Code of Practice on Procurement of Supplies, Goods and Services
5.0
CONSIDERATION AND DECISION ON ACCEPTANCE OF TENDERS6
5.1
For type 1 high-value procurement7, all tenders received shall be submitted to the MC or the owners' committee for decision on acceptance.
5.2
For type 2 high-value procurement or large-scale maintenance procurement8, it shall be ensured that for all tenders received, whether to accept the tenders are to be decided by a corporation resolution or an owners resolution.
5.3
A tender which requires approval by a corporation resolution or an owners’ resolution must be passed by majority votes. Where there are more than two alternatives and no option receives majority votes in the first round of voting, the owners’ meeting will have to conduct a second round of voting in order to comply with the majority requirement. Some plausible methods of voting are –
- Progressive elimination – After the first round of voting, the owners’ meeting may eliminate the option with the least number of votes and then carry out the second round of voting. If there is no option which receives majority votes, another round of voting will be carried out, with one more option being eliminated. If this goes on, only two options will be left in the final round of voting. Either one of the options will receive majority votes;
- Short-listing – After the first round of voting, the owners’ meeting may short-list the two options which gain the greatest number of votes for a second round of voting. This also means that the ultimate choice fulfils the majority requirement;
- Confirmation – A second round of voting could be carried out to confirm the option which has attained the greatest number of votes in the first round. This also ensures that majority votes are achieved.
5.4
If the procurement is the large-scale maintenance procurement, it must be ensured that the meeting procedures comply with the requirements of Schedule 6C and Division 4 of Part 3 of Schedule 7, including the voting-in-person threshold, i.e. at least 5% of the owners or 100 owners (whichever is the lesser) must vote personally on the resolution.
5.5
The MC and responsible person are advised to refer to the “Corruption Prevention Guide for Property Management Companies” issued by the ICAC9 to understand the common corruption risks, corruption prevention alerts and precautionary measures for conducting owners’ meetings (including the handling of proxy instruments).
5.6
After approving the award of consultancy agreement/works contract, the MC or responsible person is advised to notify all tenderers, property owners and occupants in writing of the tender result.
6 Please also comply with Division 5 of Part IV of the BMO and Part 2 of Schedule 7 to the BMO.
7 For the definition of type 1 high-value procurement, please refer to section 2D.
8 For the definition of type 2 high-value procurement, please refer to section 2D; for the definition of large-scale maintenance procurement, please refer to section 2E.
9 The “Corruption Prevention Guide for Property Management Companies” issued by the ICAC can be found at the following link: https://cpas.icac.hk/EN/Info/Lib_List?cate_id=3&id=2816