Procurement records relating to CN3174232
Dear Department of Employment,
Please treat this as an administrative request if possible. Otherwise, this is a request under the FOI Act.
Can you please provide Records as defined in the Commonwealth Procurement Rules clause 7.2 relating to the tender referenced by the CN ID of CN3174232.
If charges are payable, I request that they are waived because the release of the Records are in the public interest. This is a large contract and the release of such documents increases transparency to ensure procurement achieves value of money for the taxpayer.
Yours faithfully,
Jackson Gothe-Snape
Good afternoon Mr Gothe-Snape
I refer to your correspondence received by the Department of Employment
(the Department) on 31 January 2017 (attached), in which you requested
access under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act) to the
following documents:
Records as defined in the Commonwealth Procurement Rules
clause 7.2 relating to the tender referenced by the CN ID of CN3174232.
The Department will advise you if a charge is payable to process your
request and the amount of any such charge as soon as practicable. Should a
charge be imposed, you will have an opportunity to make submissions that
the charge should be waived.
Please note that information released under the FOI Act may be published
in a disclosure log on the Department’s website. Section 11C of the FOI
Act requires this publication, however it is subject to certain
exceptions, including where publication of personal, business,
professional or commercial information would be unreasonable.
Should you have any queries about this matter, please do not hesitate to
contact me via email: [1][email address].
Yours sincerely
James Ramsay
Information Law Team
Information Law, Practice Management and Corporate Advising Branch
Australian Government Department of Employment
Notice:
The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8am - 5pm Local time)
and delete all copies of this transmission together with any attachments.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
Good afternoon Mr Gothe-Snape
Please see attached s24AB notice under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
(Cth).
Kind regards
James Ramsay
Information Law Team
Information Law, Practice Management and Corporate Advising Branch
Australian Government Department of Employment
From: Employment - FOI
Sent: Tuesday, 14 February 2017 5:42 PM
To: '[FOI #3002 email]'
Subject: Acknowledgement of receipt of FOI request [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Good afternoon Mr Gothe-Snape
I refer to your correspondence received by the Department of Employment
(the Department) on 31 January 2017 (attached), in which you requested
access under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act) to the
following documents:
Records as defined in the Commonwealth Procurement Rules
clause 7.2 relating to the tender referenced by the CN ID of CN3174232.
The Department will advise you if a charge is payable to process your
request and the amount of any such charge as soon as practicable. Should a
charge be imposed, you will have an opportunity to make submissions that
the charge should be waived.
Please note that information released under the FOI Act may be published
in a disclosure log on the Department’s website. Section 11C of the FOI
Act requires this publication, however it is subject to certain
exceptions, including where publication of personal, business,
professional or commercial information would be unreasonable.
Should you have any queries about this matter, please do not hesitate to
contact me via email: [1][email address].
Yours sincerely
James Ramsay
Information Law Team
Information Law, Practice Management and Corporate Advising Branch
Australian Government Department of Employment
Notice:
The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 1300 488 064 during business hours (8am - 5pm Local time)
and delete all copies of this transmission together with any attachments.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
Hello Mr Ramsay, thank you for providing this.
I understand the issues that you have raised and do not seek to divert resources of the department unnecessarily.
I note that I am seeking records covered under the "accountability and transparency in procurement" clause of the procurement rules.
Mr Ramsay, I am seeking your help to devise the best way to request documents that will demonstrate how value for money was considered by the government for this tender. As you say, it was a large tender, and therefore a significant one in terms of public expenditure.
For example, if I refined the scope to cover any records documenting "how value for money was considered and achieved", with redactions covering any references that would otherwise prompt consultation, could that request be processed?
Happy to chat on the phone - 02 6270 0087.
Yours sincerely,
Jackson Gothe-Snape
Good afternoon Mr Gothe-Snape
This number appears to have been disconnected.
Is there an alternative number I can contact you on to discuss?
Kind regards
James Ramsay
Information Law Team
Information Law, Practice Management and Corporate Advising Branch Australian Government Department of Employment
Hello Mr Ramsay,
Can I please vary the scope of my request following consultation.
