Hello and thank you for writing to the FOI inbox.

Please be advised that during the upcoming holiday period, the NDIA
offices will be closed from Friday 24 December 2021 until Tuesday 4
January 2022.

As such, if you make an FOI request that falls due during this period, we
will be unable to process it by the relevant deadline. Our FOI officers
will be in touch to discuss a short extension of time with you to allow
for processing as quickly as possible.

If we receive an FOI request from you during the period of shut down,
noted above, our staff will not be able to commence processing the matter
or respond to any queries until Tuesday 4 January 2022.

If you are requesting your personal documents only, please consider
submitting your request through [1][email address] or
through our [2]Participant Information Access (PIA) web-form.

Kind regards 

NDIA FOI Team
Email: [3][email address]

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3. mailto:[email address]

Dear Lorraine Ashbourne

Thank you for your request for information.

We are writing to seek clarification of the scope of your request.

Scope of your request

You have requested access to:

…information about the legal and specialist services, used by the
Procurement, Legal Services, and HR branches of the NDIA, specifically:

1.           Procurement and Corporate Services Branch

2.           Legal – General Advice and Legislation team

3.           Legal – Corporate and Commercial team

4.           Legal – All of Legal Services Branch

5.           HR – Workplace Health Safety and Support team

6.           HR – Workplace Integrity team

7.           HR – All of Human Resources Advisory Branch

For each of these categories above, can you please provide the information
below:

(a)         How many staff are APS employees?

(b)         How many staff are labour-hire/contractors?

(c)         For those staff nominated in (c) above, what is the cost of
the labour-hire/contractors for the period 1/1/21 to 30/6/21?

(d)         For those staff nominated in (c) above, what is the cost of
the labour-hire/contractors for the period 1/7/21 to 31/12/21?

(e)         How many contracts for ‘external’ legal/specialist/consulting
services were in place during the period 1/1/21 to 30/6/21?

(f)          How many contracts for ‘external’ legal/specialist/consulting
services were in place during the period 1/7/21 to 31/12/21?

(g)         What is the total cost of ‘external’
legal/specialist/consulting services for the period 1/1/21 to 31/12/21?

I am happy to receive the information in table format.

We are seeking your clarification around parts (a) and (b) of your
request. Would you please advise at what point in time you are seeking
this information. For example: 31 December 2021, or at as the date of your
request.

We are also seeking clarification around parts (c) and (d) of your
request. We understand that this may have been a typo, and in fact should
read …nominated in (b) above. Would you please confirm if our
understanding of this part of your request is correct.

We are also seeking clarification around parts (e) to (g) of your request.
Would you please advise how we should interpret the wording ‘external’
legal/specialist/consulting services. For example: does this relate to
contracts for labour-hire workers? Or does this relate to contracts for
private firms that may have been engaged?

Extension of time

Due to the ongoing impact of COVID-19 on NDIA staff and resourcing, we are
seeking your agreement to extend the processing time by an additional 21
days under section 15AA of the FOI Act. If you agree to this extension,
you can expect to receive a decision from us on or before 29 March 2022.

If you do not agree to the proposed extension of time, or you do not
provide a response to our request, we may need to seek an extension of
time with the Information Commissioner under section 15AB of the FOI Act.
Therefore, we ask that you please provide a response by COB 2 March 2022.

Next steps

Would you please provide a date for parts (a) and (b) of your request,
clarification of parts (c) and (d) and parts (e) to (g) of your request,
and a response to our request for an extension of time by COB 2 March
2022.

Please contact us at [1][NDIA request email] if you have any questions or
require help.

Kind regards

Freedom of Information Officer

Parliamentary, Ministerial and FOI Branch

Government Division

National Disability Insurance Agency

E: [2][NDIA request email]

[3]Title: NDIS delivered by the National Disability Insurance Agency

The NDIA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to them and their cultures and to Elders past, present
and emerging. 

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1. mailto:[NDIA request email]
2. mailto:[NDIA request email]

Thank you for your email to the National Disability Insurance Agency
(NDIA) Freedom of Information (FOI) team.  

If your email relates to an FOI application made under the Commonwealth
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), the Agency will respond to you
as soon as practicable. 

This email address is for applications under the FOI Act only. The Agency
is unable to respond to non-FOI related enquiries sent to this email
address. Any correspondence received that is not an information access
request will not be responded to or forwarded.  

If you are seeking to access your personal documents, please consider
submitting your request through our [1]Participant Information Access
(PIA) web-form, which will allow the matter to be processed
administratively. 

Should you have a query unrelated to FOI, please contact us by emailing at
[2][email address] or via webchat at [3]NDIA Web Chat (ndis.gov.au).
Alternatively you can also contact us by phoning 1800 800 110. 

If you have any questions about making an FOI request, or to enquire about
a current FOI request, please email us with your phone number and a
preferred time for us to call you, and an FOI Decision Maker will call you
back. 

Kind regards 

Freedom of Information team 

Parliamentary, Ministerial & FOI Branch  

Government  

National Disability Insurance Agency 

Email: [4][NDIA request email]  

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4. mailto:[NDIA request email]

Dear Applicant and FOI Contact Officer,

Please see attached decision regarding the National Disability Insurance
Agency’s application for an extension of time to process FOI request FOI
21/22-0863.

Kind regards,

[1][IMG]   Eoin McMahon  |  Review Adviser

Investigations and Compliance

Freedom of Information
Regulatory Group

Office of the Australian
Information Commissioner

GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001  |
 [2]oaic.gov.au

+61 2 9284 9716  | 
[3][email address]
[7]Subscribe [8]Subscribe to
[4]Facebook | [5]LinkedIn | [6]Twitter |   icon Information
Matters

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8. https://www.oaic.gov.au/updates/sign-up/

Dear Lorraine Ashbourne

Thank you for your request for information.

Please find attached correspondence and documents in relation to your
request.  If you require these in a different format, please let us know.

Please contact us at [1][NDIA request email] if you have any questions or
require help.

Thank you.

Kind regards

Freedom of Information Officer

Parliamentary, Ministerial and FOI Branch

Government Division

National Disability Insurance Agency

E: [2][NDIA request email]

[3]Title: NDIS delivered by the National Disability Insurance Agency

The NDIA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout
Australia and their continuing connection to land, sea and community. We
pay our respects to them and their cultures and to Elders past, present
and emerging. 

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References

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1. mailto:[NDIA request email]
2. mailto:[NDIA request email]

Our reference: RQ22/01340

Agency reference: FOI 21/22-0863

Ms Lorraine Ashbourne

By email: [1][FOI #8375 email]

Extension of time application by the National Disability Insurance Agency

Dear Ms Ashbourne

Please find attached a decision of today’s date for an extension of time
from the National Disability Insurance Agency.

Sincerely

[2][IMG]   Summen Sarwar   |  Assistant Review and
Investigation Advisor

Investigations and Compliance
Freedom of Information Regulatory Group

Office of the Australian Information
Commissioner

GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001  |
 [3]oaic.gov.au

+61 2 9284 9815  | 
[4][email address]  
[5][IMG] | [6][IMG] | [7][IMG] |   [8]Subscribe to Information
Matters

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2. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
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