Request for information - Ref No: FOI221082
Request
Thank you for your email of 10 May 2022, requesting information from Ordnance Survey in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000, as set out in the extract below:
“The FULL contract register should display all the organisations existing/live contracts I would like the register to display the following columns/headings:
- Contract Reference -Unique reference number associated with the contract.
- Contract Title
- Procurement Category –Please state the category name of the contract, I wish to know the category the contract is under.
- Supplier Name
- Spend (Total, Annual or contract value)
- Contract’s Duration
- Contract’s Extensions
- Contract’s Start Date
- Contract’s Expiry Date
- Contract Description [Please provide me with as much detail as possible.]
- Contact Owner (Person that manages the contract register)
- CPV codes/Pro-Class
Contract Data/API Contact Details
- Can you also provide me with contact details of the person responsible for the actual contract’s register or someone responsible for API? [Name, Job Title, Telephone, Email Address] At the very least provide me with their actual job title.
(Meaning of API “a set of functions and procedures that allow the creation of applications which access the features or data of an operating system, application, or other service.”)
IMPORTANT - If the organisation has a CRM system or a similar system, there should be a facility to download and extract contract data.
- You may forward me a Weblink to a portal to download the contract register, please make sure all the organisation’s contracts are provided as doing prior research I have found that most organisations have only uploaded a small portion of all their contracts.
- For those organisations planning to make an exemption around spend, the spend information I have requested is an overall figure and I am not requesting a complete breakdown of services relating to the spend.
Please provide me with the contract’s register file in an excel format.”
Our response
I confirm that Ordnance Survey does hold some of the information that you have requested.
Our Contracts Register is available to view and download in excel via the Procurement pages of our website, under ‘Procurement contracts’.
Where the information is not held or exempt from disclosure this is explained below: -
Exempt Information
Section 21 (Information accessible by other means)
We consider the Contracts Register to be exempt under section 21 of the FOIA, as it is reasonably accessible by other means, as detailed above. This currently shows our contracts for 2019, 2020, 2021.
Section 21 is an absolute exemption and therefore not subject to the public interest test.   
Section 22 (Information intended for future publication)
We consider the contracts for 2022 to be exempt from disclosure under section 22, of the FOIA, as this information will be available to view on our website at the link above in due course as part of our routine scheduled publication of this information. It is anticipated this information will be available to view by the end of July 2022.
Public Interest Test
Section 22 is a qualified exemption, and we are required to consider the public interest. Ordnance Survey recognises there is a public interest in providing the information that falls within the scope of this request. At the time this request was received, Ordnance Survey had the intention of publishing the contracts for 2022, as part of our routine updates which fall within our Publication Scheme obligations. As this information is due to be published shortly, we believe it reasonable to withhold this information until the time it is published on Ordnance Survey’s website.
Section 40(2) (personal information)
Contract Owner/Contract Register Owner: I confirm OS holds the full contact details of the contract owner(s)/Contract Register owner requested above however, we consider this information to be exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) (personal information) of the FOI Act, as the information constitutes personal data which is not already in the public domain.   
  
Section 40(2) provides that personal data is exempt information if one of the conditions set out in section 40(3) is satisfied. In our view, disclosure of this information would breach the data protection principles contained in the General Data Protection Regulations and Data Protection Act 2018.
In reaching this decision, we have particularly considered:  
 
- the reasonable expectations of the employees; given their positions, OS considered that none of the individuals would have a reasonable expectation that their personal data would be disclosed; 
- the consequences of disclosure; and  
- any legitimate public interest in disclosure.    
Section 40(2) is an absolute exemption and therefore not subject to the public interest test.   
However, under the duty to provide information and assistance in accordance with section 16 of FOIA, we can provide the following information which may assist you in this matter.
You can find out information in relation to our procurement process on the procurement pages of our website which contains a contact form for our Strategic Procurement and Supplier Management team.
Section 43(2) (Prejudice to commercial interests)
Where we have certain contracts which are not on OS’ standard terms and conditions or the CCS Framework but on our suppliers’ terms, and where there may be an expectation that these will not be routinely published, we consider these to be exempt from disclosure under section 43(2) of the FOIA 2000, as explained further below:
We consider that disclosure of these contracts would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of OS and of a third party(s). This information would prove advantageous for competitors when bidding on future opportunities and would impair the third party(s) ability to compete successfully and could harm OS’ ability to negotiate in future procurement exercises. Companies may lose confidence in OS, compromising OS’ integrity and causing a detrimental impact on the reputation of OS.
Section 43 (2) is a qualified exemption, and we are required to consider the public interest.
Public Interest Test
OS recognises the need for transparency; however, this must be balanced against the public interest in allowing OS and third parties to protect their commercial information, and not be placed at a disadvantage in the competitive marketplace in which we operate. Section 43(2) is a prejudice-based exemption, and there is a public interest inherent in avoiding the harm specified. In this case, OS considers that the prejudice would be likely to occur. Having considered the above, we are satisfied that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure.
Information not held
CPV Codes/ProClass: I confirm we do not hold this information.
Contract Data/API Contact Details: I confirm we do not hold this information as we do not hold an API.
Internal review
Your enquiry has been processed according to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. If you are unhappy with our response, you may request an internal review with our Internal Review Officer by contacting them, within two months of receipt of our final response to your Freedom of Information (FOI) request, as follows:
Internal Review Officer
Customer Service Centre
Ordnance Survey
Adanac Drive
Southampton
SO16 0AS
Please include the reference number above. You may request an internal review where you believe Ordnance Survey has:
- Failed to respond to your request within the time limits (normally 20 working days)
- Failed to tell you whether or not we hold the information
- Failed to provide the information you have requested
- Failed to explain the reasons for refusing a request
- Failed to correctly apply an exemption or exception
The Internal Review Officer will not have been involved in the original decision. They will conduct an independent internal review and will inform you of the outcome of the review normally within 20 working days, but exceptionally within 40 working days, in line with the Information Commissioner’s guidance.
The Internal Review Officer will either: uphold the original decision, provide an additional explanation of the exemption/s applied or release further information, if it is considered appropriate to do so.
Appeal to Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
If, following the outcome of the internal review you remain unhappy with our response, you may raise an appeal, within three months of receiving our response, with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Further information can be found on the ICO website (ico.org.uk) under ‘Report a concern’ or you may wish to call the ICO helpline on 0303 123 1113.