National provision of interim IT/Professional Staff Services – framework agreements: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Information requested
The quality submission for the 1st ranked supplier [ASA Recruitment] under the following Framework Agreements;
[1] Framework for the Provision of Interim IT Staff Services – National [Awarded 29.03.19].
[2] Framework for the Provision of Interim Professional Staff Services - National [Awarded 29.03.19].
Response
Annex A of this letter explains why we cannot provide the full technical submission for the 1st ranked supplier, ASA Recruitment, for the Frameworks listed above.
Annex B of this letter provides the redacted versions of the technical submissions for ASA Recruitment for the Provision of Interim IT Staff Services – National, and the Provision of Interim Professional Staff Services – National.
ANNEX A
REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION
We do endeavour to provide all information whenever possible. However, in this instance exemptions under section 33(1)(b) (Commercial Interests) and section 38(1)(b) (Personal Information) of FOISA apply to some of the information requested.
Disclosure of some of this information is withheld under s33(1)(b) [Commercial interest], as disclosure of it is likely to prejudice substantially the commercial interest of the bidders and the Scottish Government. As these exemptions are conditional we have applied the public interest test’ to the information. This means we have, in all circumstances of this case, considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding exemption. We recognise there is a public interest in having transparent tendering processes. On the other hand, commercially sensitive information will be made public, and it is likely to damage the commercial interests of the companies whose information is released. This, in turn, could mean that the Scottish Government may be unable to generate genuine and effective competitive tendering processes, and that, in our view, would not be in the public interest.
Finally, parts of the tender documents are also exempt from disclosure under s38 (1)(b) of the Act [Personal Information], which does not require consideration of the public interest test.
You will find full details of the exemptions that I consider apply to the information you requested at www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2002/13/contents.
ANNEX B
Redacted versions of the quality submissions for ASA Recruitment for the Framework for the Provision of Interim IT Staff Services – National, and Framework for the Provision of Interim Professional Staff Services – National.
Copyright warning
The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder. Most documents supplied by the Scottish Government will have been produced by government officials and will be Crown Copyright. You can find details on the arrangements for re-using Crown Copyright material on the OPSI website at:
Information you receive which is not subject to Crown Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. You must ensure that you gain their permission before reproducing any third party (non Crown Copyright) information.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrews House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG
There is a problem
Thanks for your feedback