My Croydon App

The request was successful.

Dear Croydon Borough Council,

You have recently made available to the public an application for use on iPhones and other similar devices to enable the reporting of issues around the borough.

I would like some information on the procurement of this app.

1, When was the provision of the programming and technical support for this app first put out to tender? When did the tendering process end?

2, Please provide a copy of the tender document used by Croydon Council to procure these services.

3, Please provide a copy of the press releases that announced the agreement for this app, and announced the app's availability to the public.

4, How many companies and other interested bodies tendered for the contract from Croydon Council to provide the services which are now offered as the "My Croydon App"?

5, Please identify these tendering bodies.

6, What is the term of the contract for the provision of these services?

7, What are the requirements of the contract on the successful bidder for the maintenance and up-grading of the application?

8, What undertakings or guarantees have Croydon Council obtained to ensure that the application which they are using is the copyrighted property of the successful bidder?

9, What is the value of the contract which Croydon Council has agreed with the successful bidder?

Yours faithfully,

S Downes

Freedom Of Information, Croydon Borough Council

Dear S Downes

 

Freedom of Information Request

 

Thank you for your recent request.

 

Your request is being considered and you will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days, subject to the application of
any exemptions. Where consideration is being given to exemptions the 20
working day timescale may be extended to a period considered reasonable
depending on the nature and circumstances of your request. In such cases
you will be notified and, where possible, a revised time-scale will be
indicated. In all cases we shall attempt to deal with your request at the
earliest opportunity.

 

There may be a fee payable for the retrieval, collation and provision of
the information requested where the request exceeds the statutory limit or
where disbursements exceed £10. In such cases you will be informed in
writing and your request will be suspended until we receive payment from
you or your request is modified and/or reduced.

 

Your request may require either full or partial transfer to another public
authority. You will be informed if your request is transferred.

 

If we are unable to provide you with the information requested we will
notify you of this together with the reason(s) why and details of how you
may appeal (if appropriate).

 

Please note that the directorate team may contact you for further
information where we believe that the request is not significantly clear
for us to respond fully.

 

 

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Christine Tanriverdi

FOI Coordinator

Croydon Council

 

 

Information in relation to the London Borough of Croydon is available
at[1]http://www.croydonobservatory.org/. Also responses to previous
Freedom of Information requests can also be found on the following
link[2]https://croydondata.wordpress.com/

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Council services, online, 24/7 www.croydon.gov.uk/myaccount Download our
new free My Croydon app for a faster, smarter and better way to report
local issues www.croydon.gov.uk/app

Please use this web site address to view the council's e-mail disclaimer -
http://www.croydon.gov.uk/email-disclaimer

References

Visible links
1. http://www.croydonobservatory.org/
http://www.croydonobservatory.org/
2. https://croydondata.wordpress.com/
https://croydondata.wordpress.com/

Freedom Of Information, Croydon Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Downes

Please find attached the Council's response to your request relating to
the above reference

Yours sincerely

Christine Tanriverdi

Information Co-ordinator

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Council services, online, 24/7 www.croydon.gov.uk/myaccount Download our
new free My Croydon app for a faster, smarter and better way to report
local issues www.croydon.gov.uk/app

Please use this web site address to view the council's e-mail disclaimer -
http://www.croydon.gov.uk/email-disclaimer

Dear Croydon Borough Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Croydon Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'My Croydon App'.

The complaint takes two forms.

First, the response took more than the 20 working days as required by law.

Second, my first question, in respect of the value of the contract for this application, has not been answered. The use of public money needs to be open and accountable at all times, and in this instance, where no competitive tendering process was undertaken by the council, this detail requires particular attention.

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

Yours faithfully,

S Downes

Derby, James, Croydon Borough Council

Dear Mr Downes

 

I write regarding your email of 04 February 2014 regarding your
dissatisfaction with the FOI response you received from the Council on 04
February 2014 about the use of smartphone application (My Croydon App) by
the Council.  I have been asked to undertake an internal review in respect
of the response.

