Finance for Business North East ("JEREMIE")

The request was refused by One North East.

Dear One North East,

This request under the FOI Act is made in relation to the Finance for Business North East ("JEREMIE") programme of funds managed by ONE North East.

This FOI request is to be treated separately to, and not aggregated with, any other FOI requests made by me that is current (within the last 20 working days) or remains outstanding and overdue. I believe that the provision of information relating to this request should be readily to hand and therefore within the "appropriate limit".

I would be grateful if you could confirm/clarify the following:

On what date was the OJEU tender (OJEU09/10-002) for "corporate finance and venture capital services" Contract Notice (2009/S 67-096958) released (requesting PQQ responses) and what date were successful companies notified and selected to progress to next stage.

On what date was the OJEU tender (OJEU09/10-002) "corporate finance and venture capital services" Contract Award notice (2009/S 210-301411) issued.

Please list the companies that have been awarded a contract on the multi-supplier framework (OJEU09/10-002).

Please list the companies on the multi-supplier framework (OJEU09/10-002) which have subsequently been awarded contracts relating to the regional Venture Capital Loan Funds (as per http://www.northeastfinance.org/) and please also list those companies which currently have not.

Please list any companies that have not been specifically awarded a contract on the multi-supplier framework (OJEU09/10-002) but have been contracted to deliver fund management services for the "JEREMIE" funds.

Please confirm if Rivers Capital Partners Ltd has been awarded a contract on the multi-supplier framework (OJEU09/10-002) and if they have a contract via the approved framework to deliver the "JEREMIE" Angel Match fund. If not, please confirm and clarify the arrangement (specifying contract variation terms applied etc. within OJEU09/10-002 and other clarifying information where appropriate concerning subcontracting, joint ventures and partnerships) relating to Rivers Capital Partners Ltd which is a Joint Venture between e-synergy Ltd and Finance Tree Ltd (previously NStar Corporate Finance Ltd and sold by NF Holdings Ltd in 2008) and the multi-supplier framework contracts in relation to the "JEREMIE" Angel Match fund being operated by them at http://www.riverscap.com/

Please confirm and list if any of the companies awarded to the multi-supplier framework (OJEU09/10-002) have been contracted via that framework to deliver fund management services for funds other than the "JEREMIE" funds, e.g. Contract Notice (2009/S 180-258489) OJEU0910-008.

Please confirm the company name that was awarded COIF fund management services for Contract Notice (2009/S 180-258489) OJEU0910-008.

The NEL Growth Fund ("NELGF"), a fund managed by NEL Fund Managers Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of NEL Fund Management Group Ltd), was subject to a thematic audit by the Directorate General for Regional Policy ("DG Regio") for the purposes of assessing the management and control systems for NELGF at the level of the final beneficiaries and the delegated Managing Authority, Government Office for the North East. In 2009 the DG Regio's draft findings indicated that NELGF may not be State Aid compliant and that the procurement processes may not have been fully complied with. Please provide a complete update (including redacted correspondence where appropriate) concerning the final position of this audit and any financial corrections made.

Please confirm amounts of any financial support and/or professional services (e.g. legal services, operational costs etc.) provided to or at discount to NEL Managers Ltd or it's Holding Company (NEL Fund Management Group Ltd) and any wholly owned subsidiaries from 1st April 2009 onwards.

In August 2009 NF Holdings Ltd acquired the entire share capital of NEL Fund Management Group Ltd. Please confirm on what date ONE's share capital in NEL Fund Management Group Ltd (240 shares, 40%) was disposed and what consideration was provided in return for this disposal.

Please confirm the three separate dates when NEL Fund Managers Ltd were successfully selected to progress to next stage of the OJEU tender (OJEU09/10-002) for "corporate finance and venture capital services" following the PQQ stage, was awarded a contract on the subsequent multi-supplier framework and was awarded the contract to deliver the £20m "Growth" fund.

Yours faithfully,

James Burke

James Burke left an annotation ()

Clarification:

3rd paragraph from bottom should read:

Please confirm amounts of any financial support and/or professional services (e.g. legal services, operational costs etc.) provided to or at discount to NEL Fund Managers Ltd or it's Holding Company (NEL Fund Management Group Ltd) and any wholly owned subsidiaries from 1st April 2009 onwards.

Nicola Barnett, One North East

Dear James

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ("the
Act").

Thank you for your e-mail received 27 April 2010 in which you made 12
requests for certain information from One North East.

 

I can confirm that we have begun our investigation into your query and
expect to revert to you within the 20 day deadline.

