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1.  Summary of access application
On 23 November 2023, Treasury received your access application under the Government
Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (the GIPA Act).  On 23 November 2023 you also
paid the $30.00 application fee by electronic bank transfer.
You requested access to the following  information:

I am seeking a list of unsuccessful bidders for Contract 622, relating to the removal of
deceased, for the period of 2006 to 2019.  Only when contract 622 was awarded to
Statewide Mortuary Transfers P/L (SMT).  Additionally, I kindly request that you provide
contact details for each of the unsuccessful bidders identified in the aforementioned list.
On 27 November 2023, I acknowledged receipt of your application, the payment of the
application fee and confirmed the application to be a valid application under the GIPA
Act.  I advised that under usual circumstances your application must be decided by 21
December 2023.
On 29 November 2023, I wrote to you and advised that following discussions with NSW
Procurement, the requested information is expected to be stored by Government
Records Repository, the archive repository for NSW government information.  I advised
that in the event of retrieval of information from archives the GIPA Act provides an
additional 10 working days be added to the decision period.  Consequently, I advised
your application must be decided by 18 January 2024.
On 17 January 2024 I advised you that I had consulted with the third parties, being the
unsuccessful tenderers.  I further advised that in the event of third-party consultation the
GIPA Act provides an additional 5 working days be added to the decision period, making
a decision due on your application on 25 January 2024.
2.  Decision
I am authorised by the principal officer of Treasury, for the purposes of section 9(3) of the
GIPA Act, to decide your access application.
I have decided under section 58(1)(a) of the GIPA Act, to provide access to some of the
information.  Under section 58(1)(d) of the GIPA Act, to refuse to provide access to some
other information because there is an overriding public interest against disclosure of
some of that information, and because some of the information is out of scope of your
application request.
In this Notice I explain my reasons. To meet the requirements of section 61 of  the GIPA
Act, I am required to tell you:
•  the reasons for my decision and the findings on any important questions of fact
underlying those reasons (together with a reference to the sources of information
on which those findings are based); and
•  the general nature and format of the records containing the information you  asked
for, with reference to the relevant public interest considerations against disclosure
(see the attached Schedule of Documents).
You can ask for a review of this decision.  For details about how to do so, please see part
9 of this Notice.

3.  Searches for information
Under the GIPA Act, we must conduct reasonable searches for the government
information requested in your application.
Searches were conducted within Treasury for information subject to your  application.
These searches were conducted by NSW Procurement, being the area that was
expected to hold the information you sought.  I have been advised that the requested
information meeting the terms of your request is not held by NSW Procurement. I was
further advised by NSW Procurement that if the information from 2006 is stil  held, it
would be held by the Government Records Repository.  This has been certified by the
Associate Director Goods and Services and the Executive Director Operations and
Governance, NSW Procurement.  Based on this certification, I am satisfied that
reasonable searches have been undertaken by NSW Procurement.  Further, based on
this advice I requested a search for the requested information by Government Records
Repository.
Nine business names of unsuccessful tenderers were provided to me.
4.  Consultation
Under the GIPA Act, in certain circumstances agencies must consult third parties  to see
whether they object to the release of the information being sought.
The information for which you applied includes the business names and addresses of
tenderers who were unsuccessful for a tender to transport deceased persons within NSW.
The applicants for the tender are funeral directors working in a small industry where
knowledge of unsuccessful tendering could reasonably prejudice the standing of the
business and prejudice its legitimate business interests.  I was therefore required to
consult third parties when making my decision.
There were objections to the release of the information by some business owners, there
were no objections to the release by some other business owners, while other business
owners advised they were not applicants for contract 622.
The objections do not mean that I cannot release the information.  However, I  must take
them into account when making my decision.  Details about how these objections were
considered in my decision are set out in the reasons below.
5.  Reasons for decision
Under section 9(1) of the GIPA Act, you have a legally enforceable right to access the
information you have requested, unless there is an overriding public interest against its
disclosure.
Further, under section 5 of the GIPA Act, there is a presumption in favour of disclosing
government information unless there is an overriding public interest against its disclosure.
To decide whether or not there is an overriding public interest against disclosure of the
information you asked for, I applied the public interest test, which is set out in section 13 of
the GIPA Act.
I applied the public interest test by:
•  identifying any public interest considerations in favour of disclosure;