 

As you may be aware, the Information Commissioner’s Office recommends that
internal reviews are undertaken within 20 working days following receipt
of the request, in other words, by 04 March 2014. I will be making
enquiries from relevant officers of the Council about your FOI request
which will allow my consideration of the request and the response you were
provided with. I will revert to you once the investigation is completed
and has been considered in relation to the provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

 

Regards

 

James Derby

Corporate Solicitor

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Council services, online, 24/7 www.croydon.gov.uk/myaccount Download our
new free My Croydon app for a faster, smarter and better way to report
local issues www.croydon.gov.uk/app

Please use this web site address to view the council's e-mail disclaimer -
http://www.croydon.gov.uk/email-disclaimer

Derby, James, Croydon Borough Council

Dear Mr Downes

I write further to my email of 06 February 2014 acknowledging your request
for an internal review of the FOI response you received from the Council
on 04 February 2014 about the use of smartphone application (My Croydon
App). I have now completed the internal review of the FOI request.

In undertaking this internal review, I have examined your FOI request
contained in your email of 28 December 2013 and the Council’s response of
04 February 2014

I have also examined the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000
(FOIA) and relevant guidance notes from the Information Commissioner’s
Office (ICO). Also, in the course of conducting this internal review, I
discussed with relevant officers regarding processing your request. My
discussions with the officers included enquiries about information held by
the Council relating to your FOI request and reviewed same vis a vis the
provisions of the FOIA.  I have then set out my decision as to whether or
not the Council complied with its obligations under the FOIA.

In your email of 04 February 2014, you mentioned your dissatisfaction as
follows:

“First, the response took more than the 20 working days as required by
law.

 

Second, my first question, in respect of the value of the contract for
this application, has not been answered. The use of public money needs to
be open and accountable at all times, and in this instance, where no
competitive tendering process was undertaken by the council, this detail
requires particular attention”.

Section 1 of the FOIA provides a general right of access to information
held by public authorities. Under the legislation, the public authority is
expected to conduct a search into its records (electronic and manual) to
determine if the information requested is held by the public authority.
Where the information is held, there should be a disclosure to the
requestor subject to withholding any of such information pursuant to any
of the 23 (twenty three) absolute or qualified exemptions available under
the FOIA. The qualified exemptions require the public authority to apply
the public interest test before making a decision regarding disclosing or
withholding the information.

The issues for consideration in this internal review are two fold.
Firstly, whether the Council complied with its obligation under Section 10
of the FOIA i.e. provided the information to you within 20 working days
following date of receipt of your FOI request. Secondly, whether
information you requested about the value of the contract (Croydon App) is
held by the Council. If the answer is in the affirmative, then the Council
is obliged to disclose the information to you save to the extent that one
or more of the FOIA exemption is engaged.

 

Section 10 (1) of the FOIA provides that a public authority must provide
information to a requestor not later than the twentieth working day
following the date of receipt of the request. I note your FOI request was
sent to the Council on 28 December 2013. As 01 January 2014 is a bank
holiday, the twentieth working day for your request was 24 January 2014.
As mentioned above, you received the FOI response on 04 February 2014; in
view of this I agree that the Council failed to meet its obligation under
Section 10 (1) of the FOIA.

 

You have raised concerns about procurement of the Croydon App; you believe
that as there was no competitive tendering process before the app was
“procured” the exercise was not transparent. As mentioned above, in the
course of undertaking this review I discussed with officers in the
procurement and customer services teams about the development of the app.
I am advised the Croydon App was developed using available in-house
resources and there was no need to procure the services of an external
provider for the development of the app.

 

In view of the above I am of the view that there was no contract awarded
for the development of the Croydon App and the information you have
requested is not held by the Council. It is my conclusion that the Council
has complied with its obligation under Section 1(1) of the FOIA.

 

If you remain dissatisfied with this decision, you may refer the matter to
the ICO.

 

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

 

o Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

James Derby

Corporate Solicitor

Legal & Democratic Services

London Borough of Croydon

4G Bernard Weatherill House

8 Mint Walk

Croydon

CR0 1EA

Tel: 020 8760 5768 Ext. 61359

Fax: 020 8760 5679

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Council services, online, 24/7 www.croydon.gov.uk/myaccount Download our
new free My Croydon app for a faster, smarter and better way to report
local issues www.croydon.gov.uk/app

Please use this web site address to view the council's e-mail disclaimer -
http://www.croydon.gov.uk/email-disclaimer