Freedom of Information Requests

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 covers any recorded information that is held by a public authority in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and by UK-wide public authorities based in Scotland. Information held by Scottish public authorities is covered by Scotland’s own Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. It includes government departments, local authorities, the NHS, state schools and police forces. It doesn’t though cover organisations that recieve grants or some private sector organisation that recieve public money and/or perform public functions.

But why is this relevant to bidding? Becuase it gives you an opportunity to send in Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to try and find out more information about things such as:

• Commissioning plans

• Contract expiry dates

• Who public bodies are spending their money on

• Previous bid materials.

The above can give you a great head start in your pre-bid activity and pipeline development.

One option for putting them in is through www.whatdotheyknow.com. It is easy to find the public body you want to ask through the site, as well as being a fantastic resource for previously asked questions. The best option is to ask the questions anonymously, so as not to arouse suspicion as to who you are and why you are asking.

You might not always get the exact answers you want, but if you set up an easy-to-use template and are methodical about sending in your requests, then it won’t take too much time and you might get the odd nugget of crucial information that you need.