The National Archives’ telephony, broadband and WAN contracts

FOI request reference: CAS-85599-G7B9H3
Publication date: April 2022

Request

All or some of the information provided previously has expired, I require an update on the questions below.
See my request below:
Contract 1 – Telephony/Voice Services (Analogue, ISDN VOIP, SIP etc)
1. Telephony/Voice Services Provider- Please can you provide me with the name of the supplier for each contract.
2. Telephony/Voice Services – Contract Renewal Date- please provide day, month and year (month and year are also acceptable). If this is a rolling contract, please provide me with the rolling date of the contract. If there is more than one supplier, please split the renewal dates up into however many suppliers
3. Telephony/Voice Services – Contract Duration- the number of years the contract is for each provider, please also include any contract extensions.
4. Telephony/Voice Services – Type of Lines – Please can you split the type of lines per each supplier? PSTN, Analogue, SIP, ISDN, VOIP
5. Telephony/Voice Services Number of Lines / Channels / SIP Trunks- Please can you split the number of lines per each supplier? SIP trunks/connections, PSTN, Analogue, ISDN
Contract 2 – Incoming and Outgoing of call services
6. Minutes/Landline Provider- Supplier’s name (NOT Mobiles) if there is no information available, please can you provide further insight into why?
7. Minutes/Landline Contract Renewal Date- please provide day, month and year (month and year is also acceptable). If this is a rolling contract, please provide me with the rolling date of the contract.
8. Minutes Landline Monthly Spend- Monthly average spend on calls for each provider. An estimate or average is acceptable. If SIP services, please provide me with the cost of services per month.
9. Minute’s Landlines Contract Duration- the number of years the contract is for each provider, please also include any contract extensions.
10. Number of Extensions- Please state the number of telephone extensions the organisation currently has. An estimate or average is acceptable.
Contract 3 – The organisation’s broadband provider.
11. Broadband Provider- Supplier’s name if there is not information available, please can you provide further insight into why?
12. Broadband Renewal Date- please provide day, month, and year (month and year is also acceptable). If this is a rolling contract, please provide me with the rolling date of the contract. If there is more than one supplier, please split the renewal dates up into however many suppliers
13. Broadband Annual Average Spend- Annual average spend for each broadband provider. An estimate or average is acceptable.
Contract 4 – Contracts relating to Wide Area Network [WAN] services, this could also include HSCN network services.
14. WAN Provider- please provide me with the main supplier(s) if there is no information available, please can you provide further insight into why?
15. WAN Contract Renewal Date- please provide day, month, and year (month and year are also acceptable). If this is a rolling contract, please provide me with the rolling date of the contract. If there is more than one supplier, please split the renewal dates up into however many suppliers
16. Contract Description: Please can you provide me with a brief description for each contract
17. The number of sites: Please state the number of sites the WAN covers. Approx. will do.
18. WAN Annual Average Spend- Annual average spend for each WAN provider. An estimate or average is acceptable.
19. For each WAN contract can you please provide me with information on how this was procured, especially around those procurement that used frameworks, please provide me with the framework reference.
20. Internal Contact: please can you send me their full contact details including contact number and email and job title for all contracts above

Outcome

Some information provided.

Response

Contract 1 – Telephony/Voice Services (Analogue, ISDN VOIP, SIP etc.)

1. Telephony/Voice Services Provider – Please can you provide me with the name of the supplier for each contract

British Telecom
Avoira Ltd.

2. Telephony/Voice Services – Contract Renewal Date- please provide day, month and year (month and year are also acceptable). If this is a rolling contract please provide me with the rolling date of the contract. If there is more than one supplier please split the renewal dates up into however many suppliers

British Telecom – Rolling contract – each calendar month

RE: Avoira
Information about all contracts and agreements with a value over £10,000 are published in the public domain and is covered by the exemption at Section 21 of the FOI Act. The information is already published in the public domain as per the link below:
Unified Communications – Contracts Finder

3. Telephony/Voice Services – Contract Duration- the number of years the contract is for each provider, please include any contract extensions

British Telecom – Rolling contract

RE: Avoira
Information about all contracts and agreements with a value over £10,000 are published in the public domain and is covered by the exemption at Section 21 of the FOI Act. The information is already published in the public domain as per the link below:
Unified Communications – Contracts Finder

4. Telephony/Voice Services – Type of Lines – Please can you split the type of lines per each supplier? PSTN, Analogue, SIP, ISDN, VOIP

British Telecom – PSTN
Avoira Ltd. – SIP

5. Telephony/Voice Services – Number of Lines/Channels/SIP Trunks – a Please can you split the number of lines per each supplier? SIP trunks/connections, PSTN, Analogue, ISDN

British Telecom – 7 PSTN
Avoira Ltd. – 2 SIP Trunks

Contract 2 – Incoming and Outgoing of call services

6. Minutes/Landline Provider – Supplier’s name (NOT Mobiles) if there is no information available, please can you provide further insight into why?

