List of Companies that tendered for the provision of services in Regional Processing Countries

CD made this Freedom of Information request to Department of Home Affairs

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

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Department of Home Affairs should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Department of Immigration and Border Protection,

I write to you today under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 seeking;

"Document(s) listing all interested parties, companies, and potential suppliers that tendered for either either or both the 'Health Services' and 'Garrison and Welfare Services' service categories with the Department 'for the provision of services in Regional Processing Countries' under "DIBP RFT 28/14"

The particular Request for Tender I refer to is listed here on the AusTender website.

https://www.tenders.gov.au/?event=public...

To be clear, I am not seeking personal identifiable information nor the commercial in confidence tenders themselves but rather the names, company names or business names of interested parties, companies, and potential suppliers that lodged a tender as an "Electronic lodgement via AusTender at www.tenders.gov.au - through the restricted AusTender site accessible to Registered Tenderers" by 7-Apr-2015.

I look forward to the Department's correspondence on this FOI scope in due course.

Yours faithfully,

CD

1 Attachment

Our references: FA 15/10/00694; ADF2015/57047

 

Dear CD

 

Please find attached the acknowledgement of receipt for your recent FOI
Request. 

 

Exclusion of non-SES staff personal details and SES telephone contact
details

The Department’s policy is to exclude the personal details of officers not
in the Senior Executive Service (SES), as well as the mobile and work
telephone numbers of SES staff, contained in documents that fall within
scope of an FOI request. If you require names and contact details of
non-SES officers, or direct telephone numbers of SES staff, please inform
us so the decision maker may consider your request. Otherwise we will take
it that you agree to that information being excluded from the scope of
your request.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Janelle Raineri

A/g Assistant Director | Freedom of Information Section

Access to Information | Information Management Task Force

Corporate Group

Department of Immigration and Border Protection
P: 02 6264 1580 

E: [1][email address]

 

Please note I am out of the office from 2:30 PM

 

Important Notice: The content of this email is intended only for use by
the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you have received
this email by mistake, please advise the sender and delete the message and
attachments immediately.  This email, including attachments, may contain
confidential, sensitive, legally privileged and/or copyright information.
 

Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of this information
by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. 
DIBP respects your privacy and has obligations under the Privacy Act 1988.
 

Unsolicited commercial emails MUST NOT be sent to the originator of this
email.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

Our references: FA 15/10/00694; ADF2015/57047

 

Dear CD

 

I refer to your request for access to documents relating to:

 

I write to you today under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 seeking;

 

"Document(s) listing all interested parties, companies, and potential
suppliers that tendered for either either or both the 'Health Services'
and 'Garrison and Welfare Services' service categories with the Department
'for the provision of services in Regional Processing Countries' under
"DIBP RFT 28/14"

 

The particular Request for Tender I refer to is listed here on the
AusTender website.

 

<https://www.tenders.gov.au/?event=public...>

 

To be clear, I am not seeking personal identifiable information nor the
commercial in confidence tenders themselves but rather the names, company
names or business names of interested parties, companies, and potential
suppliers that lodged a tender as an "Electronic lodgement via AusTender
at www.tenders.gov.au - through the restricted
AusTender site accessible to Registered Tenderers" by 7-Apr-2015.

 

The current due date for your request is 2 November 2015. Due to the
number of requests currently being processed by our office, we will not be
able to finalise your request by the original due date. 

 

The Department seeks your agreement (under s.15AA of the FOI Act) to
extend the timeframe for the processing of your request by 30 days. This
would extend the due date for your request to 2 December 2015.

 

It would assist the Department in managing its FOI caseload if you could
provide a response to this request by close of business, Monday 2 November
2015.

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you wish to discuss.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Janelle Raineri

A/g Assistant Director | Freedom of Information Section

Access to Information | Information Management Task Force

Corporate Group

Department of Immigration and Border Protection
P: 02 6264 1580 

E: [1][email address]

 

Please note I am out of the office from 2:30 PM

 

From: Janelle RAINERI On Behalf Of FOI
Sent: Wednesday, 14 October 2015 11:27 AM
To: [FOI #1279 email]
Subject: TRIM: Acknowledgement of FOI Request - FA 15/10/00694

 

Our references: FA 15/10/00694; ADF2015/57047

 

Dear CD

 

Please find attached the acknowledgement of receipt for your recent FOI
Request. 

