TfL Ref: 1295-2021
Thank you for your email received by us on 13 October 2020 asking for information about Transport for London’s (TfL) expenditure on Mott MacDonald since May 2019 within London Underground’s Finance and Procurement Directorate and Asset Strategy Directorate.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy.  I can confirm we do hold the information you require. You asked:
How much money has been spent (inc. labour, interim staff appointments services etc) on Mott MacDonald from May 2019 within Finance and Procurement Directorate (LU) and Asset Strategy Directorate (LU).
- How much money are you planning on spending on Mott MacDonald over the next 12 months within the Asset Strategy Directorate.
- What fair tender / selection process, if any, were followed in selecting Mott McDonald?
- List of companies involved in the tender process and why they were rejected and why were Mott MacDonald appointed (was doing this work ).
- Reasons for rejecting other companies (inc. Doing it internally) for labour and/or services
In reference to ‘what fair tender / selection process, if any, were followed in selecting Mott McDonald’, details of our procurement process including terms and conditions are provided via the following link to our website:  https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/procurement-information?intcmp=3408.

In accordance with section 21 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to supply you with a copy of this requested information as it is already accessible to you elsewhere.

The value band of the contract with Mott Macdonald and London Underground’s Asset Management Strategy Team under reference: ‘PSFW 91313 - Task 176’ can be found here:  http://content.tfl.gov.uk/contracts-awarded-tfl.pdf

Unfortunately, to provide the remainder of 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 £1000 to provide a response to your current request. This is because it is estimated that it would take 40 working hours to retrieve and compile the information you have requested. For example, we would need to go through every Purchase Order within our database to locate consultancy spend for all categories and identify all consultancy contracts outside of the Procurement and Supply Chain (PSC).

Furthermore, to locate, retrieve and extract the information sought, which is extensive and wide ranging as it is not for instance, limited to a sole category or company, would necessitate the reviewing of every Purchase Order and individual contract made. To process this information in a format suitable for public disclosure would also require the scrutiny and likely redaction of content that could be deemed commercially sensitive, particularly in relation to the individual breakdown of supplier rates for various classified services.

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.

If you are considering submitting a further FOI request please think carefully about whether the request is essential at this current time, as answering FOI requests will require the use of limited resources and the attention of staff who could be supporting other essential activity. Where requests are made, please note that our response time may be impacted by the current situation.

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, 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

Jasmine Howard
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London