Access to feedback provided through AusTender "contact us" form
Dear Department of Finance,
On the tenders.gov.au website you have a "contact us" form https://www.tenders.gov.au/contactus/show and a help desk email address "[email address]"
The form looks to have been live since late 2019, and I assume the helpdesk email has been around even longer.
I seek access to all queries received through this form and to the helpdesk email for the past 5 years, and the responses provided by Finance.
Specifically, the dates of query receipt and Query Priority: Urgent or Non-Urgent, Query Type, Query Summary.
I do not seek any Personally Identifiable Information such as the name, phone number, email address of the person raising the query.
Yours faithfully,
Interested Australian Citizen
Thank you for your email, which has been forwarded to the Department’s FOI
Team for their consideration. A member of the FOI Team will respond to
your email in the next couple of days.
Kind regards
FOI Coordinator
OFFICIAL
Good afternoon,
Freedom of Information Request – FOI 24-25/018
Thank you for your email to the Department of Finance (Finance) requesting
access to the following documents under the Freedom of Information Act
1982 (FOI Act):
On the tenders.gov.au website you have a "contact us" form and a help desk
email address "[1][email address]". The form looks to have been
live since late 2019, and I assume the helpdesk email has been around even
longer. I seek access to all queries received through this form and to the
helpdesk email for the past 5 years, and the responses provided by
Finance. Specifically, the dates of query receipt and Query Priority:
Urgent or Non-Urgent, Query Type, Query Summary. I do not seek any
Personally Identifiable Information such as the name, phone number, email
address of the person raising the query.
Request for assistance
The current scope of your request captures a large volume of documents.
The AusTender helpdesk receives approximately 10,000 queries per calendar
year. Assuming there is only one response to each query, there would be an
estimated 20,000 records per year within the scope of your request.
Processing your request would therefore substantially and unreasonably
divert the resources of Finance from its other operations, which could
give rise to a practical refusal reason in relation to your request. This
means that Finance would have grounds to refuse your request on the basis
it is unreasonable to process.
Finance seeks your assistance to narrow the scope of your request to
enable us to process. We kindly ask that you reply to this email by COB
Thursday 8 August 2024 to narrow the scope of your request by either:
o Specifying if there is a particular topic you are interested in, for
example, queries about technical issues when uploading documents to
the AusTender website, or
o Specifying if you are seeking queries received about a specific
approach to market, contract notice or standing offer, and
o Substantially narrowing the timeframe for your request, given the high
volume of queries and responses held by Finance (for example, queries
received within a particular month).
Please note that if we do not receive a response from you, we are required
under the FOI Act to expend additional resources to process your request
by proceeding with a formal request consultation process.
We appreciate your assistance in this matter.
General FOI matters
Your request was received by Finance on 30 July 2024. The statutory period
for processing your request commences from the day after Finance received
your request and a decision is due on Thursday 29 August 2024.
The processing period may be extended if we need to consult third parties,
impose a charge or for other reasons. We will advise you if this happens.
Liability to pay a charge
You will be notified of any charges in relation to your request as soon as
possible, before we process any requested documents or impose a final
charge.
Publication
As required by the FOI Act, any documents provided to you under the FOI
Act will be published on our [2]disclosure log, unless an exemption
applies or the documents are characterised as containing personal
information. Documents will be published the next working day after they
are released to you.
Policy to exclude junior officer contact details, signatures and mobile
phone numbers
Finance has adopted a policy to generally exclude from any documents
released under FOI, the names and contact details of junior staff (non-SES
officers) and staff employed under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act
1984 (adviser level and below). Finance has also adopted a policy to
exclude signatures and mobile phone numbers from any documents released
under FOI (unless publicly available). Finance’s preference is to reach
agreement with FOI applicants to exclude these details from the scope of
the request. Where there is no objection, the names and contact details of
junior officers, as well as any signatures and mobile phone numbers
appearing in identified documents, will be redacted under section 22 of
the FOI Act on the basis that these details are irrelevant to the request.
Please contact the FOI Team on the below contact details if you wish to
discuss your request.
Kind regards,
FOI Team
FOI Officer | Legal and Assurance Branch
Business Enabling Services
Department of Finance
A: One Canberra Avenue, Forrest ACT 2603
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. https://www.finance.gov.au/about-us/free...
Dear FOI Requests,
Thank you for your prompt response. I appreciate the scope of my initial request may be too broad. Could I modify my request as follows - instead of the individual feedback received by the department, I would like any analysis that assesses the effectiveness of the AusTender system.
For example, I would be interested in documents that relate to the following four categories of analysis that relate to the effectiveness of the system, although if there are other documents that have been produced by the department, or for the department, that relate to the effectiveness of the AusTender system, but do not fall under the examples I provide below, they should not be excluded because of they do not fit the example categories I provide below.
Identified Issues: What are the most common or recurring issues identified through helpdesk inquiries or departmental analysis, and are there any ongoing efforts to address these issues? What are those efforts?
User Satisfaction: Are there any metrics or feedback mechanisms that gauge user satisfaction with AusTender? If so, what are the findings?
System Performance: Has the department conducted any internal assessments or audits on the functionality, reliability, and user-friendliness of the AusTender system?
Improvements: Have any changes or enhancements been made to the AusTender system in response to user feedback or identified issues? If so, what are they specifically, and what impact have these changes had?
I believe the modified scope of my request should make it easier for the department to respond.
Yours sincerely,
Interested Australian Citizen
Thank you for your email, which has been forwarded to the Department’s FOI
Team for their consideration. A member of the FOI Team will respond to
your email in the next couple of days.
Kind regards
FOI Coordinator
OFFICIAL
Good morning,
Thank you for your below reply narrowing the scope of your FOI request
(our ref: FOI 24-25/018).
The Department of Finance (Finance) seeks your agreement to limit the
scope of your request to documents produced or received by Finance in the
24 months before your request (that is, between 30 July 2022 and 30 July
2024). This will enable Finance to process your request more efficiently
and be able to provide you with some of the information you seek.
Grateful if you could advise by COB Tuesday 13 August 2024 if you agree to
the proposed limitation of the scope of your request.
Kind regards,
FOI Team
FOI Officer | Legal and Assurance Branch
Business Enabling Services
Department of Finance
A: One Canberra Avenue, Forrest ACT 2603
Dear FOI Requests,
I agree to limit the to limit the scope of my request to documents produced or received by Finance in the
24 months between 30 July 2022 and 30 July 2024
Yours sincerely,
Interested Australian Citizen
Thank you for your email, which has been forwarded to the Department’s FOI
Team for their consideration. A member of the FOI Team will respond to
your email in the next couple of days.
Kind regards
FOI Coordinator
OFFICIAL
Dear FOI Applicant
Please see attached a decision letter together with the document released
to you in relation to your FOI request (our reference FOI 24-25/018).
Kind regards
FOI Officer | Legal and Assurance Branch
Business Enabling Services
Department of Finance
A: One Canberra Avenue, Forrest ACT 2603