TfL Ref: FOI-0851-1718

Thank you for your email received by us on 10 July 2017 asking for information about Oracle applications.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy.  You asked:

o What is the value of the Oracle application support contract and when does it end?
o When does the SAP and/or Oracle contracts expire?
o Are you running any Oracle Databases, if so what versions are you running?
o Are you planning another Database upgrade in the next 12-18 months?
o Do you have an Oracle support partner for Databases? If so who?
o What is the value of the database support contract for Oracle and when does it expire?
o Where are the databases held? Hosted, onsite/offsite?
o If not, how many in-house DBAs do you have?
o Where do you advertise any Oracle procurement opportunities?
o Who is responsible for looking after the contract for the Oracle estate?
o Who is responsible for looking after the licenses for the Oracle estate?
o How much do you pay annually for Oracle Support & Maintenance and when does it renew?

Unfortunately, to provide the information you have requested 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 a request 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. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described.

We have estimated that it would cost £962.50 to provide a response to your current request. This is because it is estimated that it would take approximately 38.5 hours to retrieve and compile the information you have requested.

The work to ascertain the answers will require collaboration from a number of TfL departments.  All your questions cannot be answered by one team, and the requirement to liaise across multiple areas of the TfL will naturally impact the length of time taken.  The proliferation of software across TfL is a major reason for the time limit breach. There are multiple different Oracle applications across TfL and it is not possible to capture the information requested on that many systems within 18 hours.

To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. If you want to refine your request or make a Freedom of Information Act request in future, please bear in mind that the Freedom of Information Act allows you to request recorded information held by us. You should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as you can, specifying the types of document that you are looking for. You might also consider limiting your request to a particular period of time, geographical area or specific departments of the organisation.

Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, we do not have to answer your question if it would require the creation of new information or the provision of a judgement, explanation, advice or opinion that was not already recorded at the time of your request.

Please note that we will not be taking further action until we receive your revised request.

In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your request, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

Yours sincerely

Paulina Tuffour
FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London