 

Exclusion of non-SES staff personal details and SES telephone contact
details

The Department’s policy is to exclude the personal details of officers not
in the Senior Executive Service (SES), as well as the mobile and work
telephone numbers of SES staff, contained in documents that fall within
scope of an FOI request. If you require names and contact details of
non-SES officers, or direct telephone numbers of SES staff, please inform
us so the decision maker may consider your request. Otherwise we will take
it that you agree to that information being excluded from the scope of
your request.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Janelle Raineri

A/g Assistant Director | Freedom of Information Section

Access to Information | Information Management Task Force

Corporate Group

Department of Immigration and Border Protection
P: 02 6264 1580 

E: [2][email address]

 

Please note I am out of the office from 2:30 PM

 

Important Notice: The content of this email is intended only for use by
the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you have received
this email by mistake, please advise the sender and delete the message and
attachments immediately.  This email, including attachments, may contain
confidential, sensitive, legally privileged and/or copyright information.
 

Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of this information
by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. 
DIBP respects your privacy and has obligations under the Privacy Act 1988.
 

Unsolicited commercial emails MUST NOT be sent to the originator of this
email.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]

Dear FOI,

I write to you today in relation to the Department's recent
correspondence that stated:

"Due to the number of requests currently being processed by our
office, we will not be
able to finalise your request by the original due date."

I wish to advise the Department that under under s.15AA of the FOI
Act I do not agree to the Department's request for an extension of
30 days.

I am however willing to grant an extension of 7 days to help the
Department finalise this request.

This would make the date for this request to be finalised
9/11/2015.

Yours sincerely,

CD

Dear FOI,

I am writing to you today under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 seeking an update on the status of this FOI request.

I note that your office wrote to me on October 29, 2015 seeking an extension of time under s.15AA of the FOI Act of 30 days.

I did not consent to this 30 day extension as your office did not specify what work had already been done on processing this request and what work was needed to be completed to finalise a decision on this request.

I instead, in good faith, I consented to a 7 day extension beyond the statutory processing period of 30 days. I note that yesterday this 7 day extension had passed with no further communication from your office.

As the status of this FOI request is unknown to me I ask:

Has your office given "written notice of the extension to the Information Commissioner" as specified under s. 15AA(b)?

If so, what date was this given?

Does the lack of an Information Commissioner in the OAIC change the way this extension may be granted?

What work has been done on this particular FOI request thus far? Has a search within the scope of this particular FOI request been undertaken yet?

Although I can appreciate that the FOI office within the Department is a busy one processing many FOI requests it is in the spirit of the act that the FOI office maintain a dialogue with the FOI applicant regarding any delays and issues arising from this FOI request.

Yours sincerely,

CD

Our references: FA 15/10/00694; ADF2015/57047

 

Dear CD

 

I refer to your enquiry below.

 

I apologise for the delay in the processing of your FOI request. The
Department has seen a significant increase in the number of requests
received. While I note that the request is outside the processing
timeframes of the FOI Act the Department will continue to process the
request.

 

To update you on the progress of the request I can advise that a search
and retrieval is complete. The request is awaiting an available contact
officer and FOI decision maker to assess the request.

 

For your information, I can at this time advise that information was
provided in connection to your request regarding the confidentiality of
these types of documents, in particular section 7.21 of the Commonwealth
Procurement Rules, under which the tender process is conducted, states the
following:

 

Submissions must be treated as confidential before and after the award of
a contract. Once a contract has been awarded the terms of the contract,
including parts of the contract drawn from the supplier’s submission, are
not confidential unless the relevant entity has determined and identified
in the contract that specific information is to be kept confidential in
accordance with the guidance on Confidentiality Throughout the Procurement
Cycle at [1]www.finance.gov.au/procurement.

 

Without pre-empting a decision, this information may be taken into
consideration by the decision maker and may result in a decision to
consider exemption under s.45 of the FOI Act. There are off course
alternate exemptions that may apply to this type of information and the
Decision maker may also need to determine if the Department is required to
consult the third parties prior to finalising a decision on access.

 

In light of this advice you may consider if you wish to further pursue
these documents or if you would agree to withdraw the FOI request. Unless
the Department receives written confirmation from you that you would agree
to withdraw the request we will continue to process the request.

 

If at any time you wish to seek an update on this request you may contact
me at [2][email address].