Nicola Barnett

Specialist Advisor

Legal Services

One North East

( 0191 229 6817

È07733 465 964

6 0191 229 6227

* [email address]

" www.onenortheast.co.uk

 

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Dear Nicola Barnett,

Please clarify if you would like this articulated into "1 request".

Yours sincerely,

James Burke

James Burke left an annotation ()

FOI response received today: http://www.scribd.com/doc/31595573/Finan...

James Burke left an annotation ()

OJEU09-10-002 Contract Award Notice: http://www.scribd.com/doc/31604145/OJEU0...

Note: The dates appear to differ from FOI response provided, in particular response to point 12: http://www.scribd.com/doc/31595573/Finan...

All contracts awarded also state that it is unlikely that they will be sub-contracted, see response to point 6: http://www.scribd.com/doc/31595573/Finan...

James Burke left an annotation ()

Note: See Contract Notice for OJEU09/10-002 (PQQ stage) and page 16 re: consortium or subcontracting (http://www.scribd.com/doc/31605133/Contr...) with reference to response to point 6 (http://www.scribd.com/doc/31595573/Finan...)

Dear Nicola Barnett,

Thank you for the FOI response received via email 19th May 2010 (copy: http://www.scribd.com/doc/31595573/Finan...)

I would be grateful if you could clarify and/or provide a response in relation to omissions to the following points:

6) The original request stated "...please confirm and clarify the arrangement (specifying contract variation terms applied etc. within OJEU09/10-002 and other clarifying information where appropriate concerning subcontracting, joint ventures and partnerships) relating to Rivers Capital Partners Ltd...". This request does not appear to have been answered.

The Contract notice (http://www.scribd.com/doc/31605133/Contr...) on page 16 states "Where a consortium or sub-contracting approach is proposed, you will be required to provide all information in respect of the relationships and roles between the parties and identify the proportion of the work delivered by the parties named".

The Contract Award notice (http://www.scribd.com/doc/31604145/OJEU0...) makes no reference to Rivers Capital Partners Ltd and states that any contract awarded under the multi supplier framework is not likely to be sub-contracted by E-synergy Ltd. The date of contract award to E-Synergy Ltd according to the Contract Award notice is 16th September 2009.

Please state what the arrangements were in relation to Rivers Capital Partners Ltd assuming a contract and supply copies of appropriate documentation (including contract variations where appropriate) together with dates of all correspondence that was provided during the contract period and after the contract award, if necessary, in relation to the joint venture between E-Synergy Ltd and Pario Au Ltd.

9) The original request stated "Please provide a complete update (including redacted correspondence where appropriate) concerning the final position of this audit and any financial corrections made". If the documentation cannot be provided due to it currently being in draft form and not being finalised by the auditors please state if this issue was assessed during the tender evaluation, if this issue did not form part of the evaluation please state reasons why it was not considered to be relevant; and please provide appropriate documentation and clarification regarding this assessment.

12) The date provided for NEL being appointed to the multi supplier framework of 7th September 2009 appears to be different from the formal Contract Award notice (http://www.scribd.com/doc/31604145/OJEU0...) which records the date of contract award to NEL as being 16th September 2009 for lots 2 & 3. The date provided for NEL being contracted to deliver the Growth Fund under the multi supplier framework provided is 12th September 2009 which appears to be before the multi supplier contract award date. Please clarify these discrepancies and confirm the dates and provide a statement regarding full compliance with The Public Contracts Regulations 2006 (http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2006/2006000...). Where non-compliance with the regulations is known please provide details of non-compliance and state any remedial action taken or to be taken.

Yours sincerely,

James Burke

Nicola Barnett, One North East

I am out of the office until 24 May.

If you are making a Freedom of Information request, please redirect your
query to [OneNorthEast request email]

To see one of the ways in which One North East is helping regional
businesses through current economic difficulties, please click here:
http://www.onenortheast.co.uk/page/busin...

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Jaymes Glew, One North East

1 Attachment

James

Please find our final response to your additional JEREMIE questions.

Regards

Jaymes

Jaymes Glew
Legal Secretary & ERDF Week 2010 Co-ordinator

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Dear Jaymes Glew,

Thank you very much for the reply and copies of the ITT & PQQ criteria.

re: 1), 2) & 3) of your response and as per 2.4.2 and 2.4.4 of the PQQ that you provided, I would be grateful if you could provide a copies of the completed PQQ's for E-Synergy Ltd, Pario Au Limited and NEL Fund Managers Ltd.

