Provision of PFAS Hydrogeological Studies (FOI)

Request

Please provide a copy of document “‘Invitation to Tender (ITT) for the Provision of PFAS Hydrogeological Studies Jersey’, Contract Reference: GOJ/2021/307, July 2021.” together with copies of all reports, minutes/notes of meetings and correspondences concerning and/or referring to this proposed hydrological study.  

A

Please provide the job title(s) of the person(s) signing off this document.  

B

Please provide the names of all those invited to tender for this study.  

C

Please provide a list of all changes recommended to be made to the study specification from the successful tenderers.  

All financial information may be redacted.    

Text from the Phase 1 report issued June 2023 against this “Hydrogeological Study”:  

“The Government of Jersey (GoJ) commissioned Arcadis Consulting (UK) Ltd (Arcadis) to undertake a hydrogeological study and risk assessment in relation to Per and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) within the St Ouen’s Bay and the upper Pont Marquet water catchments.    

The works were undertaken in accordance with the ‘Invitation to Tender (ITT) for the Provision of PFAS Hydrogeological Studies Jersey’, Contract Reference: GOJ/2021/307, July 2021.     

This Phase 1 report reviews existing available data to develop an initial Conceptual Site Model (CSM) that sets out potential pollutant linkages within the two catchments. The initial CSM is then used to define the scope of further assessment and monitoring to address identified data gaps and inform a subsequent PFAS hydrogeological study and risk assessment as part of Phase 2 of the study.” 

Response

A

The ‘Invitation to Tender’ (ITT) would have been signed off ultimately by the Project board: Director of Natural Environment, Infrastructure, Housing and Environment (IHE); Head of Land Resource Management, IHE; Manager of Finance Business Partnering, IHE. As part of the procurement process, it was also signed off by the Group Director of Commercial Services.

Attachments combined.pdf

The information requested is partially exempt under Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 as the information is accessible on www.gov.je. Please see the following links:

PFAS AND THE WATER QUALIY IN JERSEY 2020.pdf (statesassembly.gov.je)

R PFOS Technical Group 20190712.pdf (gov.je)

Water_Resource_Management_Plan.pdf (jerseywater.je)

B and C

The information requested is exempt under Article 26 (Information supplied in confidence)

This information is not held centrally and it is estimated that to extract it, in addition to the time already spent on questions (a) to (c,) it would exceed the timescales prescribed in the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014. Therefore, Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Information is also exempt under Article 33(b) (Commercial Interests) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 as details of the transaction fees and percentages charged are considered commercially sensitive.

Articles applied 

Article 16 - A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost excessive 

(1) A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations. 

Article 26 - Information supplied in confidence

Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a)     it was obtained by the scheduled public authority from another person (including another public authority); and

(b)     the disclosure of the information to the public by the scheduled public authority holding it would constitute a breach of confidence actionable by that or any other person.

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). 

Public Interest Test 

Article 33 is a qualified exemption and a public interest test should be carried out by the Scheduled Public Authority (SPA) to determine whether the information should be released.

It is in the public interest to be made aware of anticipated value / budget. However, this could result in the Government of Jersey’s inability to secure best value for the taxpayer and this would likely prejudice the Government as its bargaining power decreases.

Therefore, it is considered that the likely prejudice to the Government of Jersey, should this information be released, outweighs the argument that the release is in the public interest.