Public spending on A9 dualling programme from Tomatin to Moy: EIR release

Information requested

Please provide the following information on public spending on the A9 dualling programme:

1. Please provide information on the number of tender submissions received by Transport Scotland for the A9 Dualling: Tomatin to Moy tender that was submitted in 2022.

2. Please provide information on the tender price of the submissions received by Transport Scotland for the A9 Dualling: Tomatin to Moy tender that was submitted in 2022.

3. Please provide copies of all correspondence between Transport Scotland and the Scottish Government Ministers on the decision not to award to A9 Dualling: Tomatin to Moy contract, following the tender submission in 2022.

4. Please provide a breakdown of costs incurred to date by Transport Scotland for the A9 Dualling: Tomatin to Moy project. Cost breakdown should include details on; fees paid to Consultants, fees paid for land purchase, fees paid to specialist contractors (surveys etc) and expenditure by Transport Scotland and its staff.

5. Please provide information on the total expenditure by Transport Scotland on the A9 Dualling programme to date (to end of Q2 in 2023 would suffice). Please provide a breakdown of the fees paid to Consultants, fees paid for land purchase, fees paid to specialist contractors (surveys etc) and expenditure by Transport Scotland.

6. Please provide details of the original programme and budget, when plans were first published for the completion of the A9 Dualling back in 2011/2012.

As this information is a matter of public interest – given that public money is being used to finance the project – please make the information available as requested.

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations.

We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

1. Please provide information on the number of tender submissions received by Transport Scotland for the A9 Dualling: Tomatin to Moy tender that was submitted in 2022.

Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. This information has been confirmed on our website and can be accessed online at;

Parliament updated on A9 dualling programme | Transport Scotland

2. Please provide information on the tender price of the submissions received by Transport Scotland for the A9 Dualling: Tomatin to Moy tender that was submitted in 2022.

An exception under regulation 10(5)(e) of the EIRs (substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial information) applies to the information you have requested. This exception applies because disclosure of this particular information would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the confidentiality of commercial information provided by the Tenderer and thus cause substantial harm to their commercial interests.

Given the forthcoming procurement, disclosing this information would be likely to give future tenderers an advantage in the future tender exercise and may also substantially prejudice the tenderer’s ability to submit competitive tenders and so could significantly harm their commercial business.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open and transparent government, and to help account for the expenditure of public money. However, there is a greater public interest in protecting the commercial interests of companies which tender for Transport Scotland’s contracts, to ensure that we are always able to obtain the best value for public money.

3. Please provide copies of all correspondence between Transport Scotland and the Scottish Government Ministers on the decision not to award to A9 Dualling: Tomatin to Moy contract, following the tender submission in 2022.

Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format.

Some of the information requested has been released under Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), case number 202300342817 and can be accessed on the Scottish Government website at;

Cost of the Moy to Tomatin section of the A9: EIR release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Please refer to Annex A for the remaining information requested. Information has been redacted where required, further details provided below.

Regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information)
An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

Regulation 10(5)(e) of the EIRs (substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial information)
An exception under regulation 10(5)(e) of the EIRs (substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial information) applies to some of the information you have requested. Please refer to the text above for the reasons as to why this exception applies.

Regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs (internal communications)
An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs (internal communications) applies to the information requested because it is internal communication and legal advice between Transport Scotland / Scottish Government officials and Scottish Ministers. The reasons why that exception applies are explained below.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. This means we have taken account of all the circumstances of the case and considered whether, on balance, disclosing the information is outweighed by the public good to be had by applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of applying the exception and I have outlined the (specific) reasons for this below.

We do recognise that there is some public interest in releasing this information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, this is outweighed by the ability for Scottish Government, its Ministers and officials to be able to discuss, debate and deliver high quality policy including the decision-making processes in a private thinking space and ensuring it can be conducted in an environment which does not hamper this process. In order to do so they must be able to properly discuss, debate and exchange views on how implementing policy will be undertaken and part of this is the development of briefing material, the deliberations that have taken place and the decisions made until policy is finalised. Ministers and officials need to be able to consider all available options and to debate those rigorously, to fully understand their possible implications and therefore it would not be appropriate to release information ahead of that process concluding.

Additionally we recognise there is a public interest in disclosing information such as internal legal advice however, this is outweighed by the strong public interest in maintaining the right to confidentiality of communications between legal advisers and clients, to ensure that Ministers and officials are able to receive legal advice in confidence, like any other public or private organisation. Disclosure would breach legal professional privilege.

4. Please provide a breakdown of costs incurred to date by Transport Scotland for the A9 Dualling: Tomatin to Moy project. Cost breakdown should include details on; fees paid to Consultants, fees paid for land purchase, fees paid to specialist contractors (surveys etc) and expenditure by Transport Scotland and its staff.

Please find below table with the information requested. To note we have provided total figures to the date your request was received (7 September 2023).

A9 Dualling: Tomatin to Moy
Preparation Costs (inc design consultants)	£32,028,367.88
Land Purchase and Compensation (inc ground investigation compensation)	£293,293.55
Ground Investigation and Surveys	£9,731,122.84
Construction Costs (inc advanced works)	£11,355,516.60
Total	£53,408,300.87

5. Please provide information on the total expenditure by Transport Scotland on the A9 Dualling programme to date (to end of Q2 in 2023 would suffice). Please provide a breakdown of the fees paid to Consultants, fees paid for land purchase, fees paid to specialist contractors (surveys etc) and expenditure by Transport Scotland.

Spend to date on the A9 Dualling programme has previously been released under Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004, case number 202200272073 and can be accessed on the Scottish Government website at the following link;

Spend on A9 and A96 dualling programmes: EIR release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Please find below table with information requested, providing updated total spend. To note we have provided total figures to the date your request was received (7 September 2023). The figures provided include A9 Dualling: Tomatin to Moy spend provided in the answer above and are also inclusive of VAT where applicable.

A9 Dualling Programme
Preparation Costs (inc design consultants)	£246,610,178.50
Land Purchase and Compensation	£9,268,269.09
Ground Investigation and Surveys	£62,087,661.56
Construction Costs (inc advance works)	£132,928,299.07
Total	£450,894,408.22

6. Please provide details of the original programme and budget, when plans were first published for the completion of the A9 Dualling back in 2011/2012.

Under regulation 6(1)(b) of the EIRs, we do not have to give you information which is already publicly available and easily accessible to you in another form or format. The Infrastructure Investment Plan (IIP) 2011 published on 06 December 2011 includes the details requested.

This information has been provided on our project website and can be accessed online at; A9 Dualling Perth to Inverness (transport.gov.scot)

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.