Government Public Cloud Services (GPCS)

Digital Policy Office (DPO) has developed a list of Government Public Cloud Services (GPCS) Providers, through which bureaux and departments (B/Ds) can acquire public cloud services from over 50 service providers with over 400 cloud service options. This procurement arrangement provides ample opportunities to cloud service providers, including small and medium-sized enterprises, to participate in government procurement activities more conveniently. Coupled with a standard set of terms and conditions initially agreed by individual GPCS Providers as the basis to establish subsequent service contracts, procuring B/Ds can easily refer to the list to issue their requests for quotations and place orders according to the prevailing government procurement procedures.

The procurement mechanism covers mainly the acquisition of the “Software as a Service” in terms of personal office automation services such as (a) office; (b) collaboration; (c) communication; (d) backup and recovery; and (e) e-engagement (i.e. social media), software of which is commercially available in the market, with a view to addressing the needs of individual officers and B/Ds.

The GPCS providers will provide cloud services under four categories: Category A - Productivity Applications; Category B - Business Applications; Category C - Cloud IT Services; and Category D - Social Media Applications.

With this listing arrangement on a “pay-per-use” basis, B/Ds achieve the benefits of increasing procurement flexibility, enhancing system capability, reducing one off and maintenance costs, and accelerating deployment in delivering IT solutions.

B/Ds can process data with different security requirements under GPCS and acquire different security features like data encryption in transit and data encryption at rest, two-factor authentication and multi-factor authentication and local data storage so as to meet their specific security requirements.

DPO has put in place a governance mechanism to safeguard the quality of services and refresh the list on a regular basis. To cope with the fast changing cloud computing environment, listed GPCS providers can also make requests to the Government for adding new services, changing existing services, or removing obsolete services subject to the approval of the DPO and potential GPCS Providers are allowed to submit requests at any time for inclusion into the GPCS suppliers list.

Currently, GPCS Providers can provide the government with their public cloud services on subscription basis covering four service categories, namely

(a) Productivity Applications with “Office Tools and Suites”, “Document and Content Management” and “Collaboration, Meetings, Conferencing” as mandatory items;

(b) Business Applications with “E-Mail” as a mandatory item;

(c) Cloud IT Services with “Backup and Restore” as a mandatory item; and

(d) Social Media Applications with “Photo Hosting/Sharing” and “Video Hosting/Sharing” as mandatory items.

How to Become a Government Public Cloud Services Providers

For those interested cloud service providers who have at least one year of cloud service experience can apply for inclusion in the list by completing the following forms:

1. “Request for inclusion” indicating their agreements: (i) to comply with the standard set of Terms and Conditions (Appendix B); and (ii) to release the service and reference prices to all B/Ds for internal reference; and
2. “Appendix E” with supporting and/or published materials showing their services to be offered together with the reference prices, etc. and demonstrating how requirements as listed in Sections 1.1 and 2.1 of Appendix C can be achieved.

Forms to be submitted / Relevant information
1.	Request for Inclusion Request for Inclusion
2.	Appendix A – Current Scope of GPCS and Related Services
3.	Appendix B – Standard Terms and Conditions
4.	Appendix C – General Requirements, Security Requirements, Manpower Requirements and Technical Requirements
5.	Appendix D – Regulating and Monitoring Mechanism for the Procurement of GPCS
6.	Appendix E - Schedules Appendix E - Schedules

Normally, an applicant can submit application for being enlisted in any service category for the provision of any mandatory item, and its application will be assessed on the basis of individual mandatory item.

Application for inclusion in the GPCS supplier lists is free of charge and application can be submitted to email (GPCS-Admin@digitalpolicy.gov.hk).

Applications received will be processed by DPO. Subject to confirmation of their credentials, those service providers that are found acceptable will be included in the GPCS Supplier Lists and notified by email. A simple regulating and monitoring mechanism is in place for the provision of GPCS. Service providers shall provide us with relevant statistics on their purchase orders received from the Government. Based on the statistics, B/Ds will report service provider’s performance to us periodically and on a need basis. If a service provider or its particular service cannot meet the expected quality requirements, we will consider delisting the relevant service or even the service provider. Details are included in Appendix D.

If you have any enquiries, please feel free to contact us by email (GPCS-Admin@digitalpolicy.gov.hk).

Information related to the listed service providers and their services is available at https://www.digitalpolicy.gov.hk/en/our_work/digital_infrastructure/industry_development/suppliers/supplier_list.html.

Related Links

For information about other departments which maintain supplier lists, please refer to the “List Table of Government Departments Which Maintain Supplier Lists for Commonly Used Goods and Services” on the website of the Government Logistics Department.