Publication - FOI/EIR release

Geo-Rope payments for the A83 at the Rest and be Thankful: EIR release

Published: 3 September 2024
Topic: Public sector, Transport
FOI reference: FOI/202400399739
Date received: 18 February 2024
Date responded: 14 March 2024

Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004

Information requested

Can I have a breakdown from 2007 to now showing how much has been paid to Geo-Rope Ltd in relation to work on the A83 at the Rest and be Thankful.

Can you also stipulate how much has been spent on other contractors for each year, identifying the contractor involved.

Can you articulate for each spend what the money bought specifically and whether the money came from Scottish Government/Transport Scotland/Bear Scotland or another agency/body.

If the information is not held as far back as 2007, then please can you provide the information for whatever time period this is held for.

Response

To aid with my response I have numbered the points in your request above.

1 - Can I have a breakdown from 2007 to now showing how much has been paid to Geo-Rope Ltd in relation to work on the A83 at the Rest and be Thankful.

A. Please see Annex A to this response for details of annual payments made to Geo-Rope Ltd in relation to the A83 at the Rest and be Thankful.

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. While we recognise that there may be some public interest payments made to contractors in relation to the A83 Rest and Be Thankful clearly we cannot provide information which we do not hold.

2 - Can you also stipulate how much has been spent on other contractors for each year, identifying the contractor involved.

A. Please see Annexes B and C to this response for details of annual spend paid to other contractors in relation to work on the A83 at the Rest and be Thankful.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Transport Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs as records prior 2020 are not held for the other contractors listed in Annex B. This is as a result of a changeover of our Operating Company’s (BEAR Scotland) financial system on 1 August 2020.

3. Can you articulate for each spend what the money bought specifically and whether the money came from Scottish Government/Transport Scotland/Bear Scotland or another agency/body.

A. Payment for these works comes from the Scottish Government, through Transport Scotland and its contracts with BEAR Scotland who have engaged the contractors listed in Annexes A and B to this response for works under the operating company’s contract. The scope of works is as noted below:

Contractor	Scope	Start Date of Data	End Date of Data
Geo-Rope	Geotechnical Works	16th August 2013	29th February 2024
Contraflow	Traffic Management	1st August 2020	29th February 2024
Alba	VMS Signs	1st August 2020	29th February 2024
Wm Hamilton	Plant Hire	1st August 2020	29th February 2024
McPhie	Plant Hire	1st August 2020	29th February 2024

An exception under regulation 10(5)(e) of the EIRs (substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial information) also applies to some of the information you have requested. This exception applies because whilst we are able to confirm the scope of works each contractor was paid for we are unable to break this down into specific tasks or rates. Disclosure of this particular information would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the confidentiality of commercial information provided by the contractors listed in Annexes A&B to this response and thus cause substantial harm to their commercial interests. Disclosing this information would be likely affect future similar tendering exercises, which would substantially prejudice contractors’ ability to submit competitive tenders and so could significantly harm 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, or enter into Scottish Government contracts, to ensure that we are always able to obtain the best value for public money.

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