FOI release

FOI2024_00006S FCDO Services’ BACS software supplier

Published 8 August 2024

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - REQUEST REF: FOI2024/00006S

Thank you for your email of 30 July 2024 asking for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. You asked:

Please may you provide me with:

1. What software you are currently using to facilitate BACS payments & what is the date of the renewal for this contract?
2. How much you are paying annually for this contract, and where do you advertise for this tender?

This is to identify tender opportunities, please provide the information in the form of an email.

If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the information exceeding the cost of compliance limits identified in Section 12, please provide advice and assistance, under the Section 16 obligations of the Act, as to how I can refine my request. If you can identify any ways that my request could be refined, I would be grateful for any further advice and assistance.

I am writing to confirm that we have now completed the search for the information which you requested. 

I can confirm that FCDO Services does hold information relevant to your request, as set out below.

FCDO Services is a trading fund of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). A Terms of Business Agreement exists between the FCDO and FCDO Services. The BACS system is shared by both the FCDO and FCDO Services. However, the contract is managed by FCDO Services.

1. Details of the current BACS software supplier is withheld under Section 31 of the Freedom of Information Act. Please see below for further details on Section 31. The current contract expires in July 2026;

2. The contract commenced in July 2023 and as stated above, will run until July 2026. The actual / projected annual spend is: - (06/07/23 - 05/07/24) – Actual £9,937.83 - (06/07/24 - 05/07/25) – Actual £10,832.24 - (06/07/25 - 05/07/26) – estimate £14,000.00

The contract was made under a direct award. Subsequently the service was not tendered and therefore was not advertised.

Section 31

Section 31(1) is a qualified exemption, which means that it is subject to a public interest test. We acknowledge the public interest in openness and transparency. However, disclosure of the information requested could aid a criminal who was intent on launching an attack on the Department’s ICT systems and could expose the FCDO/FCDO Services to potential threats such as targeted e-crime, reveal any potential network infrastructure / cyber vulnerabilities or weaknesses and expose the FCDO/FCDO Services to potential threats of a criminal nature.

For the reasons set out above, we have assessed that the public interest in maintaining this exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure. 

Once an FOI request is answered, it is considered to be in the public domain.  To promote transparency, FCDO Services may now publish the response and any material released on GOV.UK in the FOI releases section.  All personal information in the letter will be removed before publishing.

The copies of information being supplied to you continue to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.  You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting.  Any other re-use, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder.  Most documents supplied by the FCDO will have been produced by government officials and will be protected by Crown Copyright.  To re-use Crown Copyright documents please consult the Open Government Licence v3 on the National Archives website.

Information you receive which is not subject to Crown Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. You must ensure that you gain their permission before reproducing any third party (non-Crown Copyright) information.

If you would like to request a review of our decision, you should write to the Data Protection Officer (DPO), Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) Team, FCDO Services, Hanslope Park, Milton Keynes, England, MK19 7BH (e-mail: [email protected]).  Please note you have 40 working days to do so from the date of this letter. Please quote the reference number above in any future communications.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may then apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.  Generally, the Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the FCDO. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, or online at: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/

Yours sincerely,

FOI Officer

Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) Team

FCDO Services