Request
Can you please confirm the following for me?
A
How does the tender process work at the Department for Infrastructure?
B
How many companies tender for works on any scheme?
C
How are they notified of the opportunity to tender?
D
How negotiated works are achieved?
E
How many out of Island consultants work for continuous periods of 3 months or more?
F
What independent process is adopted to scrutinise the tender process?
G
How are "off Island" consultants chosen and what process is used?
H
Who independently audits works once finalised?
I
How does the DFI interview prospective consultants?
J
Are UK Agency staff employed by the DFI? If so why?
Response
A
Tendering processes and procedures are set out in Financial Direction 5.1, issued by the Treasurer of the States under the Public Finance (Jersey) Law 2005. All financial directions are currently being reviewed. Financial Direction 5.1 was published in response to a previous Freedom of Information (FOI) request which can be found at the following link:
Financial direction in relation to procurement (FOI)
B
It is not possible to specify how many as the number of tenderers varies depending on the nature of the work and capacity of the market.
C
The Channel Islands Procurement Portal is used by the States of Jersey to advertise tender opportunities, disseminate tender documentation, receive bids and exchange information in respect of specific tender opportunities. The Channel Islands Procurement Portal is a cloud based solution provided by Due North, a UK registered company. The solution is ISO27001 (2013) accredited.
D
It is not common practice to negotiate works as the preferred approach is open tender. However, if the need arises due to exceptional circumstances an exemption from Financial Direction 5.1 will be sought before the negotiation process can commence.
E
To obtain this information would mean reviewing records for each and every project, for example Future Hospital, Les Quennevais School, Energy from Waste Plant, and so on. It has been determined that retrieval of this information would exceed the cost limit provisions under Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.
F
Tender processes are subject to scrutiny by States of Jersey Internal Audit function, Public Accounts Committee and Comptroller and Auditor General.
G
Tender process is governed by Financial Direction 5.1 which was published in response to a previous FOI request which can be found at the following link.
Financial direction in relation to procurement (FOI)
H
For the purpose of responding to this request, it has been assumed that this question is referring to building works. Auditing the quality and cost of a project is an ongoing process throughout the build process and is achieved in various ways including the use of clerks of works, chosen form of contract, contractual mechanisms, specification requirements and contract management regime.
I
Interview processes are designed into the tender evaluation process and are used to gather further details regarding the performance of the services being tendered as well as verify information already submitted as part of the written submission.
J
No.
Exemptions and 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 any fee of an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations.
Regulation 2 (1) of the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 allows an authority to refuse a request for information where the estimated cost of dealing with the request would exceed the specified amount of the cost limit of £500. This is the estimated cost of one person spending 12.5 working hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.
