Westminster's Zipcar Scheme

Mr Sawyer made this Freedom of Information request to Westminster City Council

The request was partially successful.

From: Mr Sawyer

28 May 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Today there was a release regarding Westminster Councils
partnership with Zipcar to provide a car sharing scheme. With
regard to that I'd like to request the following:

Records of how the tender was awarded to Zipcar, the assessment
procedures and and who had the final say on what company the
council went with. Could I have supporting documents for this,
including pre-tender RFI (Request For Information, or any
equivalent), the tender returns, the points awarded to each company
and the conclusions and recommendations Westminster drew from this
to choose Zipcar.

Could I have copies of any due diligence reports Westminster had
sought for Zipcar and the other competitors for the tender prior to
awarding the contracts.

Could I have a detailed list of the roll out of parking bays that
are now provided for motor car or motorcycle use or have not been
used for parking and what will be used for the car sharing scheme.

Can I have detailed forecasts for any income the scheme will bring
to Westminster Council, either forecast and/or under the agreement
with Zipcar.

Can I have detailed forecasts for any capital spending by either
Zipcar or Westminster Council on preparing those bays for car
sharing use.

Can I ask if Westminster have analysed the loss of income from
parking charges for the 100-400 bays and how this shortfall would
be made up?

Yours faithfully,

Gary Sawyer

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Westminster City Council

28 May 2009

Confirmation of Freedom Of Information Request

Thank you for your request for information.

Your request details have now been recorded and will be passed on to the
appropriate Divisional Records Officer for action.

This Freedom Of Information Request was based on the following
information:

Name: Gary Sawyer
Address: see email address
Email: [FOI #12532 email]
Telephone:
Request Details: Today there was a release regarding Westminster Councils
partnership with Zipcar to provide a car sharing scheme. With regard to
that I'd like to request the following:

Records of how the tender was awarded to Zipcar, the assessment procedures
and and who had the final say on what company the council went with. Could
I have supporting documents for this, including pre-tender RFI (Request
For Information, or any equivalent), the tender returns, the points
awarded to each company and the conclusions and recommendations
Westminster drew from this to choose Zipcar.

Could I have copies of any due diligence reports Westminster had sought
for Zipcar and the other competitors for the tender prior to awarding the
contracts.

Could I have a detailed list of the roll out of parking bays that are now
provided for motor car or motorcycle use or have not been used for parking
and what will be used for the car sharing scheme.

Can I have detailed forecasts for any income the scheme will bring to
Westminster Council, either forecast and/or under the agreement with
Zipcar.

Can I have detailed forecasts for any capital spending by either Zipcar or
Westminster Council on preparing those bays for car sharing use.

Can I ask if Westminster have analysed the loss of income from parking
charges for the 100-400 bays and how this shortfall would be made up?

FOI Reference Number: 3860
Target Completion Date: 25/06/2009

Please do not reply to this email.
This is an automatic response to your request, and replies to this message
will not be actioned.

If you need to contact Westminster City Council regarding your request,
please contact:

mailto:[Westminster City Council request email]
Tel:020 7641 3921

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From: Mr Sawyer

26 June 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

You have currently exceeded the maximum time allowed for FOI
#12532.

I am requesting an internal review and would like to think that I
will be advised within the further timescales granted to you under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Sawyer

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From: MotorCycleParking
Westminster City Council

29 June 2009

Attachment FOI3860Sawyer.gd.doc
33K Download View as HTML

Dear Mr Sawyer,

Please find the enclosed attachment below:

<<FOI3860Sawyer.gd.doc>>

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Alex Skene left an annotation (29 June 2009)

They failed to provide full details for their section 43 exemptions - see following: http://foiwiki.com/foiwiki/index.php/Sec...

- no prejudice test
- no public interest test

An internal review is advised.

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From: Mr Sawyer

30 June 2009

Dear MotorCycleParking,

Thank you for your reply regarding Westminster's Zipcar Scheme
however, you haven't really addressed the questions as asked and
have not complied with the FOI Act with regard to the public
interest test and prejudice test.

Having already exceed limits set within the FOI Act I would have
thought Westminster would be able to apply fully.

Under the FOI exceptions under section 43 should be explained to
the requester with points for disclosure and points against
disclosure, the bias is on disclosure not withholding information.
Public interest is on how revenue is generated by Westminster
Council with third parties.

