Analysis of procurement

Dear Department for Communities and Local Government,

I was excited to read of new, cutting edge analysis of council
spending data by procurement experts Opera Solutions that revealed
that greater transparency coupled with improved analysis is the key
to unlocking massive savings by driving down costs.

I have read the report from Opera Solutions and further to that
report I would like to know more about:

1) Communications - by letter or email - have taken place between
staff of Opera Solutions and officials, advisers and minsters of
the department since 1 June 2010; including a copy of such
communications;

2) Communications - by letter or email - between officials,
advisers and ministers of the department regarding Opera Solutions
and their work have taken place since 1 June 2010, including a copy
of such communications;

3) Details of any meetings that have taken place since 1 June 2010
involving or concerning Opera Solutions and officials, advisers and
ministers of the department, including dates, list of those present
and any records of what was discussed; and,

4) Any communication or contact since 1 June 2010 between the
department's current or former head of profession for statistics
involving or concerning the work of Opera Solutions, including a
copy of such communications and/or dates or meetings, lists of
those present and records of what was discussed.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Yours faithfully,

Edward Rudolf

Dear Department for Communities and Local Government,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for
Communities and Local Government's handling of my FOI request
'Analysis of procurement'.

I am requesting a review for two reasons:
1) The basis for estimating the costs of meeting my request refer
to the cost of retrieving emails. This ignored the fact my request
also covered written communication and notes of meetings. It should
be possible to access such records without a search of email.
2) Most email software includes a search function. I consider it
reasonable to assume the department can identify staff members
concerned with Opera Solutions, and their representatives.
Therefore I also consider it reasonable that the department could
use the existing search function to query the emails to or from
those individuals.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/an...

Yours faithfully,

Edward Rudolf