Procurement systems (FOI)

Request

Please can you advise on the following:

A

What procurement system do you use? And is this also where you publish tenders?

B

Do you publish tenders anywhere else, if so where?

For example, your website, Contracts Finder, and so on.

C

How much do you pay per annum for your procurement software?

D

What are the contract start and end dates with the provider and when will the next tender become available?

E

How long have you used this software for in total?

F

What are the purchasing rules of your organisation?

For example - £0-£10,000 (3 quotes), £10,000+ public notification and so on.

Response

A

The Government of Jersey (GoJ) has two web based portals that are classed as Procurement Systems.

• Channel Island Tenders - an Electronic Tender Portal

• Supply Jersey - a Procure to Pay System.

The Channel Islands Tender Portal is the online contract and procurement portal for tender opportunities across the Channel Islands. It is available to view at the following link:

Channel Islands Tenders

A previous Freedom of Information request has been published providing a description of the Channel Island Portal:

Channel Islands Tender Portal (FOI)

B

Tenders are not published by the Government on any other third party website. However, third parties that offer tender or contract services may source publically advertised tender opportunities from the Channel Island Tenders website and advertise them on their own contract website.

Notice of Government of Jersey Tenders may also be published in the Jersey Gazette which is published online at:

Jersey Gazette

C

This information is considered commercially sensitive and therefore exempt from release further to Article 33 (Commercial Interests) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

D

A Contract was awarded for the provision of Channel Island Tenders in 2007. The contract has been extended for operational efficiency reasons and is scheduled to terminate in January 2020.

The Contract for the provision of Supply Jersey was awarded in June 2013 and is scheduled to end June 2021.

The retendering of these services will be considered as part of a wider review of the Government of Jersey’s technology solutions.

E

Channel Island Tenders - 12 years.

Supply Jersey – 6 Years

F

Government departments follow the procurement processes as defined in Financial Direction 5.1.

A previous Freedom of Information request has been published in regards to the Central Purchasing Body and details of Financial Direction 5.1 can be found in the response at the following link:

Central Purchasing Body (FOI)

Articles applied

Article 23 Information accessible to applicant by other means

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this Law, whether or not free of charge.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information.

Article 33 Commercial interests

Information is qualified exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes a trade secret; or

(b) its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information).

Prejudice / public interest test

Article 33 (b) allows an authority to refuse a request for information where its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information). Whilst we accept that the public may have an interest in the value of contracts between the Government of Jersey and software providers, we believe the contract values are commercially sensitive as they are the outcome of negotiations between parties and that the release of this data could affect the negotiation of future contracts and the relationship with third party service providers.