For question 1, I thank you for your answers.

You have refused questions 2,3 & 4 under section 43. I'd like to
see the public tests for those questions (one procedure for each
question) as explained above please? To respond and simply quote a
section 43 exemption is not enough under the FOI Act.

Section 33 (and others) of the FOI Act also provides for disclosure
of expenditure but you have not given any defence for denying
section 33, so could I have answers for the above under section 33?
Again, a public interest test is applicable.

lastly, there doesn't seem to be any electronic versions of the
documents you say are included in FOI3860Sawyer.gd.doc but I
doesn't seem to be included.

Thank you for your time and efforts.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Sawyer

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From: MotorCycleParking
Westminster City Council

30 June 2009

Dear Mr Sawyer,

Thank you for your recent email, please accept my sincere apologies for the correspondence you received yesterday. Regrettably, the incorrect pre-generated response was sent, which was had not been approved. The letter you should have received consisted of a holding letter informing you that a further 10 working days were required in order to satisfy your request. The basis for this extension is to apply a public interest test to determine whither parts of your request contain commercially sensitive information.

I apologise for the content contained in the response that you received. I can assure you that this is due an admin error. Please find enclosed a copy of the holding letter that was intended.

Yours Sincerely

Gordon Deas
Departmental Records Officer

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From: Mr Sawyer

30 June 2009

Dear Gordon,

I'm afraid the notice regarding an extension of 10 days was not
attached to your last email.

Can I please also be advised of the status of the internal review
and ow the process had been applied to this FOI?

Thanks for your time.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Sawyer

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From: MotorCycleParking
Westminster City Council

1 July 2009

Attachment Doc4.doc
26K Download View as HTML

Dear Mr Sawyer,

Please find the enclosed attachment below:

<<Doc4.doc>>

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From: Mr Sawyer

1 July 2009

Dear Gordon,

Thanks, much appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Sawyer

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Richard Sage left an annotation ( 5 August 2009)

One month later, the 10-day limit appears to have been exceeded, but have they replied in substance?

I cannot see why there is any natural monopoly in car clubs, so why should WCC have issued a tender for one company rather than a set of requirements for a number of companies to qualify?

Richard Sage
NW1

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From: Customer Relations
Westminster City Council

14 August 2009

Attachment FOI3860Sawyer.gd.doc
50K Download View as HTML

Attachment PQQ Appendix 1.doc
131K Download View as HTML

Attachment Contract terms Conditions Appendix2.doc
268K Download View as HTML

Attachment Contract Specification Appendix 3.doc
77K Download View as HTML

Attachment Instructions to Tenders Appendix 4.doc
368K Download View as HTML

Attachment Final tenders Appendix5.xls
15K Download View as HTML

Attachment Final Tender Appendix 6.doc
3.4M Download View as HTML

Attachment appendices A and B for FOI.pdf
125K Download View as HTML

Attachment Zipcar reference for FOI.doc
71K Download View as HTML

Dear Mr Sawyer,

Please find enclosed a copy of the response to your Freedom of Information
request - 3860. I sincerely apologise for the delay in our response. It
was, however, necessary to consult with Zipcar and to advise them that we
were considering disclosing aspects of the Car Club contract with the City
Council. This was process was also necessary in the event that Zipcar had
concerns over the release of any information which they deemed to be
commercially sensitive.

I regret that you were initially provided with an incomplete response
instead of a holding letter. I hope you will accept that this was not
originally intended.

<<FOI3860Sawyer.gd.doc>>
Appendices:

<<PQQ Appendix 1.doc>> <<Contract terms & Conditions Appendix2.doc>>
<<Contract Specification - Appendix 3.doc>> <<Instructions to Tenders
Appendix 4.doc>> <<Final tenders Appendix5.xls>> <<Final Tender Appendix
6.doc>> <<appendices A and B for FOI.pdf>> <<Zipcar reference for
FOI.doc>>

Should you experience any difficulties in accessing this information, or
require further data in the future, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Gordon Deas

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From: Mr Sawyer

26 August 2009

Dear Gordon,

Many thanks for the detail and depth of your reply. Apology for the
delay accepted, this is well worth waiting for.

Thanks again for excellent information.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Sawyer

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