Freedom of Information request: Transport for London (TfL): Professional Services Frameworks 2
Request ID: FOI-0741-2324 Date published: 04 July 2023
You asked
Dear Sir/Madam
Freedom of Information request: Transport for London (TfL): Professional Services Frameworks 2
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 I would like to request the following information with regard to Transport for London (TfL): Professional Services Frameworks 2:
• Annual spending per year for each Framework, for the past four financial years, broken down by:
o Lot number and any sub-lots.
o By Local Authority (Buyer) if not TfL
o By Supplier or Contractor (provider)
o Split by direct award or competitive (open) tender
o Split by fixed price lump sum, target cost, and cost reimbursable
I would like you to provide this information in an Excel spreadsheet.
If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the information exceeding the cost of compliance limits identified in Section 12, please provide advice and assistance, under the Section 16 obligations of the Act, as to how I can refine my request.
If you can identify any ways that my request could be refined I would be grateful for any further advice and assistance.
If you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact me via email or phone and I will be very happy to clarify what I am asking for and discuss the request, my details are outlined below.
We answered
Our ref: FOI-0741/2-2324/GH
Thank you for your requests received by Transport for London (TfL) on 8 June 2023 asking for information about Professional Services Frameworks 2.
Your requests have been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and our information access policy. I can confirm that we do hold some of the information you require.
Please see the attached spreadsheet.
Lot number and any sub-lots
By Supplier or Contractor (provider)
By Local Authority (Buyer) if not TfL
This information is not held by TfL.
Split by direct award or competitive (open) tender – not available
Split by fixed price lump sum, target cost, and cost reimbursable – not available
To provide this information would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.
Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with requests if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. In this instance, we estimate that the time required to answer your request would exceed 18 hours which, at £25 per hour (the rate stipulated by the Regulations), exceeds the ‘appropriate limit’.
To provide this information we would need to manually go through 400 plus contracts, which would exceed the appropriate limit.
By Framework, the hourly and day rates by grade by year (for the four past years) into the following category:
Grouped by Supplier or Contractor (provider)
Supplier or Contractor (provider) information to be redacted/removed.
Lot number and sub-lots
We do not have hourly rates on the frameworks. The remaining pricing information is subject to a statutory exemption to the right of access to information under section 43(2). In this instance the section 43(2) exemption has been applied as disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice our commercial interests, as well as those of the suppliers. Disclosure of the price TfL currently pays could hinder the ability of suppliers to competitively tender for similar contracts in the future as well as hinder TfL’s ability to negotiate the best value for money for similar services in the future.
The use of this exemption is subject to an assessment of the public interest in relation to the disclosure of the information concerned. We recognise the need for openness and transparency by public authorities, particularly where the expenditure of public money is concerned, but in this instance the public interest in ensuring that we are able to obtain the best value for public money outweighs the general public interest in increasing transparency of our processes.
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for some reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
If you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Graham Hurt FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
