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Hosting contracts with third party providers (FOI21999)

This Freedom of Information request asks for details of the hosting contracts and services OS has with third party providers.

Request for information - Ref No: FOI21999

Request

Thank you for your email of 26 March 2021, requesting information from Ordnance Survey in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000, as set out in the extract below:

“I wish to submit a request to the organisation around their hosting contract(s) with 3rd party providers.

The type of contract I wish to see is below:

  1. Cloud Hosting- Cloud hosting servicesprovide hosting for websites on virtual servers, which pull their computing resource from extensive underlying networks of physical web servers.

Not all of these will be applicable to the organisation.

For the different types of hosting services, can you provide me with the following information:

  1. Type of hosting – Dedicated, Co-Location, Cloud Hosting, Other?
  2. Who is the supplier of the contract? If possible can you also provide me with the name of the vendor, if applicable?
  3. What is the annual contract value for each contract?
  4. What type of cloud environment?

Private Cloud- a distinct and secure cloud based environment in which only the specified client can operate.

Public Cloud - where cloud services are provided in a virtualized environment, constructed using pooled shared physical resources, and accessible over a public network such as the internet.

Hybrid- integrated cloud service utilising both private and public clouds to perform distinct functions within the same organisation.

  1. What is the original start date of the contract agreement? If there are more than one contract please provide me with the start date for each contract.
  2. What is the actual expiry date of the contract agreement? If there are more than one contract please provide me with the expiry date for each contract.
  3. When will the organisation plan to review this contract? If there are more than one contract please provide me with the review date for each contract.
  4. What is the contract period in years? Please include whether the agreement has any extension periods?
  5. What services are provided under the contract? Please do not put hosting information such as web hosting, file storage, hosted application. The more information the better,
  6. Can you please provide me with the contract officer responsible for this contract? Complete contact details if possible name, title, contact email and number. 

You may have received the same request in the past. The information sent has now expired and I required an update as soon as possible. If all the information besides the contract dates are the same, I am happy to just receive an update on the contract dates”

Our response

I confirm that Ordnance Survey does hold some of the information you have requested.  Where the information is not held or exempt from disclosure this is stated.  

Ordnance Survey does not hold any contracts for dedicated hosting and co-location hosting.

Ordnance Survey has cloud hosting contracts with Microsoft Limited UK and Amazon Web Services. The table below sets out the responses to each question for each contract (the only information that has changed since our previous response to you is highlighted in yellow):- 

Microsoft Limited UK

Amazon Web Services

1.Type of hosting – Dedicated, Co-Location, Cloud Hosting, Other?

 

Cloud Hosting

 

Cloud Hosting

2. Who is the supplier of the contract? If possible can you also provide me with the name of vendor, if applicable?

 

Microsoft Limited UK

 

Amazon EU SARL

3. What is the annual contract value for each contract?

PAYG - annual £ 1,169,000

PAYG - annual $725,000

4. What type of cloud environment?

Public Cloud

 

Public Cloud

5. What is the original start date of the contract agreement?

December 2018

March 2010

6. What is the actual expiry date of the contract agreement?

November 2021

On-going

7. When will the organisation plan to review this contract?

Regularly reviewed during the life of the contract.

Regularly reviewed during the life of the contract.

8. What is the contract period in years? Please include whether the agreement has any extension periods?

3 years

 

Option to renew for a term of 36 months.

On-going

 

No extension periods.

9. What services are provided under the contract?

Mobile App Backend, Geospatial Production, Job Planning, Geospatial product generation and storage, Land administration System, API's, Development

API's, Web Services, Public Map Services, Public Map Services

10. Can you please provide me with the contract officer responsible for this contract?

Exempt (Section 40) – see below for further information.

Exempt (Section 40) – see below for further information.

 In relation to question 10 above I confirm the title for the persons responsible for the contracts set out in the table above is the Supplier Relationship Manager. The information relating to the name, contact email and number is held by Ordnance Survey but is exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) (personal information) of the FOI Act, as the information constitutes personal data.

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, Ordnance Survey 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 our website in our procurement pages, there is a ‘contact us’ form. Alternatively, you can contact us by telephone via our Customer Service centre on 03456 05 05 05

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

Contact us via our FoI form

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.