Procurement

Summary

The request sought tender documentation and ticket sales data for Gaiety Theatre pantomimes from 2019 to 2025. The Department of Education, Sport and Culture released the 2018 Invitation to Tender for the 2019-2021 productions but withheld other requested information citing commercial confidentiality.

Key Facts

• The request covered procurement for Gaiety Theatre pantomimes for the periods 2019-2021 and 2023-2025.
• The Department released the Invitation to Tender (Reference DESC.14) dated October 2018 for the 2019-2021 lots.
• The released document contains 14 pages and includes sections on general instructions, tender response forms, and a form of agreement.
• The response outcome was 'Some information sent but part exempt'.
• The document is marked 'Commercial in Confidence' and copyright belongs to the Attorney General's Chambers.

Data Disclosed

• 2019
• 2020
• 2021
• 2023
• 2024
• 2025
• Oct 2018
• 2025-01-30
• 2025-03-26
• 59
• 3
• DESC.14
• 14

Exemptions Cited

• Commercial in Confidence

Original Request

1. Please supply copies of the invitation to tender and accompanying documents (the tender pack) which were published by or on behalf of the Department, or a Division thereof, inviting tenders to produce the Gaiety Theatre pantomime for 2019 to 2021. If the documentation cannot be produced, please supply the information it contained. 2. Please supply copies, with any necessary/appropriate redaction, of any agreement entered into by, or on behalf of, the Department, or a Division thereof, with the successful tenderer to produce the Gaiety Theatre pantomime for 2019 to 2021. If the documentation cannot be produced, please supply the information it contained. 3. Please supply copies of the invitation to tender and accompanying documents (the tender pack) which were published by or on behalf of the Department, or a Division thereof, inviting tenders to produce the Gaiety Theatre pantomime for 2023 to 2025. If the documentation cannot be produced, please supply the information it contained. 4. Please supply copies, with any necessary/appropriate redaction, of any agreement entered into by, or on behalf of, the Department, or a Division thereof, with the successful tenderer to produce the Gaiety Theatre pantomime for 2023 to 2025. If the documentation cannot be produced, please supply the information it contained. 5. For each year from 2019 to 2024 inclusive, please supply the total number of tickets purchased for the pantomime production at the Gaiety Theatre, such number to be broken down by ticket category (adult, concession etc.)

Data Tables (11)

Full Response Text

Commercial in Confidence Reference: DESC.14

Date: Oct 2018 Page 1 of 14

Invitation to Tender to Produce the Gaiety Theatre Pantomime
Lot 1: 2019 Lot 2: 2020 Lot 3: 2021

DESC.14

COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE

©2018 The Attorney General's Chambers (an Office of the Isle of Man Government)

The copyright to these documents belongs to the Attorney General's Chambers (an Office of the Isle of Man Government) and they may not be copied, reproduced, transmitted or stored on any electronic device or medium in any form in part or whole without the written permission of the Attorney General's Chambers Commercial in Confidence Reference: DESC.14

Date: Oct 2018 Page 2 of 14

Table of Contents

It is the responsibility of the Tenderer to ensure that they are in receipt of all information detailed within this table of contents. Should a Tenderer find that this is not the case, they should contact Procurement Services immediately via the contact details outlined in Section 2.3 of this ITT.

Documents Comprising This Tender

Section 1 – General Instructions to Tenderers Section 2 – Specific Instructions to Tenderers Section 3 – Tender Response: • Document 1 – Form of Tender • Document 2 – Tender Evaluation Criteria • Document 3 – Certificate of Non-Collusion • Document 4 – Financial Regulations Declaration • Document 5 – Schedule of Confidential Information

Enclosures

Enclosure 1 – Form of Agreement

Commercial in Confidence Reference: DESC.14

Date: Oct 2018 Page 3 of 14

Section 1- General Instructions to Tenderers

1.1 Procurement Specification Conventions (Information) Within this ITT the following convention is used to differentiate between requirements which are mandatory, desirable and those for information.

Mandatory items are indicated by (Mandatory) These requirements must be met. Any Tender Response not meeting these requirements will be penalised in the evaluation procedure.

Desirable items are indicated by (Desirable) These requirements are considered important but are not essential in order to meet the needs of the Department. The ability of Tenderers to meet the desirable requirements will be considered during the tender evaluation.

Areas which are marked as 'Information' are provided to assist the Tenderer in the preparation of their Tender Response and will not form part of the evaluation.

1.2 Definitions (Information) This ITT has been prepared to define the Department's requirements and the following phrases shall have the following meanings:

'the Agreement' Shall mean the contract to be entered into between the Department and the Contractor for the delivery of the Services, which shall be in the form set out in Form of Agreement at Enclosure 1.