Please also provide copies (redacted where appropriate) of completed ITT Appendices 2, 3 & 4 for E-Synergy Ltd, Pario Au Limited and NEL Fund Managers Ltd.

I would be grateful if you could provide this information as soon as possible as this request was originally asked on the 27th April 2010 and has yet to be fulfilled.

Yours sincerely,

James Burke

James Burke left an annotation ()

Scribd copy of response as received today: http://www.scribd.com/doc/33173732/JEREM...

Jaymes Glew, One North East

James

As this is the first time you have requested this information please
note it will be treated as a new Freedom of Information request and thus
we will respond within twenty days.

Regards,
Jaymes

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James Burke left an annotation ()

Note: re: FOI response point 1 (http://www.scribd.com/doc/33173732/JEREM... - page 5), the OJEU09-10-002 Contract Award Notice makes no mention of Pario Au Ltd and for E-Synergy Ltd the framework contract was awarded on the 16th September 2009 (Page 15 of http://www.scribd.com/doc/31604145/OJEU0...) and in this notice it is stated that E-Synergy Ltd is not likely to sub-contract (see page 17 of http://www.scribd.com/doc/31604145/OJEU0...).

This does not appear to correlate with the response to point 1 (http://www.scribd.com/doc/33173732/JEREM... - page 5) hence clarification sought today re: copies of completed PQQ and ITT apendices.

Dear Jaymes Glew,

Thank you for your quick response.

An extract from original request on the 27th April is as below and provided for info (complete record for info: http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/fi...).

I thank you for providing clarification notes in your response today and I believe that copies of the completed PQQ & ITT appendices should be readily to hand and able to be provided in a timely manner in order to complete and close this FOI request.

"Please confirm if Rivers Capital Partners Ltd has been awarded a
contract on the multi-supplier framework (OJEU09/10-002) and if
they have a contract via the approved framework to deliver the
"JEREMIE" Angel Match fund. If not, please confirm and clarify the
arrangement (specifying contract variation terms applied etc.
within OJEU09/10-002 and other clarifying information where
appropriate concerning subcontracting, joint ventures and
partnerships) relating to Rivers Capital Partners Ltd which is a
Joint Venture between e-synergy Ltd and Finance Tree Ltd
(previously NStar Corporate Finance Ltd and sold by NF Holdings Ltd
in 2008) and the multi-supplier framework contracts in relation to
the "JEREMIE" Angel Match fund being operated by them at
http://www.riverscap.com/"

Yours sincerely,

James Burke

James Burke left an annotation ()

Note: As per 2.4.2 of the PQQ (http://www.scribd.com/doc/33173732/JEREM...) Pario Au Ltd should have completed a PQQ as part of their Joint/Consortia bid with E-Synergy Ltd that is "Rivers Capital Partners Ltd).

A copy of this has been requested.

James Burke left an annotation ()

Email received 28th June 2010:

...for clarity the information you will be receiving is as follows:

- completed PQQs for Lot 2 (redacted) - E-Synergy, Pario Au and NEL
- completed PQQ for Lot 3 (redacted) - NEL
- ITT appendices 2, 3 and 4 for Lot 2 (redacted) E-synergy, Pario Au and NEL
- ITT appendices 2, 3 and 4 for Lot 3 (redacted) – NEL

James Burke left an annotation ()

Note: Information due by 15th July at the latest.

James Burke left an annotation ()

Documents received via email today:

- completed PQQs for Lot 2 (redacted) - E-Synergy and NEL
http://www.scribd.com/doc/34215221/E-Syn...
http://www.scribd.com/doc/34215284/NEL-P...

- completed PQQ for Lot 3 (redacted) - NEL
http://www.scribd.com/doc/34215293/NEL-P...

- ITT appendices 2, 3 and 4 for Lot 2 (redacted) E-synergy and NEL
http://www.scribd.com/doc/34215252/Lot-2... (note that ITT submission is submitted and signed by directors of Rivers Capital Partners; OJEU contract award notice lists e-synergy Ltd and not Rivers Capital Partners
http://www.scribd.com/doc/34215267/lot-2...

- ITT appendices 2, 3 and 4 for Lot 3 (redacted) – NEL
http://www.scribd.com/doc/34215272/lot3-...

