Multi-Functional Devices and printing/scanning services contract(s)

FOI request reference: CAS-90685-P2N2M0
Publication date: September 2022

Request

1. What services are included in the contract(s)? (e.g. printing vs scanning etc)
2. Which supplier is delivering them? (If in-house, please confirm or if multiple provider please identify them)
3. How many contracts does this entail and what’s the award value for each?
4. When do these contracts expire and do they have any extensions?
5. What is the annual volumetric data (split by Annual Mono and Annual Colour print)?
6. What is the total number of devices supplied?
7. What Managed Print Service software solution do you use?
8. How many Mono MFDs and Colour MFDs do you have?
9. What document management solution do you use?
10. What High Volume printing devices do you use?
11. Were any framework agreements used to procure the goods/services? If so, which ones?
12. Any documentation you can provide me with, e.g. the order form
13. What department is managing the contract and who’s the decision-maker?
14. How many Adobe Acrobat (standard, professional and reader) licenses do you have?
15. What is the annual cost?
16. When is the renewal date?
17. Who is responsible for the contract?
18. Do you use any other PDF editing tools?”

Outcome

Some information provided.

Response

1. What services are included in the contract(s)? (e.g. printing vs scanning etc)

We have no active MFD contract in place at present, so there is no information to provide.

2. Which supplier is delivering them? (If in-house, please confirm or if multiple provider please identify them)

We have no active MFD contract in place at present, so there is no information to provide.

3. How many contracts does this entail and what’s the award value for each?

We have no active MFD contract in place at present, so there is no information to provide.

4. When do these contracts expire and do they have any extensions?

We have no active MFD contract in place at present, so there is no information to provide.

5. What is the annual volumetric data (split by Annual Mono and Annual Colour print)?

We have no active MFD contract in place at present, so there is no information to provide.

6. What is the total number of devices supplied?

We have no active MFD contract in place at present, so there is no information to provide.

7. What Managed Print Service software solution do you use?

We have no active MFD contract in place at present, so there is no information to provide.

8. How many Mono MFDs and Colour MFDs do you have?

We have no active MFD contract in place at present, so there is no information to provide.

9. What document management solution do you use?

We have no active MFD contract in place at present, so there is no information to provide.

10. What High Volume printing devices do you use?

We have no active MFD contract in place at present, so there is no information to provide.

11. Were any framework agreements used to procure the goods/services? If so, which ones?

We have no active MFD contract in place at present, so there is no information to provide.

12. Any documentation you can provide me with, e.g. the order form

We have no active MFD contract in place at present, so there is no information to provide.

13. What department is managing the contract and who’s the decision-maker?

The department managing the contract is Procurement, Project Delivery & Contract Management, and the decision-maker is Darren Austin.

14. How many Adobe Acrobat (standard, professional and reader) licenses do you have?

This information is exempt under Section 31 (1) (a).

15. What is the annual cost?

This information is exempt under Section 31 (1) (a).

16. When is the renewal date?

This information is exempt under Section 31 (1) (a).

17. Who is responsible for the contract?

This information is exempt under Section 31 (1) (a).

18. Do you use any other PDF editing tools?”

This information is exempt under Section 31 (1) (a).

Explanatory Annex

Exemptions applied

Section 31: Law Enforcement
We are unable to provide you with information specific to IT systems because this information is exempt from disclosure under section 31 (1) (a) of the FOI Act. Section 31 (1) (a) exempts information if its disclosure is likely to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime.

Section 31 is a qualified exemption and we are required to conduct a public interest test when applying any qualified exemption. This means that after it has been decided that the exemption is engaged, the public interest in releasing the information must be considered. If the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in withholding it then the exemption does not apply and the information must be released. In the FOI Act there is a presumption that information should be released unless there are compelling reasons to withhold it.

The public interest test has now been concluded and the balance of the public interest has been found to fall in favour of withholding information covered by the section 31 (1) (a) exemption. Considerations in favour of the release of the information included the principle that there is a public interest in transparency and accountability in disclosing information about government procedure and contracts. However, release of this information would make The National Archives more vulnerable to crime. The crime in question here would be a malicious attack on The National Archives’ computer systems. As such, release of this information would be seen to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime by making The National Archives’ computer system more vulnerable to hacking. There is an overwhelming public interest in keeping government computer systems secure which would be served by non-disclosure. This would outweigh any benefits of release. It has therefore been decided that the balance of the public interest lies clearly in favour of withholding the material on this occasion.

Further guidance on section 31 can be found here:
https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1207/law-enforcement-foi-section-31.pdf