•  identifying any relevant public interest considerations against disclosure;
•  at ributing weight to each consideration for and against disclosure, and  deciding
where the balance between them lies.
I did this in the way required by section 15 of the GIPA Act, which is:
•  in a way that promotes the objects of the GIPA Act;
•  with regard to any relevant guidelines issued by the Information  Commissioner;
•  without taking into account the fact that disclosure of information may cause
embarrassment to, or a loss of confidence in, the Government (as that fact is
irrelevant);
•  without taking into account the fact that disclosure of information might be
misinterpreted or misunderstood by any person (as that fact is irrelevant);  and
•  with regard to the fact that disclosure cannot be made subject to any  conditions
on the use or disclosure of information.
5.1
Public interest considerations in favour of disclosure
Under section 12(1) of the GIPA Act, there is a general public interest in favour  of
disclosing government information.  Section 12(2) of the GIPA Act sets out  some
examples of additional public interest considerations in favour of  disclosure.  However, I
am not limited to only those considerations in deciding  your application.
I find the following considerations in favour of disclosure are relevant to your  application:
•  Disclosure of the information could reasonably be expected to
promote open discussion of public affairs  and  enhance Government
accountability.

•
Disclosure of the information could reasonably be expected to inform
the public about the operations of agencies.

•
Disclosure of the information could reasonably be expected to ensure
effective oversight of expenditure of public funds.

5.2
Public interest considerations against disclosure
When applying the public interest test, the only public interest considerations against
disclosure that I can take into account are those set out in Schedule 1 of the GIPA Act
and the table to section 14 of the GIPA Act.
Having reviewed the information you have requested I find that the following public
interest considerations against disclosure apply:

•  Disclosure could prejudice any person’s legitimate business,
commercial, professional or financial interests; Item 4(d) of the section 14
Table.
5.3
Balancing the public interest test
In balancing the public interest considerations in favour of, and against, disclosure I

determined that there is an overriding public interest against disclosure in relation to some
of the information sought by your application.
I have considered the public interest considerations provided in the GIPA Act in favour of
disclosure, as stated in paragraph 5, above.  I have also considered the additional public
interest considerations in favour of disclosure described in paragraph 5.1, above.
As required by the GIPA Act, I have also considered the comments provided by the third-
party funeral directors whom I consulted pursuant to section 54 of the GIPA Act. Where
the third parties raised no objection to their business name being disclosed, I find that the
public interest is in favour of disclosure.  Consequently, those business names are
provided to you:

Bob Rudd Funerals

73 Reynolds Street

GOULBURN NSW   2580

Victor Rulis Funeral Services

1323 West Street

COFFS HARBOUR   NSW   2450

Logan Funerals

24 Wee Waa Road

NARRABRI   NSW   2390
Where the third-party funeral directors objected to their business names being disclosed, I
have given their objection considerable weight.  I did this as tender applications for
contracts should be treated with a high degree of confidentiality.  Tender applications
invariably contain significantly commercial in confidence information which could, if
disclosed, reasonably prejudice legitimate business interests, and could reasonably
provide other businesses with an advantage.
In this case, there is no commercially sensitive business information requested, however,
funeral directors operate in a small business community.  Knowing that a funeral director
had applied for a contract within the industry, and was unsuccessful, could reasonably
prejudice their business interests within that industry. I have decided that the reputation
and business standing within the funeral industry is an important consideration when
weighing up the public interests in favour, and against, disclosing their identity and the
fact that they were unsuccessful tenderers for contract 622.  Even though the tenders
were lodged over 15 years ago, does not diminish the impact on the current businesses
as they are stil  trading within the funeral industry.
Consequently, after weighing the public interest considerations in favour of disclosure,
those against, and the objection by the third party, I have decided the weight of public
interest is against disclosing the requested information to you. Access to that information
is refused in relation to four businesses, particularly when disclosing the unsuccessful
tenderer business names is akin to disclosing the information to the world at large.
There are two further categories of businesses about which I have been provided with
information. The first are two businesses where during consultation the third party
advised that they had not tendered for contract 622; rather they had tendered for contract
623.  Due to the age of the information, and the fact that there are no electronic copies of
the contract documents, which are stil  in existence, it appears that some tenderers for