Confirmed via email that the following will be supplied by the 15th July:
- completed PQQs for Lot 2 (redacted) - Pario Au
- ITT appendices 2, 3 and 4 for Lot 2 (redacted) Pario Au

James Burke left an annotation ()

re: "The NEL Growth Fund ("NELGF"), a fund managed by NEL Fund Managers Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of NEL Fund Management Group Ltd), was subject to a thematic audit by the Directorate General for Regional Policy ("DG Regio") for the purposes of assessing the management and control systems for NELGF at the level of the final beneficiaries and the delegated Managing Authority, Government Office for the North East. In 2009 the DG Regio's draft findings indicated that NELGF may not be State Aid compliant and that the procurement processes may not have been fully complied with. Please provide a complete update (including redacted correspondence where appropriate) concerning the final position of this audit and any financial corrections made."

A separate FOI request was made to the Directorate-General for Regional Policy ("DG Regio") on 18 June 2010 and the following reply received 9 June 2010 via email:

Thank you for your e-mail dated 16 June 2010 and registered at the Directorate-General for Regional Policy on 18 June 2010, requesting access to documents under Regulation No. 1049/2001 (OJ L145, 31.05.2001, page 43) regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents.

I regret to inform you that the documents requested are covered by one of the exceptions provided for by the policy relating to access to documents and that it cannot be made available to you.

The exception which applies to the documents you requested is that "The institutions shall refuse access to a document where disclosure would undermine the protection of the purpose of inspections, investigations and audits" as laid down in Article 4 of Regulation No. 1049/2001. As long as the audit has not come to a final conclusion, the Commission cannot provide the information requested.

However, if you want this position to be reviewed you should write to the Commission's Secretary-General at the address below, confirming your initial request. You have fifteen working days in which to do so from receipt of this letter, after which your initial request will be deemed to have been withdrawn.

The Secretary-General will inform you of the result of this review within 15 working days from the registration of your request, either granting you access to the documents or confirming the refusal. In the latter case, you will be informed of how you can take further action.

All correspondence should be sent to the following address:

The Secretary-General
European Commission
B-1049 BRUSSELS
Yours sincerely,
Agnes Lindemans
Head of Unit
Unit E2 - Ireland & United Kingdom
Directorate-General for Regional Policy
European Commission

James Burke left an annotation ()

Email received 12th July 2010:

Further to the information provided to you earlier today, I can confirm that Pario Au did not complete a PQQ questionnaire. Please see the extract below regarding the requirement for subcontractor PQQ submissions. Pario Au were not anticipated to provide more than 30% of the contracted services and were therefore not required to complete a questionnaire.

Where applications are submitted on behalf of a consortia bid, joint ventures, other joint arrangements or where a substantial amount of the contract will be sub-contracted a questionnaire must be completed for each member of the stated arrangements.

Where you are intending to sub-contract a substantial element of the services[1] the named sub-contractor must also complete a PQQ. You will be asked to clarify the proportion of the work that the prime contractor proposes to sub-contract.

Where a consortium or sub-contracting approach is proposed, you will be required to provide all information in respect of the relationships and roles between the parties and identify the proportion of the work to be delivered by the parties named.

The Agency will evaluate the bidders with the aim of ensuring the overall services required as set out herein can be delivered by the parties named.

[1] A substantial element is defined as greater than 30% or more of the value of the services or a core/key/high risk area of the services

I trust that this satisfies your queries. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require any further information.

Kind regards

Nicola

Nicola Barnett
Specialist Advisor

Legal Services
One North East

Reply sent:

Thank you for the clarification.

The e-synergy PQQ response for 1.51.1 states “E-Synergy Ltd. is the prime contractor.Financetree Ltd. is the subcontractor.Rivers Capital Partners is the 50/50% joint venture between E-Synergy Ltd and Finance Tree Ltd. (parent company Pario Au Ltd.) through which once established it is intended to conduct most of the work.”

As Pario Au Ltd is the parent company of Finance Tree where Pario Au owns 100% of Finance Tree please state why it was considered unnecessary to require a separate PQQ response from Pario Au Ltd or Finance Tree Ltd.

I also note that following the PQQ stage, the ITT response/bid for Lot2 was submitted by Rivers Capital Partners (http://www.scribd.com/doc/34215252/Lot-2...) whereas the formal public OJEU Contract Award notice (http://www.scribd.com/doc/31604145/OJEU0...) solely lists e-synergy Ltd (no mention of Rivers Capital Partners, Finance Tree or Pario Au) and also states that the contract is not likely to be subcontracted.

I would be grateful if you could unambiguously clarify these discrepancies.

Thanks,

James

James Burke left an annotation ()

Additional email sent to ONE 13 July 2010 seeking clarification on the above:

Please provide the records by which you are informed that “Pario Au were not anticipated to provide more than 30% of the contracted services and were therefore not required to complete a questionnaire.”, eg by whom, when and source etc.

