Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant requested information from Northumberland County Council (the Council) about a particular contract for which it invited tenders. In response to this request the Council disclosed various pieces of information including the original invitation to tender, the evaluation scores of both the tenders it had received and the price of the winning tender. However, it withheld two documents on the basis of section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act on the basis that their disclosure would be likely to breach the commercial interests of the company which won the contract. The Commissioner is satisfied that both documents are exempt from disclosure on the basis of this exemption and, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 43 - Complaint Partly Upheld