FOI 62-22: Assembly Commission and Sodexo
Information Standards Freedom of Information Response
Our Ref: FOI 62-22
8 December 2022
Freedom of Information Act 2000
I am writing to confirm that the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (Assembly Commission) has processed your request dated 2 November 2022 in line with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). In your request, you asked:
“Could we please request a copy of the contract between the NI Assembly and Sodexo relating to catering services at Stormont between Nov 2018 - Nov 2022?”
This contract is governed by the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission’s Standard Terms and Conditions for the Provision of Goods and Services. These are available on our website.
As with all our tender competitions, the information and documentation is advertised for interested suppliers on the eTendersNI portal.
The following documents are available on the eTendersNI portal:
i. Specification and the associated appendices – these documents provide a detailed description of what the Assembly Commission requires from the appointed supplier.
ii. Invitation to tender – this document provides information about how to submit a tender and what the Assembly Commission will be assessing as part of the evaluation of tender bids.
If you wish to access these documents, this can be done free of charge, however, a login profile would be required.
As with all regulated procurement competitions, a Contract Award Notice for this contract was also published on the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU).
S43 Commercial Interest
The Assembly Commission consider the supplier’s tender response and the supplier’s pricing schedule to be exempt from disclosure under section 43 (2) Commercially Sensitive.
Section 43(2) exempts information whose disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any legal person (an individual, a company, the public authority itself or any other legal entity). Disclosure of the remainder of the requested information would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of the Assembly Commission and the successful tenderer.
Section 43 (2) is a qualified exemption and therefore it is necessary to carry out a public interest test to identify whether the public interest in maintaining the exemption is greater than that in providing the information.
In this case the Assembly Commission considers that the public interest in disclosure is outweighed by the public interest in maintaining the exemption.
The Assembly Commission recognises the significant public interest in ensuring proper scrutiny of the Assembly Commission’s spend of public money and in ensuring that its commercial activities are conducted in an open and transparent way. The Assembly Commission ensures transparency and accountability in spending public money through publication of tender opportunities on E-Tenders, which maximises transparency and competition.
However, there is a strong public interest in private companies being able to compete in the market for public contracts on a level playing field. Disclosure of the withheld information would be likely to prejudice the successful tenderer's ability to compete effectively with competitors for future public contracts of this kind. Preventing effective competition for public contracts is not in the public interest, since its ultimate effect is to increase the cost of services for public authorities.
There is a strong public interest in ensuring that the ability of the Assembly Commission and other public authorities to secure value for public money is not undermined and that the integrity of future procurement processes for these and analogous services is protected.
You have the right to request a formal review by the Assembly Commission and if you wish to do so, please write to me at the above address. If after such an internal review you are still unhappy with the response, you may appeal to the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF which will undertake an independent review.
The Assembly Commission may publish details of your FOI request and its official response within the organisational disclosure log. The request will be completely anonymised and you will not be identified in any way. This is to meet the requirements as laid out by in the agreed publication scheme with the Information Commissioners’ Office.
Yours sincerely
INFORMATION STANDARDS
