Swire Coca-Cola wins HK$32m government water deal

Swire Coca-Cola has been awarded a contract to supply more than 1.46 million bottles of water, valued at nearly HK$32 million, to government offices on Hong Kong Island and parts of the outlying islands. According to a Government Logistics Department notice, the contract was awarded on Tuesday, following an open tender launched in December. At the time, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau said the procurement process featured strengthened requirements at various stages – covering document preparation, tender evaluation and contract management – to prevent fraudulent acts and ensure a stable supply. The department was at the centre of a major procurement scandal last year, after it was revealed that it had awarded a HK$52 million contract for supplying various government offices with bottled water to Xin Ding Xin – a firm that was later accused of lying about how it sourced the water from the mainland. Edited by Tony Sabine