Terms of agreement & purchase order

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Thank you for contacting the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

Your email has been received and will be actioned shortly.

National Information Access Processing

Department of Veterans’ Affairs

Phone: 1800 555 254

[1]www.dva.gov.au/about-us/our-business-reporting/freedom-information

References

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Dear Mr Smith,

Freedom of Information Request: FOI 38198 - Acknowledgement

I refer to your request for access to documents held by the Department of
Veterans’ Affairs (Department) under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
(FOI Act). Your request was received by the Department on 15 September
2020, and was made in the following terms:

…I request a copy of the following documents:

- Any terms of agreement, purchase orders, or contracts between the DVA
and the developers of the app 'Swiss8'.

- The five most recent emails as at the date of this email, between DVA
and the developers of Swiss8.

If no such documents exist please advise…

In accordance with section 15(5)(b) of the FOI Act, the due date for a
decision on your request is 15 October 2020.

Interrupted work practices impacted by COVID-19

The Department is continuing to work through its FOI case load as quickly
as possible. However, the Department is and will continue to experience an
interruption in the way it will be able to manage FOI requests. As you are
likely to be aware, COVID-19 (Coronavirus) has been declared a pandemic by
the World Health Organisation. As the Department focuses its efforts on
managing the impact of COVID-19 on its critical services and employees,
other non-critical services may not be delivered within expected
timeframes. It is possible that during this time, business areas that
would ordinarily have capacity to undertake searches and assist in the
processing of FOI requests may not be readily available to provide that
assistance. This may have an impact on the manner and timeframe in which
the Department can process FOI requests.

We apologise for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience and
cooperation during this period.

When the processing period may be extended or suspended

The current due date may be extended by up to 30 days if agreed by you
(section 15AA of the FOI Act). Also, the due date may be extended by an
additional 30 days in each instance, if your request is considered
voluminous or complex (section 15AB of the FOI Act) or if the Department
is required to undertake a third party consultation (sections 26A, 27 or
27A of the FOI Act). If any of these extensions apply, the Department will
notify you. Additionally, there are occasions where the time to process
your request may be suspended. This will usually take place if a practical
refusal consultation process takes place (section 24AB of the FOI Act) or
if a charges notice is issued to process your request (section 29 of the
FOI Act).

If the Department decides that either of these apply to your request, the
Department will notify you.

Communication with you

The FOI Act requires that you provide us with an address which we can send
notices to. You have advised your electronic address is
[1][FOI #6722 email]. We will send all notices
and correspondence to this address. Please advise us if you wish
correspondence to be sent to another address or if your address changes.
If you do not advise us of changes to your address, correspondence and
notices will continue to be sent to the address specified above.

FOI Disclosure Log

Please note that information released under the FOI Act may later be
published in a disclosure log on the Department’s website at
[2]https://www.dva.gov.au/about-us/overview....
Section 11C of the FOI Act requires this publication, however it is
subject to certain exceptions, including where publication of personal,
business, professional or commercial information would be unreasonable.
When a decision is provided to you, the Department will advise if the
documents released to you will be published on the Department’s FOI
Disclosure log.

Contacting us about your request

We will email again when the Department has more information. Should you
have any enquiries concerning this matter, please contact me at
[3][email address].

Further information on FOI processing can be found at the website of the
Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at
[4]https://www.oaic.gov.au/.

Yours sincerely,

Molly (Position Number 62213164)

Legal Officer

Information Law Section

Legal Services and Audit Branch

Department of Veterans’ Affairs

t 1800 555 254 | e [5][email address] | [6]www.dva.gov.au

p GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601

[7]cid:image001.png@01D0027A.1DAB84F0

P Please consider the environment before printing this email

[8]cid:image001.png@01D32593.9CC39540The Department acknowledges the
Traditional Owners of the land throughout Australia and their continuing
connection to country, sea and community. We pay our respect to all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their cultures and to their
elders past and present.

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

IMPORTANT
1. Before opening any attachments, please check for viruses.
2. This e-mail (including any attachments) may contain confidential
information
for the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient,
please contact the sender and delete all copies of this email.
3. Any views expressed in this e-mail are those of the sender and are not
a statement of Australian Government Policy unless otherwise stated.
4. Electronic addresses published in this email are not conspicuous
publications and DVA does not consent to the receipt of commercial
electronic messages.
5. To unsubscribe from emails from the Department of Veterans' Affairs
(DVA) please go to
http://www.dva.gov.au/contact_us/Pages/f...
, and advise which mailing list you would like to unsubscribe from.
6. Finally, please do not remove this notice.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #6722 email]
2. https://www.dva.gov.au/about-us/overview...
3. mailto:[email address]
4. https://www.oaic.gov.au/
5. mailto:[email address]
6. http://www.dva.gov.au/

hide quoted sections

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Dear Mr Smith,

Please see attached correspondence in relation to your FOI requests:
38197, 38198, 38200 and 38202.

