contracts published on Tenders Vic

Ben Minerds (PuZZleDucK) made this Freedom of Information request to Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance

This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.

The request was successful.

Ben Minerds (PuZZleDucK)

Dear Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance,

I am writing to you to request information pertaining to the spending of public funds

Namely, I am after all contracts that are available and were published on Tenders Vic (http://tenders.vic.gov.au/) up to and including the year 2016

To clarify, I am requesting only the public facing information displayed on Tenders Vic such at total value, title, government agency, description and so on. If it is possible I would also like the identifiers used by Tenders Vic in the "id" parameter in the url of Tenders Vic

I would prefer this request be treated as a request for administrative access. If for some reason the request cannot be dealt with in this way, please treat it as a formal application under the Freedom of Information Act

I ask that all fees in relation to this request be waived because the release of the documents is in the public interest.

Please do not hesitate to reply if you require clarification to
fulfil this request.

I look forward to your response.

Yours faithfully,
Ben Minerds (PuZZleDucK)

Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance

Hi Ben

I have been discussing your request with staff working in DTF with DataVic.
The datasets you referred to in your email are currently being prepared for
imminent public release.

If however you wish to speak directly with someone at DataVic about exactly
when the datasets will be published, I suggest you contact Cara Gould,
Senior Manager, Government IP Policy, on 9651 2455.

Regards
foiDTF

Ben Minerds (PuZZleDucK)

Dear Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance,

It was my understanding that a similar dataset was already prepared for public release for a Code for Australia project. If my request is in any way dissimilar to that dataset please suggest any way I could modify my request to match it.

Otherwise I would appreciate you updating this request when the dataset is prepared or available to the public.

Yours faithfully,

Ben Minerds (PuZZleDucK)

Ben Minerds (PuZZleDucK)

Dear Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance,

Hi

I spoke with Cara (out of bands as requested) on the 2nd of March and indicated that the proposed removal of names/emails/phone details is acceptable

Did that reset the clock on this request?

Is the release of this data still at the imminent stage? nearing? impending maybe?

Yours faithfully,

Ben Minerds (PuZZleDucK)

Ben Minerds (PuZZleDucK)

Dear Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance,

It was my understanding that we'd agreed that BudgetHack would be an ideal event to celebrate the release of this data... but I was not able to find the dataset during the event or anywhere else for that matter:(

Is this data still being considered for release?

It is long overdue. The department had this data set brought to it's attention long before this request was initiated and there has been no update for a while now.

All I want is a confirmed (and published) target release date for the data. Is there something I can do before officially requesting a review into this request and the departments handling of this data in general? I am intending on doing so over the coming week if I have no other options available.

Yours faithfully,

Ben Minerds (PuZZleDucK)

Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance

Hi Ben

Thank you for your email. While this is not an FoI request, I understand
you have been patient in waiting for this information to be released.

I have followed up with the line area and been told they expect the data
set to be released very soon, if not this week. So from my discussions, I
can confirm with you this data set has been prepared for release.

I will inquire again in a few days and keep you informed of progress.

Regards
foiDTF

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Dear Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance,

It was my understanding that we'd agreed that BudgetHack would be an ideal
event to celebrate the release of this data... but I was not able to find
the dataset during the event or anywhere else for that matter:(

Is this data still being considered for release?

It is long overdue. The department had this data set brought to it's
attention long before this request was initiated and there has been no
update for a while now.

All I want is a confirmed (and published) target release date for the data.
Is there something I can do before officially requesting a review into this
request and the departments handling of this data in general? I am
intending on doing so over the coming week if I have no other options
available.

Yours faithfully,

Ben Minerds (PuZZleDucK)

-----Original Message-----

Hi Ben

I have been discussing your request with staff working in DTF with DataVic.
The datasets you referred to in your email are currently being prepared for
imminent public release.

If however you wish to speak directly with someone at DataVic about exactly
when the datasets will be published, I suggest you contact Cara Gould,
Senior Manager, Government IP Policy, on 9651 2455.

Regards
foiDTF

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Ben Minerds (PuZZleDucK)

Dear Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance,

Thanks for your continued assurance that this so close that it's not worth pinning a date to, but I'm not convinced and this is _long_ overdue.

I refer to my original request:
"I would prefer this request be treated as a request for administrative access. If for some reason the request cannot be dealt with in this way, please treat it as a formal application under the Freedom of Information Act
Yours faithfully,"

As this request has not been dealt with and therefore it is my understanding that it _is_ an FOI request... if I'm mistaken about that is it possible to withdraw the "request for administrative access" or should I lodge a fresh FOI request?

Ben Minerds (PuZZleDucK)

Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance

1 Attachment

Hi Ben

I have followed up with the line area, as promised in my previous email to
you. The data set you are requesting, while not being released publicly
today, is so close to release that I have secured an understanding with the
line area for me to forward the data set on to you.

As such, I attach below.

(See attached file: All published contracts.xlsx)

Thank you again for your patience.

Regards
foiDTF

Henare Degan left an annotation ()

What an epic journey - well done for being so persistent Ben!

It will be interesting to see how long it takes before the authority does publish this data themselves (and keeps it up to date).

Ben Minerds (PuZZleDucK) left an annotation ()

Thanks Henare,

Big koudos to Code for Australia and Treasury and Finance too for kicking off the parent project in the first place... Publicly accessible data set makes a nice cherry on top of the project :D

~~ Ben