for the OGCIO on this project.
'Since each department has their own priorities and expectations, as well as different working schedules, a communication strategy is essential to manage their expectations,' said Lau.
She added the communication strategy includes defining the point of time to inform the departments on project progress and developing communication channels, which ranges from seminars to workshops and one-on-one meetings.
Outsourcing direction
'The CCC outsourcing [deal] is a huge step, because that's a core infrastructure of the government,' said Neal Gemassmer, vice president Asia Pacific, Patchlink, a patch management company. 'It's a starting point to look at the efficiency of your core infrastructure and getting an outsourcing partner to handle the critical infrastructure.'
Apart from data center hosting, Gemassmer said the government should be leveraging that experience and outsource to other areas.
'Security is the next evolution in government efficiency,' he said. 'It's a natural step in the process in how to consolidate, either by using an internally managed operator or letting partners manage it based on SLAs.'
As the OGCIO is a more streamlined structure, Michael Chue, managing director of Symantec Hong Kong Ltd., said: 'One option the government could consider is implementing a comprehensive application performance management solution.'
These applications are known to help organizations improve business efficiency and mitigate costs by quickly identifying and resolving potential bottlenecks within an application infrastructure, added Chue.
'From my experience in this project, the government has been very professional,' said Philip Chua, managing director Hong Kong, Atos Origin. "The document was precise and the tendering requirements were clear--it's very similar to the way many enterprises handle outsourcing."
'We hope this will set a benchmark. If this project is a success, it will encourage and make it easier for the OGCIO to further push outsourcing to different departments,' added Chua.