ROK FCC contract and payments for Our Hospital (FOI)

Request

A

I would like to receive a copy of the contract between the Government of Jersey and ROK FCC JV in connection with construction of a new hospital in Jersey. I would like a copy of the actual contract signed please, not a link to a document which it is based on.

B

I would like to know how much the Government of Jersey has already paid ROK FCC JV since 1 January 2017 up until now. 

Response

A

Information regarding how to obtain a copy of the contract has been provided in response to a previous Freedom of Information request, therefore, Article 23 (Information accessible to applicant by other means) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied. 

ROK FCC JV pre-construction service agreement for "our hospital" project (FOI)

B

The total of payments to ROKFCC JV up to April 2022 is £28.3 million.

In the previous response, linked above, it was stated that payments had been made since 2017.  To clarify, all payments have been made since the signing of the Pre-Construction Services Agreement in July 2020.

Article 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.

Internal Review Request 

The question asks for a copy of the actual contract not a link to a document. This is a public contract. Please respond as requested.

Internal Review Response 

This review has been completed by two senior staff members of the Government of Jersey, independent of the original decision-making process.

The original response has been reviewed and assessed to identify whether the application of the exemption had been applied correctly.

The reviewers noted that the response included a link to a previous FOI request for the contract document. An Internal Review had been undertaken in respect of that request and it was agreed that the application of Article 23 (Information accessible to applicant by other means) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 had been applied correctly. 

The reviewers, having considered the application of Article 23 in this instance, concluded that the exemption was appropriate and should be upheld. 

The reviewers also noted that, as outlined in the previous response, “The contract is subject to a number of Z clauses. These clauses are exempt under the Articles 26, 33(a), 33(b) and 34 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011”. Furthermore, when that response was internally reviewed, “The reviewers having considered the application of the Articles 23, 26, 33 and 34 concluded that the exemptions were appropriate and should be upheld.”