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Janelle Raineri

A/g Assistant Director | Freedom of Information Section

Access to Information | Information Management Task Force

Corporate Group

Department of Immigration and Border Protection

P: 02 6264 1580 

E: [email address]

 

Please note I am out of the office from 2:30 PM

 

 

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Dear FOI,

This FOI request is far beyond the statutory timeframe required
under the act.

Can you please advise on the status of this FOI request.

Yours sincerely,

CD

Locutus Sum left an annotation ()

It is understandable for the applicant to be frustrated that he did not yet receive a reply but the applicant is wrong to imply that the agency is late. The Freedom of Information Act of the Commonwealth of Australia does not understand the idea of a "late" response.

I know that this will seem strange. To see a complete explanation a user should read my annotation on "Hottest 100 voting dataset" (https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/h... ) and also the later reply from Mr Domange on the same page.

UNCLASSIFIED

Our references: FA 15/10/00694; ADF2015/57047

Dear CD

I refer to your enquiry below.

While I note that the request is outside the processing timeframes of the FOI Act the Department will continue to process the request. The request is awaiting for an available contact officer and FOI decision maker.

If at any time you wish to seek an update on this request you may contact me at [email address]

Yours sincerely

Janelle Raineri
A/g Assistant Director | Freedom of Information Section Access to Information | Information Management Task Force Corporate Group Department of Immigration and Border Protection
P: 02 6264 1580
E: [email address]

Please note I am out of the office from 2:30 PM

show quoted sections

UNCLASSIFIED

Dear CD

I am writing to advise that your request has been allocated to me and I am now assessing it and will manage it to completion.

Yours sincerely

Ian Campbell
Authorised decision maker
Department of Immigration and Border Protection
P: 02 6264 3030 | M: 0435 432 790
E: [email address]

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Dear FOI,

Thanks for informing me of the status of this particular FOI request.

Can you inform me as to whether a document search has been completed?

Considering this FOI is now 4 months late, can you inform me of an expected date for your decision to be completed?

Yours sincerely,

CD

UNCLASSIFIED

Dear CD

Yes - I have documents and have been consulting with the business area. Unfortunately I can't promise a finalisation timeframe but I'm hoping within the next couple of weeks.

Yours sincerely

Ian Campbell
Authorised decision maker
Department of Immigration and Border Protection
P: 02 6264 3030 | M: 0435 432 790
E: [email address]

show quoted sections

Dear FOI,

Thanks for letting me know of the progress of this request.

Looking forward to reading the documents you have been consulting on.

Yours sincerely,

CD

UNCLASSIFIED

Dear CD

Unfortunately I have just been absent for nearly two weeks due to urgent family reasons, and there were currently insufficient resources to manage this request while I was away (additional staffing is being obtained but has not yet commenced).

Following review of the tender documentation and discussion with business areas I have now determined that I need to consult with the tenderers for their views on release of their details. I am aware this request is overdue and will give them a shorter than normal timeframe to respond and will progress this request as fast as I am able.

Yours sincerely

Ian Campbell
Assistant Director, Freedom of Information Section Information Management Branch Corporate Support Division Department of Immigration and Border Protection
P: 02 6264 3030 | M: 0435 432 790
E: [email address]

show quoted sections

Dear FOI,

Thank you for informing me of this delay and for letting me know about the consultation with those companies that have tendered for this contract.

Urgent family matters should always take precedence over work. I appreciate your honesty in communicating this to me and look forward to your correspondence once the shorter consultation period has concluded.

Yours sincerely,

CD

UNCLASSIFIED

Dear CD

I am writing to update you on this matter. Before sending consultation letters to tenderers the relevant business area decided to consult with the Department of Finance about the processing of this request (given that Department's role in service-wide procurement policy). I am following-up regularly for outcomes of that consultation.

I apologise for the ongoing delay and will continue to progress this request as fast as I am able.

Yours sincerely

Ian Campbell
Assistant Director, Freedom of Information Section Information Management Branch Corporate Support Division Department of Immigration and Border Protection
P: 02 6264 3030
E: [email address]

UNCLASSIFIED

Important Notice: The content of this email is intended only for use by the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you have received this email by mistake, please advise the sender and delete the message and attachments immediately. This email, including attachments, may contain confidential, sensitive, legally privileged and/or copyright information.

Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. DIBP respects your privacy and has obligations under the Privacy Act 1988.