Kind regards,

Molly (Position Number 62213164)

Legal Officer

Information Law Section

Legal Services and Audit Branch

Department of Veterans’ Affairs

t 1800 555 254 | e [1][email address] | [2]www.dva.gov.au

p GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601

[3]cid:image001.png@01D0027A.1DAB84F0

P Please consider the environment before printing this email

[4]cid:image001.png@01D32593.9CC39540The Department acknowledges the
Traditional Owners of the land throughout Australia and their continuing
connection to country, sea and community. We pay our respect to all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their cultures and to their
elders past and present.

IMPORTANT: This document contains legal advice and may be subject to legal
professional privilege. Unless it is waived or lost, legal professional
privilege is a rule of law that, in part, provides that the client need
not disclose confidential communications between a legal practitioner and
client. To keep this privilege, the purpose and content of this advice
must only be disclosed to persons who have a need to know and on the basis
that those persons also keep it confidential.

You should consider this advice and take it into account when forming a
decision on how best to proceed. If you decide to adopt a position that
does not align with this advice, you should not state that DVA Legal
Services & Audit Branch has cleared or endorsed a particular position.

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

IMPORTANT
1. Before opening any attachments, please check for viruses.
2. This e-mail (including any attachments) may contain confidential
information
for the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient,
please contact the sender and delete all copies of this email.
3. Any views expressed in this e-mail are those of the sender and are not
a statement of Australian Government Policy unless otherwise stated.
4. Electronic addresses published in this email are not conspicuous
publications and DVA does not consent to the receipt of commercial
electronic messages.
5. To unsubscribe from emails from the Department of Veterans' Affairs
(DVA) please go to
http://www.dva.gov.au/contact_us/Pages/f...
, and advise which mailing list you would like to unsubscribe from.
6. Finally, please do not remove this notice.

References

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1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.dva.gov.au/

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Dear Mr Smith,

Please see attached correspondence in relation to your FOI requests:
38197, 38198, 38200 and 38202.

Kind regards,

Molly (Position Number 62213164)

Legal Officer

Information Law Section

Legal Services and Audit Branch

Department of Veterans’ Affairs

t 1800 555 254 | e [1][email address] | [2]www.dva.gov.au

p GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601

[3]cid:image001.png@01D0027A.1DAB84F0

P Please consider the environment before printing this email

[4]cid:image001.png@01D32593.9CC39540The Department acknowledges the
Traditional Owners of the land throughout Australia and their continuing
connection to country, sea and community. We pay our respect to all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their cultures and to their
elders past and present.

IMPORTANT: This document contains legal advice and may be subject to legal
professional privilege. Unless it is waived or lost, legal professional
privilege is a rule of law that, in part, provides that the client need
not disclose confidential communications between a legal practitioner and
client. To keep this privilege, the purpose and content of this advice
must only be disclosed to persons who have a need to know and on the basis
that those persons also keep it confidential.

You should consider this advice and take it into account when forming a
decision on how best to proceed. If you decide to adopt a position that
does not align with this advice, you should not state that DVA Legal
Services & Audit Branch has cleared or endorsed a particular position.

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

IMPORTANT
1. Before opening any attachments, please check for viruses.
2. This e-mail (including any attachments) may contain confidential
information
for the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient,
please contact the sender and delete all copies of this email.
3. Any views expressed in this e-mail are those of the sender and are not
a statement of Australian Government Policy unless otherwise stated.
4. Electronic addresses published in this email are not conspicuous
publications and DVA does not consent to the receipt of commercial
electronic messages.
5. To unsubscribe from emails from the Department of Veterans' Affairs
(DVA) please go to
http://www.dva.gov.au/contact_us/Pages/f...
, and advise which mailing list you would like to unsubscribe from.
6. Finally, please do not remove this notice.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.dva.gov.au/

hide quoted sections

image001.png

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image002.png

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FOI Practical Refusal Consultation Notice section 24AB FINAL.pdf

580K Download View as HTML

Dear Mr Smith,

Please see attached correspondence in relation to your FOI requests:
38197, 38198, 38200 and 38202.

Kind regards,

Molly (Position Number 62213164)

Legal Officer

Information Law Section

Legal Services and Audit Branch

Department of Veterans’ Affairs

t 1800 555 254 | e [1][email address] | [2]www.dva.gov.au

p GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601

[3]cid:image001.png@01D0027A.1DAB84F0

P Please consider the environment before printing this email

[4]cid:image001.png@01D32593.9CC39540The Department acknowledges the
Traditional Owners of the land throughout Australia and their continuing
connection to country, sea and community. We pay our respect to all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their cultures and to their
elders past and present.

