A complete breakdown of tender, scope, and consultant invoices for the new website
Dear Bureau of Meteorology,
Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982, I request access to the following documents relating to the Bureau’s website redesign launched on 22 October 2025:
1. **Tender documents**
- The full Request for Tender (RFT) or Request for Quote (RFQ)
- Evaluation criteria and scoring matrix
- Winning bidder’s proposal (redact commercial-in-confidence if required)
2. **Contract and financials**
- Signed contract with the successful vendor(s)
- Schedule of rates (daily/hourly rates for all roles)
- All invoices issued to date (including line-item breakdowns)
- Any variation orders or scope change approvals
3. **Project scope and deliverables**
- Project charter / scope statement
- Requirements specification (functional and non-functional)
- User stories or use cases (especially for radar, forecasts, and emergency use)
4. **User acceptance testing (UAT)**
- UAT test plan and test cases
- List of participants (internal and external)
- UAT sign-off documents
- Defect logs and resolution records
5. **Risk and launch decision**
- Risk register (specifically risks related to launch timing and user impact)
- Go-live approval memo or email chain
- Any post-launch incident reports
I agree to pay reasonable search and retrieval fees. If any part is refused, please provide a schedule of documents under s 22.
This request is in the public interest due to widespread concerns about usability, safety, and value for money of a $4.1 million taxpayer-funded project.
Yours faithfully,
Rusty Sloane
rustysloane7452gmail.com
OFFICIAL
Ref: FOI30/185
Dear Rusty Sloane,
1. We refer to and acknowledge receipt of your email dated 2 November
2025 (below), in which you request access under the Freedom of
Information 1982 (Cth) ('FOI Act').
2. The Bureau received your request on 2 November 2025. Section 15(5) of
the FOI Act provides the Bureau 30 days to provide you a decision on
your request. As the timeframe finally falls on a weekend, the
decision is due the next working day. This means the decision is due
by 2 December 2025.
Consent to remove materials:
3. We note your request excludes (among others) the '[n]ames of any
non-SES employees'. However, we further write to ask whether you agree
to remove from any documents in scope of your request the following:
a. signatures, initials, position titles and direct contact details
of non-senior officers of the Bureau (being non-SES staff below the
General Manager level);
b. signatures, initials, and direct contact details of senior staff
(we note that where they appear the position titles of senior staff will
be released); and
c. names (including any signatures or initials), position titles and
direct contact details of any third-parties.
4. An agreement to remove the above information from scope of your
request would further minimise privacy concerns.
Your response:
5. We would be grateful for your response by reply email by close of
business Thursday 20 November 2025 regarding:
• your agreement to exclude specific materials from the scope of your
request.
Kind regards,
Freedom of Information
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OFFICIAL
Subject: Re: FOI30/185 – Agreement to Exclude Specific Materials
Dear FOI Team.
Ref: FOI30/185
Thank you for your email of 14 November 2025 acknowledging receipt of my Freedom of Information request dated 2 November 2025 and for providing the statutory timeframe for a decision.
I agree to exclude the following materials from the scope of my request, as outlined in paragraph 3 of your correspondence:
a. signatures, initials, position titles, and direct contact details of non-senior officers of the Bureau (being non-SES staff below the General Manager level);
b. signatures, initials, and direct contact details of senior staff (noting that position titles of senior staff will be released where they appear); and
c. names (including any signatures or initials), position titles, and direct contact details of any third parties.
This agreement is provided to minimise privacy concerns and to facilitate the efficient processing of my request.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if any further clarification is required.
Yours sincerely,
Rusty Sloane