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Professional Services Procurement Spend

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Dear Lewes District Council,

I am writing to ask that you please provide me with the spend for your Professional Services procurement at the Authority, by which I mean the procurement of projects and consultancy through Statement of Work excluding temporary agency staff.

• What have you spent on Professional Services over the last 12 months?
• What did the authority spend on professional Services Between April 2019 and March 2020?
• Between April 2019 and March 2020, which categories had the highest level of spend throughout that period?
• Has the authority planned any large construction-based projects over the next two years?
• If you have got construction projects planned, please could you provide project details, budget and timeframes?
• What is the Councils current process to engage with professional service providers? Please could you provide details of the process and name third parties if they are being used.

Yours faithfully,

Jane French

foi, Lewes District Council

Thank you for your information request received today.

 

I am currently reviewing your request and investigating whether there is
any information available for disclosure.  The Council, in accordance with
Section 10 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘the Act’), will reply
to your request promptly and in any event not later than the twentieth
working day following the date of receipt. Subject Access Requests will be
responded to within one calendar month in line with the GDPR (General Data
Protection Regulation).

 

In accordance with section 8(1)(b) of the Act and related guidance from
the Information Commissioner’s Office, the Council reserves the right to
treat any request for information as invalid unless the requester supplies
their real name.  In such cases, the Council may request proof of
identity.

 

Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council are data controllers
and need to collect your personal data in order to respond to your request
for information or subject access request. To read our full privacy notice
for Access to Information please visit: [1]Privacy Notice for Access to
Information

 

 

Please contact me again if you require any assistance with your request
and I will do my best to provide the relevant help and advice.

 

Kind Regards

 

 

Information Governance Officer

Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council

References

Visible links
1. https://www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/_res...

Access to Information, Lewes District Council

1 Attachment

Dear Ms. French,

 

Information Request:  FOI 12309

 

Thank you for your information request dated 23 October 2020 received in
our office on the same day.

 

I have reviewed your request and investigated whether there is any
information which can be disclosed to you.  Please find below the
information the council holds, and which I am pleased to provide to you.
Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding.

 

o Has the authority planned any large construction-based projects over
the next two years? Yes.

 

o If you have got construction projects planned, please could you
provide project details, budget, and timeframes? We consider this
information to be commercially sensitive and have applied the
exemption under section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000
in deciding not to disclose it. We consider that the public interest
is better served by withholding the information than disclosing it,
since we need to respect the projects will be competitively procured
in the marketplace at some point in the future, and disclosing the
information you sought could undermine the councils ability to secure
value for money. We can, however, confirm that the councils are in the
process of initiating a pipeline of new development construction
projects and maintenance programmes in accordance with the Asset
Management Plans.

 

o What is the Councils current process to engage with professional
service providers? Please could you provide details of the process and
name third parties if they are being used. The councils will determine
the need and scope for external professional services on a project by
project basis. In the event services are required outside of the
organisation’s internal capacity, then they are procured in accordance
with the council’s Contract Procedure Rules.

 

For your information the council uses the following portals for contract
tenders –

 

Intend, Contracts Finder, OJEU (via TED)

 

Intend - [1]https://www.sesharedservices.org.uk/esou...

 

Contracts Finder - [2]https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov....

 

OJEU - [3]https://www.ojeu.eu/

 

 

Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council have combined
services.

 

I trust that this deals with your enquiry to your satisfaction, but if you
feel that Lewes District Council has misunderstood or not responded
appropriately to your request, you have two courses of action:

 

o You can clarify the terms of your original request to allow this to be
looked at again  (if you expand your request this will be dealt with
as a new request)
o All applicants have a 'right of appeal'.  An appeal should be focused
on the original request and should identify how the council’s response
failed to answer your Information Request.  Appeals must be made in
writing (or e-mail) within 40 working days of receipt of this response
and addressed to the Information Governance Appeals Officer, to the
address below. 

 

Information Governance Appeals Officer

Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council

1 Grove Road

EASTBOURNE

BN21 4TW     

                                  

E-mail  : [4][email address]

 

After the council’s internal appeals procedure has been exhausted, a
further appeal about the same Information Request can be directed to the
Information Commissioner for adjudication.  Full details will be provided
should an appeal proceed to this stage.

 

Please note:

If you are considering re-using the information disclosed to you through
this request, for any purpose outside of what could be considered for
personal use, you are required under the Public Sector Re-use of
Information Regulations 2015 to make an Application for Re-use to the
organisation you have requested the information from.  Applications for
Re-Use should be directed to the address detailed in the footer below.

 

Please contact me again, quoting your reference number, if you require any
further assistance with your current request and I will do my best to
provide the relevant help and advice.

 

 

Regards,

Kevin Rance
Information Governance Officer

Tel: +44(0)1273 471600

[5][email address]

Lewes and Eastbourne Legal Services acting on behalf of Lewes District
Council and Eastbourne Borough Council

 

Lewes District Council: Southover House, Southover Road, Lewes BN7 1AB 
[6]www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk. Minicom 01273 484488

Eastbourne Borough Council: 1 Grove Road, Eastbourne BN21 4TW 
[7]www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk. Text Relay 18001 01323 410000

 

[8]cid:image003.jpg@01D1E9A6.A42E8490

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References

Visible links
1. https://www.sesharedservices.org.uk/esou...
2. https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov....
3. https://www.ojeu.eu/
4. mailto:[email address]
5. mailto:[email address]
6. http://www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/
7. http://www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/

We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are Jane French please sign in and let everyone know.