Unsolicited commercial emails MUST NOT be sent to the originator of this email.

Dear FOI,

Thanks for updating me with the latest delay.

Are you able to advise on what effect this new consultation between Finance and DIBP will have on the current delay times for this request?

I am curious as to why now (at this stage of the FOI process) the relevant business area has decided to consult with the Finance department.

To confirm I am seeking documents that are held by DIBP and not the Finance Dept.

Thanks once again for your professional and open communication regarding this request so far.

Yours sincerely,

CD

UNCLASSIFIED

Dear CD

I originally intended sending the letters to the tenderers on 22 March. I have now received a re-confirmation from the business area to proceed with the consultation letters. I will be emailing them to the tenderers this afternoon. I will give the tenderers seven business days in which to respond (or to request a short extension if needed).

After I have the responses of the tenderers I will prepare a decision for final review by relevant business areas. I am unable to promise a timeframe for finalising the request as the timeframe for the final reviews by business areas can vary. I am hoping to finalise the request during April.

Thank you

Ian Campbell
Assistant Director, Freedom of Information Section Information Management Branch Corporate Services Division Department of Immigration and Border Protection
P: 02 6264 3030 | M: 0435 432 790
E: [email address]

show quoted sections

Dear FOI,

Thank you once again for giving an update on the progress of this FOI request.

I am happy to hear that the tenderers will be emailed today regarding this consultation process and that you have nominated a 7 day period for their responses.

I look forward to your decision on this FOI request sometime in April 2016.

Yours sincerely,

CD

UNCLASSIFIED

Dear CD

 

Further to previous correspondence, I have received replies from several
of the tendering businesses and am following up advice from the others. 
Once I have received the views of the tendering parties, or exhausted
reasonable follow-up,  I will be able to progress your request to the
decision stage.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Ian Campbell
Freedom of Information Section
Information Management Branch

Corporate Services Division
Department of Immigration and Border Protection
P: 02 6264 3030

E: [email address]

 

 

UNCLASSIFIED

Important Notice: The content of this email is intended only for use by
the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you have received
this email by mistake, please advise the sender and delete the message and
attachments immediately.  This email, including attachments, may contain
confidential, sensitive, legally privileged and/or copyright information.
 

Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of this information
by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. 
DIBP respects your privacy and has obligations under the Privacy Act 1988.
 

Unsolicited commercial emails MUST NOT be sent to the originator of this
email.

Dear FOI,

It's now 2 weeks since your last correspondence advising on the extensive delay of this foi request. Can you please advise when your decision will be made?

Yours sincerely,

CD

UNCLASSIFIED

Dear CD

My apologies for the delay. The consultations with tenderers have been completed and the decision is now with the decision maker for finalisation.

We anticipate having the decision to you by early the week commencing Monday 9 May.

Yours sincerely

Ian Campbell
Freedom of Information Section
Information Management Branch
Corporate Services Division
Department of Immigration and Border Protection
P: 02 6264 3030
E: [email address]

show quoted sections

Dear FOI,

Thank you for updating me on the progress of this request.

I look forward to reading the Department's decision on this request next week.

Yours sincerely,

CD

2 Attachments

UNCLASSIFIED

Our references: FA 15/10/00694;  ADF2015/57047

 

 

Dear CD

 

I refer to your FOI request received on 3 October 2015, seeking access to
the following:

 

Document(s) listing all interested parties, companies, and potential
suppliers that tendered for either or both the 'Health Services' and
'Garrison and Welfare Services' service categories with the Department
'for the provision of services in Regional Processing Countries' under
"DIBP RFT 28/14"

 

The Department has made a decision on this request. Please see attached
the signed decision letter and decision record.

 

This request has now been closed.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Ian Campbell
Freedom of Information Section
Information Management Branch

Corporate Services Division
Department of Immigration and Border Protection
P: 02 6264 3030

E: [email address]

 

 

 

UNCLASSIFIED

Important Notice: The content of this email is intended only for use by
the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you have received
this email by mistake, please advise the sender and delete the message and
attachments immediately.  This email, including attachments, may contain
confidential, sensitive, legally privileged and/or copyright information.
 

Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of this information
by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. 
DIBP respects your privacy and has obligations under the Privacy Act 1988.
 

Unsolicited commercial emails MUST NOT be sent to the originator of this
email.