Request for information on provision of services

The request was refused by Norfolk County Council.

Dear Norfolk County Council,
I’d like to request some information in regards to the following services.
Listed Services:
a) Laundry equipment supply, maintenance and install.
b) Fire equipment supply, maintenance and install and provision of Fire Risk Assessments / consultancy.
c) HVAC equipment supply, maintenance and install.
d) Catering equipment, maintenance and install.

1)Please confirm your annual spend for the listed services showing a breakdown of contract value and any additional ad-hoc spend for the previous 3 years.

2) Please confirm where services have been won through a tender or bid process or awarded via framework.
i) Please confirm the incumbent supplier and expected retender date.
ii) Please confirm the portal or tender forum you advertise/promote such works through.

3) Please confirm the name and contact details of the person responsible for procurement of the above services.

Yours faithfully,

A.G Emmanuel

Freedom of Information, Norfolk County Council

Good Afternoon,

Freedom of Information Act 2000/Environmental Information Regulations 2004 Information Request ENQ-511848-C4Y6T8

Thank you for your request for information received on 17 September 2021.

We have up to 20 working days in which to deal with your request.

If we require clarification of your request we will contact you to explain this, and the 20 working-day period will then start from the day that we receive your clarification.

We will inform you in advance if there is a charge for supplying copies of any information, and we will provide an explanation if any information which we hold is not released to you.

If the requested information contains references to any third parties, we may need to seek their views before we can decide whether or not to release the information to you. In such cases we will not share your own personal details with third parties.

Should you have any queries regarding your request, please contact the team by email at [Norfolk County Council request email] or by telephone on 01603 222661.

Yours sincerely

Sarah Cooper, Business Support Assistant
Information Compliance Team
Dept: 01603 222661
Bay 7-9, Ground Floor, County Hall, Norwich

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Freedom of Information, Norfolk County Council

Dear A G Emmanuel
 
Freedom of Information Request ENQ-511848-C4Y6T8
 
I refer to your request for information dated 17 September 2021.
 
You asked for:
 
Listed Services:
 
a) Laundry equipment supply, maintenance and install.
 
b) Fire equipment supply, maintenance and install and provision of Fire
Risk Assessments / consultancy.
 
c) HVAC equipment supply, maintenance and install.
 
d) Catering equipment, maintenance and install.
 
 
 

* 1)Please confirm your annual spend for the listed services showing a
breakdown of contract value and any additional ad-hoc spend for the
previous 3 years.

 

* 2) Please confirm where services have been won through a tender or bid
process or awarded via framework.

 

* Please confirm the incumbent supplier and expected retender date.

 

* Please confirm the portal or tender forum you advertise/promote such
works through.

 
 
Our response:
 
Your request has been considered and is refused.  In accordance with the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act), this letter acts as a Refusal
Notice.
 
Exemptions
 
Section 21(1) of the Act provides an exemption for release of information
that is reasonably accessible to you even if it is accessible only on
payment of a fee.
 
Section 22(1) of the Act provides an exemption for release of information
if it is intended for future publication.
 
Reason why the exemptions apply
 
The exemption applies for the following reasons:
 
The information that you have requested relates to contracts that Norfolk
County Council procures through its formal procurement process.
Information about contracts and when they will be due for retendering can
be found on the County Council website:
[1]https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/what-we-do-an...
 
When these services next goes out for tender, the information that you
request will be freely and publicly available on the Find a Tender Service
by way of a Contract Notice and an Award Notice and/or on Contracts
Finder, and under some circumstances, also in the Official Journal of the
European Union (OJEU). 
 
Public Interest Test Reasons
 
The Council has considered whether the public interest in maintaining this
exemption is outweighed by the public interest in disclosure.
 
This Council has considered the following reasons in favour of disclosure:

* Promoting accountability and transparency by public authorities for
decisions taken by them.
* Promoting accountability and transparency in the spending of public
money, whether realised or planned.

 
Set against this is the fact that this information is held with a view to
its future publication upon retendering of the service. The information
will be published by way of a Contract Notice and an Award Notice once the
contract is tendered. This is a statutory requirement. To release the
information now would involve additional work for the council and divert
funds away from statutory functions of the Council.
 
On balance the Council considers that the public interest in maintaining
the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure
 
We have a competitive tender process and do not accept direct marketing.
 

* 3) Please confirm the name and contact details of the person
responsible for procurement of the above services.

 
Our response:
 
Your request has been considered and is refused as the County Council
considers that the exemption under Section 40(2) of the Act applies in
this case. Section 40 provides that if the information constitutes
personal data about a third party and any of the data protection
principles would be contravened by the release of the information, the
County Council is not required to provide the information.
 
Your request asks for the name of officers holding specific positions
within Norfolk County Council.
 
These individuals have a reasonable expectation that personal information
pertaining to them is not released without their consent for such
information to be released. This consent has not been provided. We
consider that releasing this information would therefore breach the fair
processing principle contained within the Data Protection Act.
 
We do not feel in this instance that there is any overriding public
interest consideration that would justify the disclosure of such personal
information. We also can see no purpose in disclosure, other than to form
the basis of a mailing list, for which there is no public interest.
 
Any Department in the Council can be contacted via the methods shown on
this webpage:
[2]https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/what-we-do-an...
 
 
If you are dissatisfied with our handling of your request you have the
right of appeal through the Council’s internal review procedure by setting
out the grounds of your appeal in writing to:
 
[3][email address]
or Information Compliance Team
Room 043
County Hall
Martineau Lane
Norwich
NR1 2DH
 
An appeal should be submitted within 40 working days of the date of this
notice and should be identified as "FOI Appeal".
 
If you are dissatisfied after pursuing the complaints procedure, you may
apply to the Information Commissioner under Section 50 of the Act for a
decision whether your request for information has been dealt with in
accordance with the requirements of Part I of the Act.  Refer to the ICO
Website at: [4]https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ for advice on how to report a
concern.  Or you can write to them at:
 
First Contact Team
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane, Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
 
Yours sincerely
 
Senior Information Compliance Officer 
Information Compliance Team, Insight and Analytics, Strategy and
Transformation 
Tel Dept: 01603 222661
Bays 7,8 & 9, Ground Floor, South Wing, County Hall, Martineau Lane,
Norwich 
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