To: Brian
Via email to [FOI #3668 email]
27 November 2008
Big Lottery Fund
1 Plough Place
Dear Brian
London EC4A 1DE
T 020 7211 1800
F 020 7211 1750
Freedom of Information request ref: D/107/2010/1
A 0845 039 0204
www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Thank you for your email of 20 October 2008 requesting information
UK Chair
under the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) regarding successful and
Sir Clive Booth
unsuccessful tender documents for contracts on the Growing
UK Chief Executive
Community Assets programme.
Peter Wanless CB
The Freedom of Information Act requires us to respond to requests
We are committed to bringing real
within 20 working days. On 21 October 2008 I wrote to you seeking
improvements to communities and
clarification on the information that you were seeking. On 27 October
to the lives of people most in need
2008 I wrote to you again, advising you that the clock would be
stopped until you provided some clarification on the information that
you were seeking. On 7 November 2008, you contacted me clarifying
the information that you were seeking. The clock was then restarted,
giving the Big Lottery Fund a revised deadline of 28 November 2008 in
which to respond to your request.
You requested a copies of the successful and unsuccessful tender
documents for the Support and Development contract and evaluation
contract on the Growing Community Assets programme. I can confirm
the Big Lottery Fund holds the requested information and copies of
most of the requested information is included with this letter.
In total, 8 documents fall under the scope of this request.
For the Support and Development Contract, tenders were received
from
A4E
Forward Scotland
Continuation
Page 2 of 5
Momenta
Highlands & Islands Consortium (successful bidder)
For the Evaluation Contract, tenders were received from
Blake Stevenson
Hall Aitken
SQW (successful bidder)
ERS
As you have not supplied us with a postal address, we have assumed
that you are requesting the information to be given to you
electronically.
We have given full consideration of supplying you all of the requested
information electronically under Section 11 of the Freedom of
Information Act. Section 11 states that
Where, on making his request for information, the applicant
expresses a preference for communication by any one or more of
the following means, namely—
(a) the provision to the applicant of a copy of the information in
permanent form or another form acceptable to the applicant,
(b) the provision to the applicant of a reasonable opportunity to
inspect a record containing the information, and
(c) the provision to the applicant of a digest or summary of the
information in permanent form or in another form acceptable to the
applicant,
the authority shall so far as is reasonably practicable give effect to
that preference. Unfortunately, we are not able to send you all of the documents that
you have requested electronically. Due to the age of some of the
documents requested, we do not hold electronic copies, and when we
scan the paper documents, they are too large to email.
We would be happy to send you paper copies of the two documents
that cannot be emailed through the post, to any address that is
convenient to you. Alternatively, if you still which to receive an
electronic version, we would be able to send you the requested
documents on a CD through the post.
Continuation
Page 3 of 5
Within the tender documentation relating to the evaluation contract
some information has been removed as we felt it was exempt from
release under the FoIA. Specific information on pricing has been
concealed as we feel that section 43(2) of the FoIA is engaged.
Section 43(2) states:
43(2) Information is exempt information if its disclosure under
this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial
interests of any person (including the public authority holding it).
We believe that the information contained within these sections would
be likely to seriously prejudice the commercial interests of the
organisations concerned. When considering the public interest we feel
that in all circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining
the exemption outweighs the arguments for release.
The arguments in favour of maintaining the exemption are that release
of this information may be damaging to the organisations that
submitted this information as the organisations concerned have
confirmed that the information could give a commercial advantage to
their competitors. We feel that publication of this information could be
damaging to the commercial interests of the organisations that
submitted these tender documents which strengthens the argument
against release when weighed against the factors relating to openness
and accountability. We have been as open as we feel we possibly can
without prejudicing commercial interests.
We appreciate that there are strong public interest arguments for the
Big Lottery Fund being open and transparent when making decisions
regarding public funds. However, these arguments are not, at this time,
strong enough to outweigh the arguments for maintaining the
exemption.
The Big Lottery Fund publishes a full annual report which details where
every penny has been spent. Within the copy of the tender documents
that we have sent you, we have included the details on all activities that
will occur as part of the proposals
The arguments for withholding the sections as previously stated are
valid at the time of writing, but it is possible that these arguments will
diminish over time.
We have also withheld CVs of key staff, which were included as an
appendix to the tender document as we as we did not consider these
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Page 4 of 5
relevant to your request. Had they been specifically requested it is
possible they would be exempt under section 40 of the FoIA relating to
Data Protection.
Information supplied in response to any Freedom of Information Act
request may be subject to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any non-
commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news
reporting. Any other use, for example commercial publication, would
require the permission of the copyright
holder.
Most documents supplied by the Big Lottery Fund will have been
produced by our staff and will be the copyright of the organisation.
However, we may have sent you information which is the copyright of
another person or organisation. If this is the case, you must ensure that
you obtain their permission before you reproduce any of their
information. If the information we have sent you includes a copyright
statement, you must not alter or remove this statement.
If you supply me with a postal address I will arrange for the two
remaining documents to be sent to you by return.
If you have any further queries regarding the FoIA please contact
myself at the address below. Your FoIA reference is: D/106/2010/1.
It would be helpful if you could quote this reference in any future
correspondence.
If you are unhappy with the level of service you have received in
relation to your request, you may ask for an internal review. If this is
the case, contact me and I will arrange for the decision to be reviewed.
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. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
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Page 5 of 5
Yours sincerely,
Sonia Howe
Head of Corporate Governance
One Plough Place
London EC4A 1DE
Tel: 020 7211 3736
Fax: 020 7211 3749
Email: [Big Lottery Fund request email]
