Final report - McKinsey
Dear Department of Health,
I request a copy of the final report supplied by McKinsey Pacific Rim Inc to the department, associated with commonwealth tender ID: CN3507487. Contract period was 15 May 2018 to 31 Dec 2018, contract value was $4.62M
Given the recent, significant public interest in McKinsey due to their controversial activities in anti democratic or corrupt governments such as South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia (1MDB), I request that the FOIA request fees be waived.
Yours faithfully,
John Smith
Dear Mr Smith
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST – NOTIFICATION OF RECEIPT
I am writing to notify you that the Department of Health (department) has
received your request (in your below email) for access to documents under
the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act).
The department will take all reasonable steps to notify you of a decision
no later than 30 calendar days after the date your request was received.
You will be contacted where a charge is applied for processing your
request or if we need to consult a third party.
Unless you advise otherwise, duplicate documents and Commonwealth employee
names and contact details below Senior Executive Service level and mobile
telephone numbers of all staff will be excluded from the scope of your
request under s22(1)(a)(ii) of the FOI Act.
You can contact the FOI Unit on (02) 6289 1666, or via email at
[1][email address], should you have any enquiries.
Regards
FOI Officer
FOI and Legislation Support Section
[2]cid:image003.png@01D51610.1D98D220
Legal & Assurance Division | Corporate Operations Group
Legal Advice & Legislation Branch
Australian Government Department of Health
T: 02 6289 1666 | E: [3][Health request email]
GPO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
The Department of Health acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of
Australia and their continued connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to all Elders past and present.
If you receive this email in error, please delete it and contact the
sender immediately.
Dear Mr Smith
I refer to your request of 12 March 2020 to the Department of Health
(department) seeking access under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
(Cth) (FOI Act) to the following documents:
“The final report supplied by McKinsey Pacific Rim Inc to the department,
associated with commonwealth tender ID: CN3507487. Contract period was 15
May 2018 to 31 Dec 2018, contract value was $4.62M”
Notice of Third Party Consultation
It appears, from the documents to which you seek access, a third party may
reasonably wish to make a contention concerning possible exemption of some
of the documents. Accordingly, David Weiss, First Assistant Secretary,
Medical Benefits Division, an officer authorised under section 23(1) of
the FOI Act to make decisions in relation to freedom of information
requests, has determined the requirements of section 27
consultation-business documents, of the FOI Act make it appropriate to
extend the time frame for dealing with your request.
Pursuant to section 15(6) of the FOI Act, the period for providing you
with a decision has been extended by a further period of 30 days. This
means the department must, not later than 60 calendar days after the day
on which your request was received, take all reasonable steps to notify
you of a decision on your request.
The period of 60 calendar days is, however, suspended by virtue of the
Notice of Liability to Pay a Charge below.
Notice of Liability to Pay a Charge
The Director of the Freedom of Information Unit (FOI Director), an officer
authorised under section 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions in
relation to freedom of information charges, has decided you are liable to
pay a charge in respect of the processing of your request.
Preliminary Assessment
In accordance with section 29 of the FOI Act and the Freedom of
Information (Charges) Regulations 2019, my preliminary assessment of the
charge you are liable to pay is $428.83.
This has been calculated as follows:
search and 15.6333 $234.50
retrieval hours @
time $15.00
(including per
time spent hour
locating
relevant
files and
collating
relevant
documents
contained on
those files)
decision 14.7165 $294.33
making time hours @
(including $20.00
time spent per
examining the hour ($100.00)
documents,
considering
exemptions,
undertaking Less
consultation, first 5
writing the hours
decision and free
preparing any
documents for
release)
TOTAL $428.83
Deposit
The FOI Director has also decided you are required to pay a deposit of
$107.21. Payment of a deposit is taken as your authority to proceed with
processing of your request and your agreement to pay the full charge in
which case you will become liable to the Commonwealth for the full cost of
processing the charge.
Payment
The department can accept credit card, money order or cheque payments.
If you choose to pay by cheque (personal or bank) or money order it should
be sent to the following:
FOI Unit (MDP 516)
Department of Health
GPO Box 9848
CANBERRA ACT 2601
If you wish to pay by credit card, please contact the department’s FOI
unit on (02) 6289 1666 to be further advised.
Response
Under the FOI Act, you have 30 days to respond in writing to this notice.
