FOI release

FOI2024_00003S FCDO Services hardware and software procurement

Published 24 July 2024

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - REQUEST REF: FOI2024/00003S

Thank you for your email of 20 May 2024 asking for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. You asked:

Under the Freedom of Information Act, I would request you to respond to questions included in the attachment for Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and FCDO Services – please see a copy of the questionnaire shown on the final page.

For any reason if you are unable to open the attachment do let me know. I can then send the questions within the email itself.

Please note: If you do not have records relating to the questions in the attachment, please pass on this request to your IT department to provide us with the required information.

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. However, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office will be responding to you separately under FOI2024/15853.

FCDO Services is a trading fund of the FCDO and as such uses the technologies (hardware & software) provided by the FCDO. The use of these technologies forms part of a terms of business agreement between the FCDO and FCDO Services. There are some exceptions to this, as we do procure devices that we own and manage ourselves.

However, details of FCDO Services ICT interests are withheld under Section 31 of the Freedom of Information Act. Please see below for further details on Section 31.

Furthermore, I can confirm that should FCDO Services plan to procure any of the services as listed within Questions 2, 3 and 4, the Public Contracts Regulations (PCR) 2015 will be applied where appropriate, or our existing frameworks will be used to procure the services.

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 FCDO Services to potential threats such as targeted e-crime, reveal any potential network infrastructure / cyber vulnerabilities or weaknesses and expose 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