Information re: transport & supply of seasonal Calf of Man wardens

Summary

A request was made for details on the tendering process and annual costs for transporting seasonal wardens to the Calf of Man. Manx National Heritage disclosed that no recent tender process exists but provided annual payment figures for the last 10 years, including data outside the statutory FOI timeframe.

Key Facts

• The transport service for Calf of Man wardens has not undergone a recent tendering process.
• The service is currently under review with plans to advertise on the Government procurement portal.
• The anticipated contract length for the future tender is 3-5 years.
• Financial data for 2010/11 was provided voluntarily as it falls outside the FOI Act's scope.
• The Information Commissioner upheld a complaint regarding the authority's initial handling of the request.

Data Disclosed

• 2020-09-14
• 2021-03-24
• 2021-03-01
• 2020-10-08
• 2021-03-29
• 2020-11-02
• 11 October 2011
• £6,013.28
• £5,484.16
• £5,743.45
• £5,178.24
• £8,594.21
• £8,448.15
• £9,797.55
• £10,232.00
• £12,731.94
• £14,356.30
• 3-5 years
• 10 years

Exemptions Cited

• Information created before 11 October 2011 does not fall under the scope of the Freedom of Information Act 2015.

Original Request

Please could you supply the following information: (1) What is the tendering process for the transport & supply of the Calf of Man seasonal wardens? (2) What is the frequency of the tendering process? (3) What was the date of the last tender? (3) How much has MNH paid annually for such services over the past 10 years?

Data Tables (1)

Data Tables (reformatted)

Full Response Text

Manx National Heritage, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 3LY

Telephone: +44 (0) 1624 648000 Fax: +44 (0) 1624 648001 Email: enquiries@mnh.gov.im

Our ref: 1468375 29 March 2021

Dear ### We write further to your request, which was received on 14 September 2020 and in accordance with Decision Notice 2021/0002 issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office on 01 March 2021. Your request stated: Please could you supply the following information: (1) What is the tendering process for the transport & supply of the Calf of Man seasonal wardens? (2) What is the frequency of the tendering process? (3) What was the date of the last tender? (3) How much has MNH paid annually for such services over the past 10 years? The first 3 requests were answered in previous correspondence dated 08 October 2020, however I have included those responses below for completeness.
(1) What is the tendering process for the transport & supply of the Calf of Man seasonal wardens? The provision of transport services to the Calf has been a long standing arrangement and has not gone through a recent tendering process. However this is currently under review with the expectation that it will be advertised on the Government’s procurement portal in due course.

(2) What is the frequency of the tendering process? There is an ongoing review of the service and we anticipate that it will go through the tender process shortly with a likely contract length of 3-5 years.

(3) What was the date of the last tender? Information not held - it has not gone through a tender process.

(4) How much has MNH paid annually for such services over the past 10 years? The right of access to information under the Freedom of Information Act applies to information created on or after 11 October 2011 and as the information for financial year 2010/11 was created before this date, it does not fall under the scope of the Act. Manx National Heritage has considered your request and agreed to make the information available outside of the scope of the Freedom of Information Act.

2010/11 £6,013.28 2011/12 £5,484.16 2012/13 £5,743.45 2013/14 £5,178.24 2014/15 £8,594.21 2015/16 £8,448,15 2016/17 £9,797.55 2017/18 £10,232.00 2018/19 £12,731.94 2019/20 £14,356.30

Your right to request a review
If you are unhappy with this response to your freedom of information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post to me. An electronic version of our complaint form can be found at www.gov.im/foireview. If you would like a paper version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact me and I will be happy to arrange for this. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded.
If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on;
1. Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or 2. Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.
In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision.
More detailed information on your right to a review can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at www.inforights.im/. Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi.
I will now close your request as of this date. Yours sincerely

Manx National Heritage, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 3LY

Telephone: +44 (0) 1624 648000 Fax: +44 (0) 1624 648001 Email: enquiries@mnh.gov.im

Our ref: 1468375 2 November 2020

Dear ###

Information requested by: ###

Summary of Process 1. Request received: 2. Response sent: 2. Review requested:

Review of Response

In your communication to Manx National Heritage dated 8 October 2020, you raised the following issues:

Please could you supply the following information: (1) What is the tendering process for the transport & supply of the Calf of Man seasonal wardens? (2) What is the frequency of the tendering process? (3) What was the date of the last tender? (3) How much has MNH paid annually for such services over the past 10 years?