You must, within 30 days after this notice is given, do one of the
following things: (i) agree with the department’s estimate and pay the
deposit or whole charge if no deposit is listed, or (ii) advise the
department in writing you contend the charge has been wrongly assessed, or
should be reduced or not imposed, giving reasons for your contention, or
(iii) advise the department in writing you withdraw the request for access
to the documents concerned. Please send your response to the above postal
address or [1]this email address. If you do not provide a response within
30 days, your freedom of information request will be taken to have been
withdrawn.
If you choose to make a contention the charge should be reduced or not
imposed, the department must, in making a decision on your contention,
take into account the matters set out in section 29(5) of the FOI Act or
any relevant matter.
Processing time
Processing of your request and counting the 60 calendar days are suspended
from the date you receive this notice and resume either when you pay the
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Relevant provisions
The FOI Act, including the provisions referred to in this email, can be
accessed from the Federal Register of Legislation website.
If you require clarification of any of the matters discussed in this email
you should contact the department’s FOI Unit on (02) 6289 1666, or by
email at [2][email address].
Kind regards
Perri
FOI and Legislation Section
[3]cid:image003.png@01D51610.1D98D220
Legal Advice & Legislation Branch
Legal & Assurance Division | Corporate Operations Group
Australian Government Department of Health
T: 02 6289 1666 | E: [4][Health request email]
GPO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
The Department of Health acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of
Australia and their continued connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to all Elders past and present.
If you receive this email in error, please delete it and contact the
sender immediately.
Dear FOI,
This email is to advise the department that I contend the charge has been wrongly assessed, and
should be reduced, or not imposed.
1. Wrongly assessed
The assessment of 15.6333 retrieval hours is plainly absurd. The document I have specified within my FOI request is a single specific, and a high-level document provided to the department.
I note part 4.24 of the FOI guidelines, that states:
"Time used by an officer in searching for a document that is not where it ought to be, or that is not listed in the official filing system, cannot be charged to an applicant."
It is preposterous that a $4.62M 'deliverable' final report, associated with a consulting contract would be so out of reach that it would require approximately 16 retrieval hours. If a report of such value is not in an easily retrievable location; then it clearly ought to be, or at least be listed within the official filing system. The search time should be waived then in accordance with 4.24.
It seems therefore obvious from the 16 hours search time proposed, that the report is either not where it ought to be, or isn't listed in the official filing system. If that is the case for a report of such value; it clearly would constitute a poor or inefficient record keeping practice by an agency, and should therefore be waived.
2. No charge should be imposed
No charge should be imposed for this FOI request, as the sheet magnitude of this consulting contract, combined with the recent controversies surrounding McKinsey's consulting practices; bring this FOI request firmly within the public interest. Giving access to this document would be in the general public interest; or at least in the interest of at least a substantial section of the public. Please waive the charge.
To substantiate this public interest claim, please note the recent, significant public interest in McKinsey's activities throughout governments across the globe, due to their controversial activities in governments such as South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia (1MDB). An example of public interest reporting on these activities is linked below:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/26/world...
Please also note this article in Crickey.com.au, which demonstrates a clear public interest in the nature of McKinsey's consulting activities as they are used throughout the public service;
https://www.crikey.com.au/2019/05/03/gre...
Yours sincerely,
John Smith
Dear Mr Smith
Thank you for your below email. The department apologises for a delayed
response.
Thank you for clarifying your scope by stating the document you are
requesting is:
‘a single specific, and a high-level document provided to the department’.
On the basis of the above clarification, the department has decided to
withdraw the below charge payable in relation to your request. This means
no charge is required to be paid in relation to your request.
The department continues to process your request and will advise you of
its decision no later than COB 11 May 2020.
Kind regards,
FOI Officer
FOI and Legislation Support Section
[1]cid:image003.png@01D51610.1D98D220
Legal Advice and Legislation Branch
Legal and Assurance Division | Corporate Operations Group
Australian Government Department of Health
T: 02 6289 1666 | E: [2][Health request email]
GPO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
The Department of Health acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of
Australia and their continued connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to all Elders past and present.
If you receive this email in error, please delete it and contact the
sender immediately.
Dear Mr Smith
Please see attached – correspondence in relation to your FOI request to
the Department of Health.
Kind regards
FOI Unit – FOI and Legislation Support Section
[1]cid:image003.png@01D51610.1D98D220
Legal Advice and Legislation Branch
Legal and Assurance Division | Corporate Operations Group
Australian Government Department of Health
T: 02 6289 1666 | E: [2][Health request email]
GPO Box 9848, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
The Department of Health acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of
Australia and their continued connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to all Elders past and present.
If you receive this email in error, please delete it and contact the
sender immediately.