FOI - Appointment of a Programme Delivery Unit [Apr 2021]

Your request

1. A copy of the Contract (governing similar services provided by Turner Townsend) during the period between April 2016 and March 2020.
2. Copies of the invoices and associated supporting documentation (submitted by Turner Townsend) explaining the indicated total annual cost of the associated and similar services provided by Turner Townsend to the GLA in the financial years outlined below:

2016-17 - £1,038,000 (please note the total invoice amount is for £1,244,690 in 2016-17 including accruals from the previous financial year and a bonus payment for meeting contractual key performance indicators)

2017-18 - £995,000

2018-19 - £892,000

Our response

The contract is available on the Government’s Contracts Finder.

In relation to the second part of your request, the GLA holds copies of invoices for the 
timeframe specified. Please note that some of the content falls under the exception to disclose in Regulation 12 (5)(e) (confidentiality of commercial or industrial 
information) of the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR). 

Applying the four-stage test from Bristol City Council v Information Commissioner and Portland and Brunswick Squares Association (EA/2010/0012, 24 May 2010):

1. The information is commercial or industrial in nature: The redacted information contained in the invoices details daily rates per hour and bank account information. The information can therefore be considered as commercial or industrial in nature.
2. Confidentiality is provided by law: The information is covered by the common law obligation of confidentiality, the information is not trivial in nature, nor is it in the public domain. Turner & Townsend submitted the invoices to the GLA on the expectation and understanding that that detailed commercially sensitive information would be held in  confidence for the purpose of the financial transaction for services. The redacted  information is therefore to be protected by confidentiality provided by law. The confidentiality is protecting a legitimate economic interest.
3. The confidentiality is protecting the legitimate economic interests in each of the following category: Sale prices of the commercial services. The disclosure of this information would unfairly prejudice Turner & Townsend’s ability to freely negotiate with future parties on a commercial basis if its competitors were in possession of this information. The information could be used by those competitors to predict the likely terms and could therefore ensure they offer less.
4. The confidentiality would be adversely affected by disclosure. Disclosure of the information would inevitably harm the confidential nature of it and therefore the exemption at Regulation 12(5)(e) is engaged in respect of disclosure of the redacted information.

• Public interest: Regulation 12(5)(e) constitutes a qualified exemption from our duty to disclose information under the EIR, and consideration must be given as to whether the public interest favouring disclosure of the information covered by this exemption outweighs the public interest considerations favouring maintaining the exemption and withholding the information.
• The GLA acknowledges that there is a public interest in the activities being undertaken with regards to the RE:FIT project and a specific public interest in the transparency of the GLA’s achievement in delivering Mayoral commitments. However, it is not in the public interest to prejudice the commercial negotiating positions amongst third parties.

Please note that the names of members of staff are exempt from disclosure under Regulation 13 (Personal information) of the EIR. Information that identifies specific employees constitutes as personal data which is defined by Article 4(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to mean any information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual.

It is considered that disclosure of this information would contravene the first data protection principle under Article 5(1) of GDPR which states that personal data must be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject.

If there is anything else, you require in terms of ‘associated documentation’ I would be grateful if you could confirm the information you are seeking so that we can target our searches accordingly and provide you with the correct information you are seeking.

We do hold copies of period reports however these are extensive and contain confidential client data. It is likely that provision of all these documents would invoke the regulations at Regulation 12(4)(b) (Manifestly unreasonable) and Regulation 12(5)(e) (Confidentiality of commercial or industrial information), of the EIR. 

If you have any further questions relating to this matter, please contact us, quoting 
reference MGLA310321-9769.