Statutory Considerations 1. Did the public authority respond to your request within the required timescales? 2. Did the public authority provide the information requested? 3. Did the public authority conduct a reasonable search for the information? 4. If the public authority did not provide the information because of the application of a practical refusal reason, was the refusal clear? 5. If the public authority applied an exemption was it correct and was it explained? 6. Did the public authority offer appropriate advice and assistance? 7. Did the public authority advise you of the internal review process and your right of appeal to the Information Commissioner?

Outcomes 1. Yes / No, the public authority answered your request within the statutory time limit.

1. Yes / No, the public authority did/did not provide the information requested and did/did not seek further clarification of what was required.
2. Did the public authority conduct a reasonable search for the information?
3. The application of a practical refusal reason was clear/ N/A; no refusal was made.
4. The public authority applied exemption(s) correctly and they were explained/ N/A; no exemption was necessary.
5. Yes/No, the public authority did/did not offer appropriate advice or seek to obtain further clarification of the uncertainty of what was requested.
6. Yes/No, the public authority did/did not advise the requester of the internal review process and their right of appeal to the Information Commissioner.

Specific Issues you raised You informed us that you were unhappy with some of the reasoning given for non- disclosure.

Decision The final decision of this review was that the response provided by relevant colleagues concluded that the exemptions were applied appropriately under the Freedom of Information procedure. The Service of the FoI request is due to be Tendered in the next few weeks and pertinent information regarding the requirements of the Service will be published on the Isle of Man Government Portal at that time. However it has now been agreed that details of trips made are provided to you now and these are set out below. As noted this information will also be provided in the tender details for all potential bidders to inform their bid.
Year No of Trips 2015/16 84 2016/17 93 2017/18 92 2018/19 113 2019/20 125 If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on; 1. Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or 2. Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.
In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision. More detailed information on your right to a review can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at www.inforights.im.

Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi.

Yours sincerely

Manx National Heritage, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 3LY

Telephone: +44 (0) 1624 648000 Fax: +44 (0) 1624 648001 Email: enquiries@mnh.gov.im

Our ref: 1468375 8 October 2020

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on 14 September 2020 and which states:

"Please could you supply the following information: (1) What is the tendering process for the transport & supply of the Calf of Man seasonal wardens? (2) What is the frequency of the tendering process? (3) What was the date of the last tender? (3) How much has MNH paid annually for such services over the past 10 years?"

Our response to your request is as follows: (1)What is the tendering process for the transport & supply of the Calf of Man seasonal wardens? The provision of transport services to the Calf has been a long standing arrangement and has not gone through a recent tendering process. However this is currently under review with the expectation that it will be advertised on the Government’s procurement portal in due course. (2) What is the frequency of the tendering process? There is an ongoing review of the service and we anticipate that it will go through the tender process shortly with a likely contract length of 3-5 years. (3) What was the date of the last tender?
Information not held - it has not gone through a tender process. (3) How much has MNH paid annually for such services over the past 10 years?" While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the information you have requested because it is absolutely exempt under section 25 of the Act (absolutely exempt personal information). The reasons why that exemption applies are that: • Manx National Heritage is satisfied that the information amounts to personal data of which you are not the data subject; and

• Manx National Heritage is satisfied that disclosure of the information would contravene one of the data protection principles as set out at Article 5 of the General Data Protection Regulation as it applies in the Isle of Man pursuant to the Data Protection (Application of GDPR) Order 2018, namely that Manx National Heritage can only disclose the information where it would be fair, lawful and meet one of the conditions for lawful processing in Article 6 and in this case, none of those conditions have been met. In addition, the information is exempt from disclosure under section 30 of the Act as disclosure is likely to prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the public authority holding it). As section 30 is a qualified exemption, it was subject to a public interest test. The public interest must be something that is of serious concern and benefit to the public at large.

Factors in favour of disclosure Promotes transparency and accountability in the expenditure of a Public Authority

Factors in favour of withholding Qualified exempt information – see above Disclosure would prejudice the commercial interests of the supplier Disclosure would prejudice the tendering process affecting the interest of Manx National Heritage Releasing the information could damage relationships between Manx National Heritage and its suppliers threatening its position to obtain suppliers of services.

In taking these factors into account the Manx National Heritage determined that the factors in favour of maintaining the exemption outweigh the factors in favour of disclosing the information.

Please quote the reference number 1468375 in any future communications.

Your right to request a review

If you are unhappy with this response to your freedom of information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post.

An electronic version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website at https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/Review . If you would like a paper version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact me and I will be happy to arrange for this. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded.

If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on; 1. Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or 2. Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.

In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision. More detailed information on your right to a review can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at www.inforights.im. Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi.

I will now close your request as of this date.

Yours sincerely