James Burke left an annotation ()

Email received from ONE North East 13th July 2010:

James

Thank you for your e-mail received 12 June 2010 in which you made a request for certain information from One North East.

I can confirm that we have begun our investigation into your query and expect to revert to you within the 20 day deadline.

Kind regards

Jaymes Glew
Legal Secretary

Dear Jaymes Glew,

I would be grateful if you could confirm if these email clarifications (http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/fi... & http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/fi...) are being treated as a new request and therefore subject to another 20 working day period?

Yours sincerely,

James Burke

Jaymes Glew, One North East

Mr Burke,

We have indeed received the below requests and they will be treated as
new FOI requests accordingly.

Many thanks

Jaymes

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Dear Jaymes Glew,

Thank you for clarifying.

I would be grateful for the following information then all requests/clarifications relating to Finance for Business North East "JEREMIE") (http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/fi...) will be complete and this request successfully closed.

From when the OJEU tender (OJEU09/10-002) was issued on 9th January 2009 please list any current directors or board members of North East Finance Ltd (http://www.northeastfinance.org) who have also served as a director or board member of One North East (or any of its subsidiary companies) and as a director of a company awarded a contract on the multi-supplier framework (managed by North East Finance), eg:

- Andrew Mitchell is currently Chief Executive of North East Finance Ltd and resigned as a director from NF Holdings Ltd (holding company of North Star Equity Investors Ltd who have been awarded 2 contracts via the multi-supplier framework OJEU09/10-002) in April 2009
- Christopher Thompson is currently a Statutory Board Member of North East Finance Ltd and resigned as a director from North Star Equity Investors Ltd in May 2009 and also resigned as a ONE North East board member in November 2009

Yours sincerely,

James Burke

Jaymes Glew, One North East

James

Thank you for the below. This one further request will be treated as a
new Freedom of Information request and is subject to the usual
timescales of twenty days.

Many thanks
Jaymes

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Dear Jaymes Glew,

The aim of this note is to provide a summary of the responses to this FOI request.

New funding (Proof of Concept, Co Investment Fund etc. £125m fund) awarded and managed via http://www.northeastfinancelimited.co.uk/ in 2009/2010 also known as “JEREMIE” or “Finance for Business North East” appears to have a number of irregularities which may well have been clarified if the FOI requests were not refused and responses were provided; but as this is not the case the apparent irregularities remain unexplained

There appear to be numerous perceived “conflicts of interest” in the management of the Finance for Business funds, the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) tendering process and the recipients of the contracts which remain unanswered – see http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/fi...

The award of the £20m Growth fund (http://www.northeastfinancelimited.co.uk...) http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/fi... appears to have been provided to the NEL Management Group Ltd (NEL) who were bidding for an OJEU tender from One North East who (One North East) at the time had 40% of issued shares in NEL. Shares were disposed of on the 6th August 2009 in exchange for £220,000 paid by NELs parent company NF Holdings Ltd to One North East (see annotations dated 19th May http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/fi... )

In relation to a previous £5m fund NEL were also subject to a thematic audit by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Regional Policy ("DG Regio"). In 2009 the DG Regio's draft findings indicated that NELGF may not be State Aid compliant and that the procurement processes may not have been fully complied with. The final findings by the DG Regio are not yet concluded and unavailable at present: http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/fi...

There also remains unanswered questions in respect of the award of the £7.5m “Angel” fund (http://www.northeastfinancelimited.co.uk...) as “anticipations” or assumptions appear to have been made by One North East about Pario Au (parent company of Finance Tree Ltd) and Pre Qualification Questionnaires (PQQs) were not completed by Pario Au where it would appear, from the tender documentation, they should have completed the PQQs. http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/fi....

There are also discrepancies between the official OJEU documentation and the FOI responses provided by One North East - http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/fi...

Coincidentally, four days after this response, which appears to provide contradicting information between One North East’s account during the time of the OJEU tender and what is officially recorded on the OJEU Contract Award notice, Peter Judge Head of Legal Services & Procurement at One North East issued One North East’s first ever Section 14(1) refusal notice and have since failed to provide any responses to clarify this FOI request or others that remain unanswered.

As a Section 14(1) refusal notice has been issued and upheld following an internal review by One North East (http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/su...) it appears that I am unable to seek further clarifications to this FOI request which remains unanswered.

Yours sincerely,

James Burke

James Burke left an annotation ()

ICO case number FS50361346 allocated 11th January 2011

Maris Hunt left an annotation ()

Mr Burke

Noticed that you are appealing this case. Is there any update?

Many thanks
M Hunt