Freesteel Blog » Becta responds to the Northgate request

Becta responds to the Northgate request

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007 at 4:02 pm Written by:

A mere four days after I sent them the FOI request, I got a response. How’s that? When I was making requests to Bristol it was evident they had a special filing system that ensured that no response ever came back earlier than four hours within the statutory 20 working day time limit.

Sadly, they don’t have any information.

I am advised by the team within Becta who handles this area of work that it is still relatively early days with regards to the framework life cycle and a decision has yet to be taken on how and where to publish the information collected. However, specifically in relation to your request, Northgate Information Solutions have not to date reported any sales through the framework, and therefore we do not hold the information you have asked for.

So much for grist for that panel discussion. I still need a little bit of clarification.

Thank you for your prompt response. I hope not to take up too much of your time.

Can you confirm that the framework life cycle is three years, as said in the letter from last year?

Can you also confirm that the £8.9 million contract signed by Northgate last year for the supply of ICT equipment to Bristol City Council has nothing to do with this framework or any other contracts arranged by Becta?

Have any of the 16 suppliers begun filing quarterly management reports?

I have been attempting to discover the legal basis for that particular deal for over a year. It appears not to have gone through the EU procurement process, nor used a framework agreement. Meanwhile, they have refused point blank to provide any details of the contract. You should know that, of all the organizations I have dealt with, Becta has been the most helpful with regards to FOI requests. It would be ironic if, as a result of a culture of accountability, business was choosing to bypass it.

Leave a comment

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <strong>