This is a notification to confirm that we have received your email and are
looking into your query. We will respond to you further in due course and
in line with any legislative deadlines. 
Regards,
The Freedom Of Information (FOI) team

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incorporated by Royal Charter and established to shape, support, champion
and lead a thriving National Citizen Service.

National Citizen Service Trust is registered in England and Wales with
Royal Charter Body number RC000894. Our registered office is at The
Pembroke Building, Kensington Village, Avonmore Road, London, W14 8DG.

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE

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message in error, please notify us and remove it from your system.

Dear Tim,
Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act received 30/01/2020. We are contacting you to inform you
that we need more time to respond to your request as we consider an
exemption applies. 
We consider that the Section 43(2) exemption under FOIA applies to some of
the information you have requested and that disclosure would be likely to
prejudice the commercial interest of NCS and unsuccessful suppliers.  We
require more time to consider the public interest test.
We hope to respond to you soon with the response to your request.
Thank you,
The NCS FOI Team

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Dear Mr Campbell

Information Requested FOI - Ref No: 00215626

Responding to your FOI request

The information majority of information requested is detailed in the
[1]award notice that was published in the OJEU. 

• Suppliers who applied for inclusion on each framework/contract and were
successful & not successful at the PQQ & ITT stages - 

We received 77 expressions of interest, 37 suppliers submitted a PQQ(SQ)
and 26 were invited to the ITT stage, we received 25 tender responses. The
names of the successful tenderers are:

Ball and Hoolahan Ltd 

Better Placed London Ltd

CoulterPepper Ltd

Goodman Masson Ltd

Manpower UK Ltd

Morgan Law Ltd

Networkers International (UK) Ltd

Oakleaf Partnership

Michael Page International Recruitment Ltd

Parity Professionals Ltd

Parkhouse Bell Ltd

Prospectus Ltd

PSD Group Ltd

Reed Specialist Recruitment Ltd 

Robertson Bell Ltd 

Ronin Ltd

Spring Technology Staffing Services Ltd

Step Ahead Social Enterprise Community Interest Company

Switch Consulting Recruitment Ltd

As we have advised you in our holding response sent to you on 27th
February 2020, we consider that the information that you have requested in
relation to the names of the unsuccessful applicants falls under the
exemption at Section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information 2000(FOIA). 

We are withholding this information on the basis that disclosing the names
of the unsuccessful suppliers would be likely to prejudice or harm the
commercial interests of both the suppliers and NCST. Disclosing the names
of unsuccessful bidders could damage the bidders’ commercial reputations
and in turn could deter suppliers from competing in public tenders, if
there is a risk that an unsuccessful bid could become public knowledge. In
turn, NCST might be left with fewer suppliers and therefore be less able
to secure best value for public money. 

Section 43(2) of FOIA  is a qualified exemption, which means that NCST is
required to consider the public interest when the Section 43(2) exemption
is engaged. NCST therefore has to decide whether the balance of the public
interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs that of disclosing the
information. In favour of disclosure, NCST notes that there is a strong
case for openness and transparency in the affairs of public bodies,
especially in relation to public spending. In favour of withholding the
information, NCST notes that the disclosure of such information may cause
unwarranted reputational damage to those suppliers who were unsuccessful
in their bids, which may in turn damage their commercial interests through
loss of trade. 

Given that the unsuccessful bidders will not be supplying services to
NCST, and therefore the release of their names will not be relevant to
issues over public spending or transparency, NCST considers that the
public interest lies in favour of withholding the information. In NCST’s
view there is no public interest in releasing names of suppliers who will
not be contracting with NCST, which is set against the backdrop of
potential unwarranted reputational damage to those unsuccessful
suppliers. 

There is also, in NCST’s view, a risk that if suppliers knew their lack of
success in winning a tender would be made public, they may decide not to
bid at all. This might in turn narrow the pool of suppliers and prevent
NCST, as a public body, from being able to obtain the best value for
public money. In addition, NCST has ensured transparency and fairness in
the procurement process as far as possible by publishing as much
information as it considers appropriate, including the names of successful
bidders and details of the evaluation criteria as part of the tender
process. 

• Actual contract values of each framework/contract (& any sub lots) 

This is a framework and there is no value attached to each contract. The
estimated spend over the life of the framework is up to £800k, if all
extension options are taken. It is likely to be lower than this. 

• Start date & duration of framework 

The framework started on 01/07/2019 and the initial period was 1 year.

• Is there an extension clause in the framework(s)/contract(s) and, if so,
the duration of the extension? 

As detailed in the award notice there is a one year option to extend. 

• Has a decision been made yet on whether the framework(s)/contract(s) are
being either extended or renewed? 

No decision has been made yet. 

• Who is the senior officer (outside of procurement) responsible for this
contract?  

The Head of Recruitment is responsible for this contract.

Next Steps

We hope that the above response is clear. The deadline to respond to a
freedom of information request is 20 working days following the date that
the request is received and we have met that deadline. If you have any
further queries please do not hesitate to contact us back on this email
address.

NCS Trust is committed to making information available under the Freedom
Of Information Act 2000 and to ensuring that the service it provides for
those wishing to gain access to information is simple, efficient and
effective. If you feel the service you have received does not meet the
legislative requirements please write, giving details of your complaint,
by email to "[2][National Citizen Service Trust request email]" or, if you are contacting us by post,
by writing to the following address: National Citizen Service Trust, the
Pembroke Building, Avonmore Road, Kensington, London W14 8DG. 

Your complaint will be fully investigated and treated confidentially by
NCS Trust. If your complaint is about a response to a request for
information, it will be dealt with by a member of staff at NCS Trust who
was not involved in the original decision. An initial response will be
made within 5 working days of receipt of the complaint. A full
investigation and any decision will be made and conveyed to you within 20
working days. If we are unable to deal with your complaint within this
timeframe we will inform you and let you know the reason for the delay. 

If your complaint is upheld you will be notified of what action will be
taken. If the complaint is not upheld you will be given a reason for the
decision. If NCS Trust does not deal with your complaint to your
satisfaction, you are entitled to refer your complaint to:

The Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
[3]www.ico.org.uk
Yours sincerely,

The NCS Trust FOI Team
[4][National Citizen Service Trust request email] 

On Thu, 27 Feb 2020 at 13:58, NCS FoI <[5][National Citizen Service Trust request email]> wrote:

Dear Tim,
Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act received 30/01/2020. We are contacting you to inform you
that we need more time to respond to your request as we consider an
exemption applies. 
We consider that the Section 43(2) exemption under FOIA applies to some
of the information you have requested and that disclosure would be
likely to prejudice the commercial interest of NCS and unsuccessful
suppliers.  We require more time to consider the public interest test.
We hope to respond to you soon with the response to your request.
Thank you,
The NCS FOI Team

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