'Alternative Tenders' Shall mean a Tender Response submitted in addition to a full Tender Response (where the full Tender Response is submitted in accordance with the requirements of this ITT) and which sets out proposals for the modification of the Specification (in whole or in part).

'the Attorney General's Chambers' Shall mean the Attorney General's Chambers, an Office of the Government.

'Closing Date' Shall mean the date set out as the Due Date/time for submission of Tender Response in Section 2.7 of this ITT.

'Contractor' Shall mean the body chosen by the Department as the successful Tenderer (if any) and who enters into the Agreement with the Department.

'the Department' Shall mean the Department of Education, Sport and Culture (a Department of the Government).

'Form of Tender' Shall mean the document contained at Section 3 of this ITT.

'the Government' Shall mean all or any of the Departments and/or Statutory Boards and other bodies (whether the Departments and/or Statutory Boards and other bodies are acting jointly or separately) which collectively form the Isle of Man Government.

Commercial in Confidence Reference: DESC.14

Date: Oct 2018 Page 4 of 14

'Intellectual Property Rights' Shall mean patents, trademarks, service marks, design rights (whether registerable or otherwise), applications for any of the foregoing, copyright, know-how, trade or business names and other similar rights or obligations whether registerable or not in any country (including but not limited to the British Isles).

'ITT' Shall mean this Invitation to Tender document to include all sections and enclosures hereto.

'Portal' Shall mean the Government's internet based Procurement Portal.

'Procurement Officer' Shall mean the person named in Section 2.3 of this ITT or such other person as is nominated in writing by the person named in Section 2.3 of this ITT.

'Procurement Services' Shall mean the Procurement Services section of the Attorney General's Chambers.

'Qualified Tenders' Shall mean a Tender Response whereby the Tenderer is seeking to modify the design, Specification or conditions of contract and which is not an Alternative Tender.

'Requirement' Shall mean the Department's requirement for the Services as set out in Section 3 of this ITT.

'Services' Shall mean the provision of those goods and/or services as are set out in the Specification.

'Specification' Shall mean the Operational Provisions and Specification detailed in Schedule 1 [OPERATIONAL PROVISIONS] AND Schedule 2 [SPECIFICATION] to the Agreement.

'Tenderer' Shall mean a body who submits a Tender Response or who could reasonably be expected to submit a Tender Response.

'Tender Period' Shall mean the period from the date of issue of this ITT until the Closing Date.

'Tender Price' Shall mean the fixed price quoted by the Tenderer in their Tender Response for the fully inclusive provision by them of the Services and any defined hourly rate for additional services/goods.

'Tender Response' Shall mean a tender submitted by a Tenderer in response to this ITT.

'The Treasury' Shall mean the Treasury, a Department of the Government.

'Working Days' Shall mean Monday to Friday in each week but excluding bank holidays recognised in the Isle of Man.

Commercial in Confidence Reference: DESC.14

Date: Oct 2018 Page 5 of 14

1.3 Procurement Process (Mandatory) The procurement process is to be run by Procurement Services for and on behalf of the Department. Procurement Services and the Department will be involved in the selection of the Contractor and the Department will ultimately enter into the Agreement with the Contractor (should a Contractor be chosen).

1.4 Confidentiality (Mandatory) Tenderers are reminded that until the tender process has been concluded, normally by contract award or cancellation, the ITT and the procurement process are confidential. The information, details and documents provided by Tenderers responding to this ITT will not be published or disclosed by Procurement Services to any other party other than to the Department and the professional advisors of both the Attorney General's Chambers and the Department whilst the process is still ongoing. Once the process is concluded the provision of Section 1.5 below will apply.

If the Attorney General's Chambers has reasonable grounds for suspecting that collusion has occurred between Tenderers, then those Tenderers shall be excluded from the remainder of the procurement process and possibly future tenders. Tenderers must complete and return with their Tender Response the Certificate of Non-Collusion (Document 3 of Section 3 of this ITT).

1.5 Freedom of Information (Mandatory) Tenderers are reminded that the Government is committed to meeting their legal responsibilities under the Freedom of Information Act 2015 (the Act). Accordingly, all information submitted in responding to this ITT may need to be disclosed by the Government in response to a request under the Act. We may also decide to include certain information in the publication scheme that we maintain. The scope of the scheme is referred to in the Form of Acknowledgement, a copy of which will have been provided to you. If you consider that any of the information included in your tender is commercially sensitive, please identify it and explain (in broad terms) what harm may result from disclosure if a request is received, and the time period applicable to that sensitivity. If applicable, Tenderers must complete and return with their Tender Response the Schedule of Confidential Information (included as Document 5 of Section 3 of this ITT).