For the tender with the reference CN3174232 can you please provide:
-a list of tenderers by region and tender subcategory (employment provider services, etc),
-the outcome of each tender and subcategory, ie preferred tenderer by subcategory and contract value, and
-for the region and subcategory with the highest contract value in which Sarina Russo Job Access (Australia) Pty Ltd was the preferred tenderer, records required to be kept under the Commonwealth Procurement Rules clause 7.2 for 'how value for money was considered and achieved', and 'relevant decisions and the basis of those decisions'.
Yours sincerely,
Jackson Gothe-Snape
A slight correction to the second point. It should be:
"-the outcome of each region and subcategory under the tender, ie the preferred tenderer by region and subcategory along with the contract value, and"
Yours sincerely,
Jackson Gothe-Snape
Good afternoon Mr Gothe-Snape
I refer to your email dated 2 March 2017 (below), and your follow up email
of the same date (attached) revising the scope of your request dated 31
January 2017 under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth)(FOI Act).
The purpose of this email to provide you with a further opportunity to
revise the scope of your request, as in its current form it does not
provide enough information concerning the relevant documents as is
necessary for the Department to identify them.
Your revised request, as further modified by your follow-up email, is as
follows (using numbers instead of dashes):
1. A list of tenderers by region and tender subcategory (employment
provider services etc);
2. The outcome of each region and subcategory under the tender, ie
the preferred tenderer by region and subcategory along with the contract
value; and
3. For the region and subcategory with the highest contract value
in which Sarina Russo Job Access (Australia) Pty Ltd was the preferred
tenderer, records required to be kept under the Commonwealth Procurement
Rules clause 7.2 for ‘how value for money was considered and achieved’,
and ‘relevant decisions and the basis of those decisions.’
In relation to Items 2 and 3 of your request, please note that ‘contract
value’ is calculated at a national rather than regional level. Further,
estimates as to contract value relate to potential value, given that money
spent under the Employment Services Programme can vary depending on a
number of factors (such as job seeker movement between providers and job
seeker outcomes). As such, we are advised that the Department does not
hold documents setting out contract value at a regional level, and is
unable to generate such documents in relation to your request in its
current form.
Secondly, please note that the Employment Services tender did not select
‘preferred tenderers’ in relevant employment regions. Each region had a
number of successful tenderers between whom business was allocated based
on various criteria, including value for money.
In relation to Item 3 of your request, the Department is unable to
identify, for the reasons set out above, the region with the highest
contract value, nor the region in which Sarina Russo was the ‘preferred
tenderer’. You may wish to consider nominating a region in respect of
which you would like documents. To assist you in this regard, we provide
the following publicly available document, which indicates the regions in
which Sarina Russo was a successful tenderer: ‘Request for Tender for
Employment Services 2015-2020 Outcomes’, available on the Department’s
website:
[1]https://docs.employment.gov.au/system/fi...
You may also find the [2]Labour Market Information Portal a useful source
of information to assist you in revising your request.
Once you have revised the scope of your request in light of the matters
referred to above, we will be able to consider your request. In order for
the Department to meet its statutory timeframes, we would appreciate it if
you could respond to us by 1PM Monday 6 March 2017. If we do not hear from
you by then, we may issue a further formal notice under section 24AB of
the FOI Act.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you wish to discuss.
Kind regards
James Ramsay
Information Law Team
Information Law, Practice Management and Corporate Advising Branch
Australian Government Department of Employment
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for the clarification.
Can I please vary my request to:
1. A list of tenderers by region and tender subcategory (ie employment provider services, Work for the Dole, New Enterprise Incentive Scheme);
2. For the Sydney Greater West region, records required to be kept under the Commonwealth Procurement Rules clause 7.2 for ‘how value for money was considered and achieved’, and ‘relevant decisions and the basis of those decisions’ in relation to the successful tender from Sarina Russo Job Access for Employment Provider Services and the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme.
Yours sincerely,
Jackson Gothe-Snape
Good morning Mr Gothe-Snape
Please find attached the decision in relation to your request under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982(Cth)(FOI Act), dated 31 January 2017.