contract 623 were filed with tenderers for contract 622.  Following extensive searches of
the old paper files, we could not locate any additional tenderers for contract 622 filed
wrongly with tenderers for 623.
As your request specifically seeks tenderers for contract 622, I decided that tenderers for
contract 623 were out of scope of your request.
The second category of businesses tendering for contract 622 were businesses where we
could not locate any contact information by searching the name used during the tender
process.  I have no way of knowing if these businesses are no longer trading at all or are
trading under a different name.  Consequently, if the businesses are trading under a
different name, and as I could not undertake third party consultation with them, I decided
that the weight of public interest is against disclosing their business names.  Access to the
information on these business names is refused.
6.  Access
You are provided with the information to be disclosed to you, in the body of this Notice.
Certain decisions about access to information are reviewable under section 80(i) of the
GIPA Act; please see part 9 of this Notice.
7.  Processing charges
Under section 64 of the GIPA Act, we can require you to pay processing charges, at a
rate of $30.00 per hour, for the time spent dealing with your access  application.  The
application fee of $30.00 counts as payment for one hour of the  processing charges.
Some 21 hours were spent processing your application; some 5 hours searching and
discussions with NSW Procurement, some 8 hours discussing searches and relevant
information with the Government Records Repository, some 1 hour reviewing the
information, some 5 hours consulting with third parties and some 2 hours drafting this
decision.  These times do not take into account the hours spend by archives staff
searching for archive boxes, and files, and transporting the files to the Treasury offices
and back to archives.  Some boxes were transferred more than once.
Pursuant to section 127 of the GIPA Act, however, I have decided to waive the
processing charges on this occasion.
8.  Disclosure log
If information that would be of interest to other members of the public is released in
response to a formal access application, an agency must record certain details about the
application in its disclosure log, under sections 25 and 26 of the GIPA Act.
Having reviewed the information released to you, I have decided that the information
comprising of the name and location of three funeral businesses, with no context, and
dating back some 15 years, would not be of interest to general members of the public.
Consequently, the information disclosed to you wil  not be listed on the Treasury
disclosure log.

9.  Review rights
If you disagree with any of the decisions in this notice that are reviewable, you  may seek
a review under Part 5 of the GIPA Act. You have three review options:
•  internal review by another officer of Treasury who is no less senior than me;
•  external review by the Information Commissioner; or
•  external review by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT).
You have 20 working days from the date of this Notice, that is, by 23 February 2024, to
apply for an internal  review and 40 working days from the date of this Notice to apply for
an external  review by the Information Commissioner or NCAT, that is, by 22 March 2024.
To assist you, I have enclosed a fact sheet published by the Information and Privacy
Commission NSW (IPC) titled Your review rights under the GIPA Act.  You can also find
useful information and frequently asked questions on the IPC’s  website
www.ipc.nsw.gov.au , and you can contact the IPC on 1800 472 679.
Information on NCAT can be found on their website at www.ncat.nsw.gov.au .
10. Further information
If you have any further questions about this decision or would like further information,
please contact me on (02) 9228 3517 or at xxxxx.xxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx.xxx.xx .

Peter Brandt
Associate Director Information Access

25 January 2024.

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