Dear Mr Todd

Subject: Freedom of Information Request on EFDM

Thank you for your letter, which we received by e-mail on 3^rd September 2008, requesting information regarding the Electronic Filing and Document Management programme.

The Department has considered all the information relating to your request and concluded that some of the information for the reasons set out below is exempt by virtue of section 43 - Commercial interests of the Freedom of Information Act.

However, the Department is happy to enclose the following information:

1. “The EFDM Business Prospectus and Pre-Qualification Questionnaire for the EFDM project.”

Please find attached copies of both the EFDM Business Prospectus and Pre Qualification Questionnaire and associated annexes as issued to the market by Logica as part of the EFDM tendering process.

2. “All details available to potential bidders undergoing the tender exercise, and where and when they were published.”

A series of documents were made available to potential bidders as part of the procurement exercise, including the EFDM Invitation to Negotiate and associated annexes, EFDM Business Operating Model, non-functional requirements, statement of service requirements, payment model and template forms of response, declaration certificate, DISC services subcontract terms and conditions and schedules and non-collusive tendering certificate. These documents were released to potential bidders on 8^th August 2008.

Please find enclosed a copy of the EFDM Business Operating Model's executive summary.

However documentation over and above the EFDM Business Prospectus, Pre Qualification Questionnaire and Business Operating Model executive summary refers to potential further work within the EFDM programme contains commercially sensitive information regarding business partners and sub-contractor. Consequently, the information is exempt by virtue of section 43(2) of the Act. Under section 43(2) information is exempt if its disclosure under the Act would, or would likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding it. Although we have considered the public interest in the transparency of Government, the commercially-related functions of the Department need, in any event, to be exercised in the wider context of the public interest.

We believe that disclosure of the information in a manner which fails to protect the interests and relationships arising in a commercial context could have the effect of discouraging the companies from dealing with the Department because of fears that disclosure of the information could damage them commercially particularly as the tendering process is still ongoing. This could in turn deter companies from supplying commercially sensitive information, and ultimately undermine the ability of the Department to carry out a successful procurement exercise, adversely affecting the IT projects and any future projects. Whilst the tender exercise remains ongoing, the public interest is best satisfied by maintaining confidentiality in order to ensure the integrity of the process.

3. “Any reports, documents or explanations of what was received from consultants and contractors who billed up to £2,147,214 between the publication of the January 2006 Feasibility Study and the initiation of this new tendering process. This would include any samples of partly complete `programme definitions' that future contractors could use for technical referral.”

The Department gave PA Consulting Terms of Reference to deliver a Feasibility Study into EFDM, which they did in January 2006. After that time PA Consulting were retained by the Department to provide ongoing support and advice to the Departmental led programme that was subsequently established, following delivery of the Feasibility Study, to explore further and plan in more detail the potential to implement EFDM within HMCS. During this subsequent period PA Consulting's advice and support significantly contributed to enabling the Department to develop the programme, however all further reports and documents were produced by the Department, not PA Consulting.

In addition to this the Department employed a small number of contractors for assistance with elements of the programme, such as commercial and technical issues, and they have similarly contributed to enabling the Department to develop the programme. Over this period of time the programme has produced a number of key documents, such as the programme's commercial strategy, business case, operating model and business volumetrics.

As stated under point 2 (above), Section 43 (2), provides that information is exempt information if its disclosure under the Act would, or would likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding it). Again we believe that whilst the tender exercise remains ongoing, the public interest is best satisfied by maintaining confidentiality in order to ensure the integrity of the process.

I hope you find this of some assistance.

If you are unhappy with the way the Department has handled your request you may ask for an internal review. Requests for internal review should be addressed to:

Access Rights Unit,

Selborne House, Point 6.17

54 Victoria Street,

London,

SW1P 6QT

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. You can contact the Information Commissioner:

Information Commissioner's Office,

Wycliffe House,

Water Lane,

Wilmslow,

Cheshire,

SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely,

David Hamlin

Ministry of Justice

Freedom of Information User Survey

The Constitution Unit, a research body at University College London, is carrying out an independent evaluative study of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in co-operation with a number of public authorities, including the Ministry of Justice. An important part of the evaluation process is gathering the experiences and opinions of FOI requesters like you. Any information you provide will only be seen by the Constitution Unit and will be handled in accordance with its privacy policy explained in the survey. The Ministry of Justice will only see the published results: no individual

responses will be visible to us and your participation will have no effect on your future dealings with the Ministry.

If you would like to take part in this study, please click the following link to be taken directly to the survey: http://www.tinyurl.com/2q4ll8. Or, if you prefer, contact Ben Worthy at [email address] or on 020 7679 4974 to ask more about the study.

If you have filled this survey out before, we invite you to fill it out again in light of the recent response to your request.

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