IMPORTANT: This document contains legal advice and may be subject to legal
professional privilege. Unless it is waived or lost, legal professional
privilege is a rule of law that, in part, provides that the client need
not disclose confidential communications between a legal practitioner and
client. To keep this privilege, the purpose and content of this advice
must only be disclosed to persons who have a need to know and on the basis
that those persons also keep it confidential.

You should consider this advice and take it into account when forming a
decision on how best to proceed. If you decide to adopt a position that
does not align with this advice, you should not state that DVA Legal
Services & Audit Branch has cleared or endorsed a particular position.

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

IMPORTANT
1. Before opening any attachments, please check for viruses.
2. This e-mail (including any attachments) may contain confidential
information
for the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient,
please contact the sender and delete all copies of this email.
3. Any views expressed in this e-mail are those of the sender and are not
a statement of Australian Government Policy unless otherwise stated.
4. Electronic addresses published in this email are not conspicuous
publications and DVA does not consent to the receipt of commercial
electronic messages.
5. To unsubscribe from emails from the Department of Veterans' Affairs
(DVA) please go to
http://www.dva.gov.au/contact_us/Pages/f...
, and advise which mailing list you would like to unsubscribe from.
6. Finally, please do not remove this notice.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.dva.gov.au/

hide quoted sections

image001.png

15K Download
image002.png

1K Download
FOI Practical Refusal Consultation Notice section 24AB FINAL.pdf

580K Download View as HTML

Dear Mr Smith,

Please see attached correspondence in relation to your FOI requests:
38197, 38198, 38200 and 38202.

Kind regards,

Molly (Position Number 62213164)

Legal Officer

Information Law Section

Legal Services and Audit Branch

Department of Veterans’ Affairs

t 1800 555 254 | e [1][email address] | [2]www.dva.gov.au

p GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601

[3]cid:image001.png@01D0027A.1DAB84F0

P Please consider the environment before printing this email

[4]cid:image001.png@01D32593.9CC39540The Department acknowledges the
Traditional Owners of the land throughout Australia and their continuing
connection to country, sea and community. We pay our respect to all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their cultures and to their
elders past and present.

IMPORTANT: This document contains legal advice and may be subject to legal
professional privilege. Unless it is waived or lost, legal professional
privilege is a rule of law that, in part, provides that the client need
not disclose confidential communications between a legal practitioner and
client. To keep this privilege, the purpose and content of this advice
must only be disclosed to persons who have a need to know and on the basis
that those persons also keep it confidential.

You should consider this advice and take it into account when forming a
decision on how best to proceed. If you decide to adopt a position that
does not align with this advice, you should not state that DVA Legal
Services & Audit Branch has cleared or endorsed a particular position.

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

IMPORTANT
1. Before opening any attachments, please check for viruses.
2. This e-mail (including any attachments) may contain confidential
information
for the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient,
please contact the sender and delete all copies of this email.
3. Any views expressed in this e-mail are those of the sender and are not
a statement of Australian Government Policy unless otherwise stated.
4. Electronic addresses published in this email are not conspicuous
publications and DVA does not consent to the receipt of commercial
electronic messages.
5. To unsubscribe from emails from the Department of Veterans' Affairs
(DVA) please go to
http://www.dva.gov.au/contact_us/Pages/f...
, and advise which mailing list you would like to unsubscribe from.
6. Finally, please do not remove this notice.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.dva.gov.au/

hide quoted sections

image001.png

15K Download
image002.png

1K Download
FOI Practical Refusal Consultation Notice section 24AB FINAL.pdf

580K Download View as HTML

Dear Mr Smith,

Please see attached correspondence in relation to your FOI requests:
38197, 38198, 38200 and 38202.

Kind regards,

Molly (Position Number 62213164)

Legal Officer

Information Law Section

Legal Services and Audit Branch

Department of Veterans’ Affairs

t 1800 555 254 | e [1][email address] | [2]www.dva.gov.au

p GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601

[3]cid:image001.png@01D0027A.1DAB84F0

P Please consider the environment before printing this email

[4]cid:image001.png@01D32593.9CC39540The Department acknowledges the
Traditional Owners of the land throughout Australia and their continuing
connection to country, sea and community. We pay our respect to all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their cultures and to their
elders past and present.

IMPORTANT: This document contains legal advice and may be subject to legal
professional privilege. Unless it is waived or lost, legal professional
privilege is a rule of law that, in part, provides that the client need
not disclose confidential communications between a legal practitioner and
client. To keep this privilege, the purpose and content of this advice
must only be disclosed to persons who have a need to know and on the basis
that those persons also keep it confidential.

You should consider this advice and take it into account when forming a
decision on how best to proceed. If you decide to adopt a position that
does not align with this advice, you should not state that DVA Legal
Services & Audit Branch has cleared or endorsed a particular position.