Please be aware that, even where you have indicated that information is commercially sensitive, we might be required to disclose it under the Act if a request is received. Please also note that the receipt of any material marked 'confidential' or equivalent in response to this ITT should not be taken to mean that the Government accepts any duty of confidence by virtue of that marking. If a request is received, we may also be required to disclose details of unsuccessful tenders.

If we receive a request for information that you have supplied to us we will, as far as possible, seek your views about the sensitivity of the information in question. The final decision on the release or withholding of information rests with the authority that holds the information. Your views will inform our decision making but they cannot bind us under the Act and even if you object we may have to release the information requested.

1.6 Authority (Mandatory) The Department is seeking bona fide and competitive bids for the Services. The supply of the Services should be undertaken in full compliance with the standards laid down within this ITT.

1.7 Tender Documents and Confirmation of Receipt (Mandatory) Tenderers will receive the complete ITT as listed in the table of contents on page 2 of this ITT.

Should a Tenderer decide that he is unable to submit a Tender Response he shall immediately select 'Opt Out' on the project within the Portal. The Tenderer shall then be provided with an option to state the reasons for withdrawal. Commercial in Confidence Reference: DESC.14

Date: Oct 2018 Page 6 of 14

1.8 Formal Tender Procedure (Mandatory) The Form of Tender must be fully completed in all respects, otherwise the Tender Response may not be considered.

The documents which make up Section 3 of this ITT, titled Tender Response, must be submitted through the portal leaving the documents in this entire Section intact as the Tender Response.

Your submission may be uploaded to the Portal and amended several times ahead of the submission deadline. However, following the deadline the portal will 'Lock Out' and no further amendments can be made to your submission.

The Tenderer must submit a Tender Response that complies with the ITT.

1.9 Incomplete Tender Responses (Mandatory) Tender Responses must be complete at the time of submission. It may not be possible to consider a Tender Response if any particulars and/or data requested in the ITT are not provided in full.

1.10 Qualified Tenders (Mandatory) Tenderers should submit unqualified Tender Responses. Under no circumstances must any amendment be made to the ITT, except when so instructed by Procurement Services.

Tenderers wishing to submit a non-compliant Tender Response, by way of qualification of ITT, must do so separately using the format of this ITT as far as is practicable. Only in very exceptional circumstances will Tender Responses qualified in any way be considered.

1.11 Alternative Tender (Mandatory) The Tenderer may submit an Alternative Tender(s). If the Tenderer wishes to offer an Alternative Tender, this must be in addition to a conforming Tender Response. If a conforming Tender Response is not submitted, the Alternative Tender will not be considered.

The requirements for an Alternative Tender are as follows:

Proposals involving modifications to the Specification in whole or in part should be notified, in confidence, to the Procurement Officer as early as possible during the Tender Period. An Alternative Tender will not be considered unless this prior notification has been given not less than a full five (5) Working Days (Monday-Friday 9.00 am - 5.00 pm) before the Closing Date.
Following receipt of this notification the Procurement Officer may, after such consultation with the Department as they may consider necessary, give a preliminary opinion as to the acceptability of the modifications proposed but this opinion will not be binding on the Department. In their own interests Tenderers are advised to provide as much information as possible about the modifications at this stage.

If the Tenderer does decide to submit an Alternative Tender it must be accompanied by supporting information in sufficient detail to enable its technical acceptability, price and delivery time to be fully assessed.

Any Alternative Tender involving modifications to the Specification will be assessed on its merits and if considered valid, may be accepted without recourse to re-tendering. An accepted alternative Specification would become the Specification for the purpose of the Agreement.

A decision to adopt a technically acceptable modified Specification will be governed by the amount of overall benefit (financial and non-financial) which it can reliably be expected to achieve.
Matters to be considered in arriving at the overall benefit of the Alternative Tender will include the effect of any deferment in starting date arising from the extra time needed for the preparation of an amended Agreement for signature. Commercial in Confidence Reference: DESC.14

Date: Oct 2018 Page 7 of 14

If the Tenderer wishes to submit an Alternative tender they must:

• Submit together with the conforming Tender Response. • Download the Form of Tender and Pricing Schedule for each Alternative Tender Response submitted. • Clearly reference and include full and detailed particulars of the benefits to the Department of the alternative goods or service. • Submit a full technical specification. • State any qualifications or alternatives to the requirements of the ITT.

Note: If the Tenderer offers an alternative, this must be in addition to a conforming Tender Response. If a conforming Tender Response is not submitted the Alternative Response will not be considered

The Deed of Agreement has been drafted on the basis of a conforming Tender Response. Should a Tenderer wish to submit an Alternative Response, they should also include with this submission either the Deed of Agreement duly amended to set out the alternate bid or their own agreement seeking to formalise the alternate bid, in order that this may be considered by the Department as part of the evaluation.

1.12 Prices (Mandatory) All prices will be based on Te

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