Planning application for Victim Advocacy Centre project (FOI)

Request

A

Arcadia IBI, UK architects, were appointed directly for Victim Advocacy Centre project (Planning Application reference P/2023/0737) via exemptions from the Public Finance Manual. The specific criteria for granting an exemption are:

i. The contract is declared a secret

ii. Direct award without further competition’ is considered best VFM

iii. Only one supplier can deliver the goods or services

iv. Urgency

Please explain, in detail, which of the above criteria were considered to have been met to justify the exemption, and specifically why?

B

Please adivse the allocated capital budget for the project and Arcadia IBI’s fees for each work stage of the project and how they were calculated?

C

What specific skills or experience local Jersey Architectural practices were perceived to have lacked, that prompted the reason to grant an exemption from the Public Finance Manual rather than procure the project via the Portal so that local practices could bid for it?

Response

A

The requested information is shown in the attached exemption documents.

Combined Exemption forms DR_Redacted.pdf

Personal information has been redacted in accordance with Article 25 (Personal information) and Article 33(b) (Commercial interests) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

B

The requested information regarding the allocated capital budget for the Victim Advocacy Centre and Arcadia IBI’s fees are exempt under Article 33(b) (Commercial interests) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

Article 33 is a qualified exemption; therefore, a public interest test has been applied and is shown at the end of this response.

C

Information regarding the application of the exemption is included in the documents referenced in response to question A.

Articles applied

Article 25 - Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.

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

The release of the estimated capital budget and architect fees could potentially disadvantage Arcadia IBI’s and the Government of Jersey’s ability to retain commercial advantage in any future tender process.  

This could also result in the Government of Jersey’s inability to secure best value for the taxpayer and this will likely prejudice the Government as its bargaining power decreases. 

It is in the public interest to be made aware of any estimated fees and estimated capital budget in relation to the new Victim Advocacy Centre.  However, it is considered that the likely prejudices to Arcadia IBI, the Government and the taxpayer should this information be released outweigh the argument that the release is in the public interest.