TfL Ref: FOI-2664-1617

Thank you for your email received by us on 29 March 2017 asking for the Neasden Depot Signalling contract.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our Information Access Policy. I can confirm we hold the information you require.

Please find the contract attached.

However, in accordance with the FOI Act, we not obliged to supply some of the information contained within the contract as it is subject to a statutory exemption to the right of access to information under section 43(2).

In this instance the exemption has been applied to the Neasden Depot contract as disclosure of this information would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of TfL and/or Thales. Disclosing details regarding pricing structures and monetary rates would prejudice TfL’s position in ensuring it has an unconstrained bargaining leverage in any future negotiations TfL may undertake in regard to this area.

Likewise Thales would suffer prejudice to its commercial interests if the financial specifications contained within the contract were disclosed both in the context of their approach to tender bids with other third party organisations and in the context of them competing with other bidders in any future re-procurement TfL might do for this particular service.

In addition, section 43(2) has also been applied the Central Line Service Control Centre contract as disclosure of some of the information contained within the contract / final submissions would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of TfL, Hima-Sella (the successful bidder) and / or the remaining competitive bidders. Disclosing details regarding pricing structures, monetary rates and technical specifications would prejudice TfL’s position in ensuring it has an unconstrained bargaining leverage in any future negotiations TfL may do in regard to this system.

The successful and unsuccessful bidders would also suffer prejudice to their commercial interests if the financial and technical specifications contained within the contract / tenders were disclosed both in the context of their approach to tender bids with other third party organisations and in the context of them competing with other bidders in any future re-procurement TfL might do for this particular service.

The use of this exemption is subject to an assessment of the public interest in relation to the disclosure of the information concerned. TfL recognises 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 TfL is able to obtain the best value for public money with regards to the service provided to maintain the scheme, outweighs the general public interest in increasing transparency of TfL’s processes.

Additionally, in accordance with TfL’s obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) any personal data has been removed, as required by section 40(2) of the FOI Act. This is because disclosure of this personal data would be a breach of the DPA, specifically the first principle of the DPA which requires all processing of personal data to be fair and lawful. It would not be fair to disclose this personal information when the individuals have no expectation it would be disclosed and TfL has not satisfied one of the conditions of Schedule 2 of the Data Protection Act which would make the processing ‘fair’.

This exemption to the right of access to information is an absolute exemption and not subject to an assessment of whether the public interest favours use of the exemption.

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.

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,

Melissa Nichols

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London