Page 44 - URA Annual Report 2020-21

OPERATING REVIEW
Equipping Owners with Professional Assistance and Technical Knowledge
Smart Tender Building Rehabilitation Facilitating Services Scheme (Smart Tender)
In May 2016, the URA launched the Smart Tender
which aims to provide technical support for owners’
corporations (OCs) of private buildings and reduce the
risk of bid rigging at the works procurement stage.
It was later expanded to cover the procurement of
consultants and registered fire service installation contractors in May 2019 after the launch of FSW Scheme. Smart Tender seeks to help building owners to procure contractors independently via an electronic tendering platform (e-tendering platform) to carry out rehabilitation works with practical tools and provision of independent professional advice. Up to May 2021, around 1,650 valid applications have been received, of which around 1,550 have been approved and approached for providing the Smart Tender service. Further, the e-tendering platform has also been expanded to cover the procurement of contractors for applicants of LIMS Scheme and DRS since August 2019 and May 2021 respectively.
To allow OCs/DMC managers to procure selective services from consultants and contractors via the e-tendering platform free of charge without having to subscribe to the full service of Smart Tender, a new and independent e-tendering platform was launched in April 2021. The promotion of the new platform, targeting firstly at property management associations and property management companies, commenced in May 2021.
New Centralised Tender Collection System
As the URA undertakes more and more subsidy schemes for building rehabilitation, owners’ demand for procuring work contractors or consultants through the ‘Smart Tender’ electronic tendering platform has increased substantially.
Making use of smart technology to tackle the problem, a Centralised Tender Collection System has been developed by the URA, taking reference from the practice of using barcodes in logistics services and the book return system in public libraries. The new system has commenced operation since August 2020 allowing greater efficiency of the tendering processes. Work contractors or consultants can now submit their tenders by following
Tender documents are carried by the conveyor belt to the backend of the Centralised Tender Collection System, where details of the building for tender are read by the scanner.
instructions on the computer screen, pressing a few keys and then placing their tenders on the conveyor belt one by one. On the tender closing date, the system automatically generates the total number of tenders received and notifies the Certified Public Accountant in charge of opening the tenders, so that owners and accountants can reserve sufficient time to complete the tender opening process. The system is capable of handling a maximum of 3,000 procurement cases each year, significantly exceeding the capacity of conventional tender boxes. It also streamlines URA’s internal work flow through digitalisation of tender management process using Radio Frequency Identification technology with enhanced security and accuracy. As of June 2021, the system has successfully handled about 13,000
tender documents for 450 building works projects. Positive feedbacks have been received externally from tenderers and OCs and internally from URA staff alike.
40 URA ANNUAL REPORT 2020-21