Information regarding contract award
Dear Lancashire County Council,
In relation to the Interpreting and Translation contract awarded in May 2021, please send me:
- the name and total price quoted by the winning bidder
- a copy of the winning tender for the above contract
- a list of all companies who tendered for this contract
- is there is an exclusivity clause, which would prevent the Council from utilising additional language services from other suppliers while in contract with your existing provider?
I believe under the terms of the FOI Act 2000 I should receive this information within 20 working days from today's date. I am happy to receive the information by email.
Yours faithfully,
Sofia Kis
Good Morning,
Request for Information under the Freedom of Information Act (2000)
We are writing to acknowledge receipt of your enquiry of 29/07/21 in which
you request the disclosure of information.
We can confirm that your enquiry will now be assigned to an officer who
will commence a search for the information you require and they will
respond in due course. The deadline date for issuing you with a full
response is 27/08/21. We will endeavour to provide a response well in
advance of this date, however, should we envisage any delays, or require
more details from you, we will contact you immediately.
If you have any queries about the above, please do not hesitate to contact
us, quoting ref 995.895 (PH).
Yours sincerely,
On Behalf of the Information Governance Team Lancashire County Council PO
Box 78 County Hall Preston
PR1 8XJ
Dear Ms Kris,
Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
We refer to your request for information made under the provisions of the
above Act, please see below our response.
Request & Response:
In relation to the Interpreting and Translation contract awarded in May
2021, please send me:
the name and total price quoted by the winning bidder.
DA Languages Limited for Lot 1 and Co-Sign Partners in Communication Ltd
for Lot 2. Please be advised that there is no one overall price for the
contract. LCC asked for a price file to be completed as part of the
tender, so each supplier submitted individual pricing:– hourly rates for
interpretation and a cost per hundred words for translation at different
difficulty levels.
This pricing information is considered commercially sensitive and cannot
be shared.
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) guidance on the application of
s43 states that "a commercial interest relates to a person's ability to
participate competitively in a commercial activity, i.e. the purchase and
sale of goods and services". Providing information relating to the winning
tender and companies who tendered for this contract is clearly a
commercial activity, given that it is a competitive process by which the
County Council intends to select a provider to deliver a service.
Disclosure of this information would be likely to prejudice the
commercial interests of the County Council.
In considering the public interest test, we acknowledge that there is a
general public interest in accountability and transparency in relation to
the activities of public authorities. This is particularly the case where
the public body is obtaining services from third parties in an effort to
secure the best value for money. However this must be considered against
the strong public interest in ensuring that the commercial interest of the
County Council or third parties of with whom we conduct business are not
unduly prejudice particularly in the current economic climate. In light
of the above we have concluded that the public interest favours
maintaining the exemption and therefore your request is refused under
section 43(2) of the Act.
However we can advise that Lot 1 was £200K and Lot 2 was £30K.
- a copy of the winning tender for the above contract
This information is not available as it is considered commercially
sensitive.
- a list of all companies who tendered for this contract
This information is not available as it is considered commercially
sensitive.
- is there is an exclusivity clause, which would prevent the Council from
utilising additional language services from other suppliers while in
contract with your existing provider?
The tender was specifically setup to procure a contract to provide
language services, including spoken and non-spoken Interpretation and
Translation services, to the Council. As such all language services
provided for the Council should be completed by the contracted suppliers.
We are sorry we have been unable to provide you with a full response to
your request.
In the event that you wish to complain about the manner in which your
enquiry has been handled, you should write in the first instance to Senior
Information Access Officer, Lancashire County Council, PO Box 78, County
Hall, Preston PR1 8XJ, or email [1][Lancashire County Council request email]
and the matter will be referred to the Head of Information Governance for
review and reconsideration.
If, after this stage, you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to refer
the matter to the Information Commissioner, whose contact details are as
follows:
The Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113
Email: [2][email address]
Website: [3]http://www.ico.org.uk
Yours Sincerely,
On Behalf of the Information Governance Team
Lancashire County Council
[4]www.lancashire.gov.uk
[5][Lancashire County Council request email]
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