British Telecom

7. Minutes/Landline Contract Renewal Date – please provide day, month and year (month and year is also acceptable). If this is a rolling contract please provide me with the rolling date of the contract.

British Telecom – Rolling contract – each calendar month

8. Minutes Landline Monthly Spend – Monthly average spend on calls for each provider. An estimate or average is acceptable. If SIP services, please provide me with the cost of services per month.

British Telecom – £0.20p plus VAT

RE: Avoira
Information about all contracts and agreements with a value over £10,000 are published in the public domain and is covered by the exemption at Section 21 of the FOI Act. The information is already published in the public domain as per the link below:
Unified Communications – Contracts Finder

9. Minute’s Landlines Contract Duration – the number of years the contract is for each provider, please also include any contract extensions.

British Telecom – Rolling contract

10. Number of Extensions – Please state the number of telephone extensions the organisation currently has. An estimate or average is acceptable.

PSTN – 5

Contract 3 – The organisation’s broadband provider.

11. Broadband Provider – Supplier’s name if there is not information available, please can you provide further insight into why?

This information is covered by the exemption at Section 21 of the FOI Act. The information is already published in the public domain and can be accessed at the following link:
Telecoms contracts – Freedom of Information (nationalarchives.gov.uk)

12. Broadband Renewal Date – please provide day, month and year (month and year is also acceptable). If this is a rolling contract, please provide me with the rolling date of the contract. If there is more than one supplier, please split the renewal dates up into however many suppliers

This information is covered by the exemption at Section 21 of the FOI Act. The information is already published in the public domain and can be accessed at the following link:
Telecoms contracts – Freedom of Information (nationalarchives.gov.uk)

13. Broadband Annual Average Spend – Annual average spend for each broadband provider. An estimate or average is acceptable.

This information is covered by the exemption at Section 21 of the FOI Act. The information is already published in the public domain and can be accessed at the following link:
Telecoms contracts – Freedom of Information (nationalarchives.gov.uk)

Contract 4 – Contracts relating to Wide Area Network [WAN] services, this could also include HSCN network services

14. WAN Provider – please provide me with the main supplier(s) if there is no information available please can you provide further insight into why?

This information is covered by the exemption at Section 21 of the FOI Act. The information is already published in the public domain and can be accessed at the following link:
Telecoms contracts – Freedom of Information (nationalarchives.gov.uk)

15. WAN Contract Renewal Date – please provide day, month and year (month and year are also acceptable). If this is a rolling contract please provide me with the rolling date of the contract. If there is more than one supplier please split the renewal dates up into however many suppliers

Re: Adept Telecom plc
This information is covered by the exemption at Section 21 of the FOI Act. The information is already published in the public domain and can be accessed at the following link:
Telecoms contracts – Freedom of Information (nationalarchives.gov.uk)

Re: Exponential-e – Q1 2022-2023
Information regarding specific start and end dates is exempt under section 31 (1) (a) of the FOI Act.

16. Contract Description: Please can you provide me with a brief description of the contract

This information is covered by the exemption at Section 21 of the FOI Act. The information is already published in the public domain and can be accessed at the following link:
Telecoms contracts – Freedom of Information (nationalarchives.gov.uk)

17. The number of sites: Please state the number of sites the WAN covers. Approx. will do.

This information is covered by the exemption at Section 21 of the FOI Act. The information is already published in the public domain and can be accessed at the following link:
Telecoms contracts – Freedom of Information (nationalarchives.gov.uk)

18. WAN Annual Average Spend – Annual average spend for each WAN provider. An estimate or average is acceptable.

Re: Adept plc
This information is covered by the exemption at Section 21 of the FOI Act. The information is already published in the public domain and can be accessed at the following link:
Telecoms contracts – Freedom of Information (nationalarchives.gov.uk)

Re: Exponential-e – £10,500 plus VAT

19. For each WAN contract can you please provide me with information on how this was procured, especially around those procurement that used frameworks, please provide me with the framework reference.

This information is covered by the exemption at Section 21 of the FOI Act. The information is already published in the public domain and can be accessed at the following link:
Telecoms contracts – Freedom of Information (nationalarchives.gov.uk)

20. Internal Contact: please can you send me there full contact details including contact number and email and job title for all the contracts above.

This information is covered by the exemption at Section 21 of the FOI Act. The information is already published in the public domain and can be accessed at the following link:
Telecoms contracts – Freedom of Information (nationalarchives.gov.uk)

EXPLANATORY ANNEX

Exemptions applied.

Section 21: Information readily available to the applicant by other means
Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) does not oblige a public authority to provide information if it is already reasonably accessible by other means. In this case the exemption applies because the information is already available
Further guidance can be found at:

Information reasonably accessible to the applicant by other means (section 21) (ico.org.uk)

Section 31: Law Enforcement 

We are unable to provide you with information regarding software brands and specific contract start/end dates 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 would or would be 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 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 cyber security. 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: