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...

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

 

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Interested Australian Citizen
<[FOI #11795 email]>
Sent: Thursday, August 8, 2024 11:02 AM
To: FOI Requests <[email address]>
Subject: Re: FOI 24-25/018 - Acknowledgement and request for assistance
[SEC=OFFICIAL]

 

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

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----

 

 

 

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. [1]mailto:[email address]

 

2.
[2]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

 

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

 

[3][FOI #11795 email]

 

 

 

This request has been made by an individual using Right to Know. This
message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet.
More information on how Right to Know works can be found at:

 

[4]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

 

 

 

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.

 

 

 

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

 

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

Be careful with this message

External email. Do not click links or open attachments unless you
recognise the sender and know the content is safe.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email
2. https://www.finance.gov.au/about-us/free...
3. mailto:[FOI #11795 email]
4. https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...

hide quoted sections

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