Kind regards
James Ramsay
Information Law Team
Information Law, Practice Management and Corporate Advising Branch
Australian Government Department of Employment
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello,
Could I please vary the request - or if this is not possible, lodge a new one - for the records required to be kept under the Commonwealth Procurement Rules clause 7.2 for ‘how value for money was considered and achieved’, and ‘relevant decisions and the basis of those decisions’ in relation to a successful tender from Sarina Russo Job Access under CN3174232 for the region and category with the fewest tenderers.
Yours sincerely,
Jackson Gothe-Snape
Thank you for your email.
The Department of Employment's national office is closed on Monday 13
March 2017 due to a public holiday.
Your correspondence will be considered and actioned when we re-open on
Tuesday 14 March 2017.
Notice:
The information contained in this email message and any attached files may
be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal
professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use,
disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this
email in error, please notify the sender by contacting the department's
switchboard on 13 33 97 during business hours (8am - 5pm Local time) and
delete all copies of this transmission together with any attachments.
Good afternoon Mr Gothe-Snape
I refer to your correspondence received by the Department of Employment
(the Department) on 13 March 2017 (below) in which you requested access
under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act) to the following
documents:
…records required to be kept under the Commonwealth Procurement Rules
clause 7.2 for ‘how value for money was considered and achieved’, and
‘relevant decisions and the basis of those decisions’ in relation to a
successful tender from Sarina Russo Job Access under CN3174232 for the
region and category with the fewest tenderers.
The Department will advise you if a charge is payable to process your
request and the amount of any such charge as soon as practicable. Should a
charge be imposed, you will have an opportunity to make submissions that
the charge should be waived.
Please note that information released under the FOI Act may be published
in a disclosure log on the Department’s website. Section 11C of the FOI
Act requires this publication, however it is subject to certain
exceptions, including where publication of personal, business,
professional or commercial information would be unreasonable.
Should you have any queries about this matter, please do not hesitate to
contact me via email: [1][email address].
Yours sincerely
James Ramsay
Information Law Team
Information Law, Practice Management and Corporate Advising Branch
Australian Government Department of Employment
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Good afternoon Mr Gothe-Snape
I refer to your request, dated 13 March 2017, to the Department of
Employment (the Department) under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
(Cth)(FOI Act), seeking access to the following:
…records required to be kept under the Commonwealth Procurement Rules
clause 7.2 for ‘how value for money was considered and achieved’, and
‘relevant decisions and the basis of those decisions’ in relation to a
successful tender from Sarina Russo Job Access under CN3174232 for the
region and category with the fewest tenderers.
The Department has conducted preliminary searches for documents falling
within the scope of your request, and we note that your request as
currently worded captures tender submission documents by tenderers other
than Sarina Russo Job Access. We estimate that tender submission documents
by other tenderers add approximately 1000 pages to the volume of documents
within the scope of your request.
Would you please indicate whether you are willing to remove the submission
documents of tenderers other than Sarina Russo Job Access from the scope
of your request?
Please note that at this stage no decisions have been made on whether any
of the documents falling within the scope of your request are exempt from
release. We are seeking your agreement to narrow the scope of your request
for the purpose of determining whether we are able to process it.
So that the Department can meet its statutory timeframes, would you please
respond to us by COB Monday 3 April 2017. If we do not hear from you by
then, we may issue a formal notice under section 24AB of the FOI Act.
You may contact us on (02) 6240 7310 if you wish to discuss this request.
Kind regards
James
James Ramsay
Information Law Team
Information Law, Practice Management and Corporate Advising Branch
Australian Government Department of Employment
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi James,
I am willing to remove the submission documents of tenderers other than Sarina Russo Job Access from the scope of the request.
Yours sincerely,
Jackson Gothe-Snape
Good afternoon Mr Gothe-Snape
Please find attached charge notice in relation to your request under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth).
Kind regards
James
James Ramsay
Information Law Team
Information Law, Practice Management and Corporate Advising Branch
Australian Government Department of Employment
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi James,
This is a far higher charge than I was anticipating and I reluctantly must withdraw the request.
I appreciate your assistance with this request and I will seek another avenue for obtaining the records.
Yours sincerely,
Jackson Gothe-Snape