Request
Please can you tell me where you publish past/current/future tenders opportunities (including those of values less than the OJEC threshold), or whom I should contact to find out about the procurement plans for your trust.
I am setting up a company which will provide a database of all tenders for use by potential suppliers to your trust. This will benefit your trust as I am publishing the information for free, and I may be able to provide more qualified companies to bid on your tenders.
Am I able to re-use your tender information for my purposes under the re-use of Public Sector Regulations 2005?
If so, will this premission extend to all future tenders which are published by your trust?
Are you able to send future tenders to me directly?
Our Response
I refer to your email requesting information in respect of the publication of NHS East Midlands past/current/future tender opportunities.
I can confirm in accordance with S.1 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) that we do hold the information that you have requested.
However, we are of the opinion that technically, the information you are asking for is exempt from provision under Section 21 of the FOIA as it is already accessible to you by other means.
Nevertheless, section 16 of the FOIA places a duty on us to provide help and assistance to the person making the request. I would therefore advise you that NHS East Midlands’ procurement function is undertaken on behalf of us by the Leicestershire and Rutland NHS Procurement Partnership (LPT). I have provided a link below to the website on which you will be able to find an explanation of how to trade with LPT and a list of Consortium Partners. You will also find a list of tenders currently at advertisement stage.
Should you require any further clarification on this you can contact Neil Moore, who is Head of the Procurement Partnership Team.
www.leicsprocurement.nhs.uk/default.aspx?page=about.
NHS East Midlands holds a tender register that is also publically available document available via our website as well as details of our contracts worth more than £50k. As this information is also available publicly, we are again of the opinion that it is covered by the exemption offered under Sections 21 and 22 of the FOIA. Section 22 exempts information that is intended for publication at a later date. However I have provided links to the relevant documents below:-
www.eastmidlands.nhs.uk/Easysite/lib/serveDocument.asp?doc=&pgid=&assetID=2845
http://www.eastmidlands.nhs.uk/about-us/financial-information/contracts-over-50k
We are currently in the process of updating both our website and the above information so you might need to check regularly for further updates to this information. We have considered the public interest test in reaching the decision to engage Section 22 and we are content that there would be no public advantage in providing this information in advance of the work that is currently being undertaken.
Please note that NHS East Midlands is not a trust - we are a Strategic Health Authority. If you wish to obtain this information in respect of NHS Trust’s within the East Midlands you can do so by following the link below to our website:-
http://www.eastmidlands.nhs.uk/the-local-nhs/nhs-organisations
You asked about the re-use of public sector information. Information provided by NHS East Midlands is copyrighted to us. Should you wish to re-use this information for any commercial purposes, then the Regulations on the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations would apply. These require that if you do propose any such commercial re-use, you must seek our specific permission identifying each relevant piece of information. We may or may not give such permission, which may also involve the issue of a licence and a specific fee.
I hope that this information is of use to you. If you are dissatisfied with the way in which we have dealt with your request you can ask us to review our decision by writing to:-
Mr Kevin Orford
Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Finance
NHS East Midlands
Octavia House
Interchange Business Park
Bostock's Lane
Sandiacre
Nottingham
NG10 5QG
If at the conclusion of any review you remain dissatisfied you may complain to the Information Commissioner who can be contacted at:-
The Office of the Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