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

IMPORTANT
1. Before opening any attachments, please check for viruses.
2. This e-mail (including any attachments) may contain confidential
information
for the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient,
please contact the sender and delete all copies of this email.
3. Any views expressed in this e-mail are those of the sender and are not
a statement of Australian Government Policy unless otherwise stated.
4. Electronic addresses published in this email are not conspicuous
publications and DVA does not consent to the receipt of commercial
electronic messages.
5. To unsubscribe from emails from the Department of Veterans' Affairs
(DVA) please go to
http://www.dva.gov.au/contact_us/Pages/f...
, and advise which mailing list you would like to unsubscribe from.
6. Finally, please do not remove this notice.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.dva.gov.au/

hide quoted sections

** This is an automated response. Please do not reply to this email **

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Thank you for your email. The Department will take all reasonable efforts
to respond to your email and process your request.

Please note that due the threat of COVID-19 (Coronavirus), the Department
is experiencing a diversion of resources that are critical to managing
Australia’s response. This means we may not be able to process your
request within the expected timeframe and where needed, will be seeking
extensions of time to manage requests and may need to consult with you if
your request is not clear or is for a large and unmanageable number of
documents. The Department remains committed to ensuring it can process as
many information access requests as it can during the pandemic. We ask for
your assistance by only making requests where they are of a priority and
to ensure those requests are as specific as possible.

We apologise for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding,
cooperation and patience during this difficult time for all Australians.

More detailed messaging can be found on the Department’s website at
[1]https://www.dva.gov.au/newsroom/latest-n....

Kind regards,

Information Law Section
Department of Veterans' Affairs

References

Visible links
1. https://www.dva.gov.au/newsroom/latest-n...

Dear Mr Smith

Thank you for your email.

The Department has made a decision to combine your requests under 24(2) of the FOI Act and consult with you under section 24AB of the FOI Act. The reasons for the Department's decision to combine and consult with you on the requests is provided in our section 24AB notice.

The Department considers that your 4 remaining requests relate to a substantially similar subject matter, in that they all request documents relating to Department tender processes, terms of agreement or other commercial arrangements with third parties. This view was formed after an initial consultation and search process was undertaken by various business areas of the Department who are involved in such activities and the Department identified an amount of overlap in the relevantly identified business areas.

I again note that paragraph 3.123 of the Guidelines issued by the Australian Information Commissioner, notes that the most common circumstances that requests will be combined includes where multiple requests are made by a single applicant.

The purpose of the consultation is assist you in revising the scope of your requests so as the practical refusal reasons no longer exist. Noting that the requests have been combined, the consultation process now encapsulates all requests that the Department considered to be voluminous and/or unclear. Rather than issuing four separate practical refusal notices, this process will enable the Department to more effectively consult with you and assist you in revising the scope of your request so as to remove any practical refusal reasons.

As provided in our consultation letter, we note that you may wish to consider:
- the removal of correspondence altogether, to reduce the volume of documents falling within scope;
- the removal of any correspondence or documents between the Department and any unsuccessful Tender applicants; or alternatively,
- you may wish to withdraw specific parts of your request and focus on one topic of document at a time, staggering your requests out.

Because the Department has not yet proceeded to a practical refusal decision or decision on access, the Department is not able to commence an internal review process. This will only become available to you once a final decision on access is made.

We note that we have asked you to provide a response to our consultation notice within 14 days. Please let me know if you require further time to consider a revision of scope.

Please don't hesitate to contact me should you require any further assistance as to how you may wish to revise the scope of your request.

Kind regards,

Molly (Position Number 62213164)
Legal Officer
Information Law Section
Legal Services and Audit Branch
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
t 1800 555 254 | e [email address] | www.dva.gov.au
p GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601

Please consider the environment before printing this email
The Department acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land throughout Australia and their continuing connection to country, sea and community. We pay our respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their cultures and to their elders past and present.
IMPORTANT: This document contains legal advice and may be subject to legal professional privilege. Unless it is waived or lost, legal professional privilege is a rule of law that, in part, provides that the client need not disclose confidential communications between a legal practitioner and client. To keep this privilege, the purpose and content of this advice must only be disclosed to persons who have a need to know and on the basis that those persons also keep it confidential.
You should consider this advice and take it into account when forming a decision on how best to proceed. If you decide to adopt a position that does not align with this advice, you should not state that DVA Legal Services & Audit Branch has cleared or endorsed a particular position.

-----Original Message-----
From: John Smith [mailto:[FOI #6722 email]]
Sent: Thursday, 8 October 2020 9:08 PM
To: INFORMATION.LAW <[email address]>
Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Terms of agreement & purchase order [TO BE CLASSIFIED]

Dear Molly,

I seek internal review of this decision, as I do not understand why these FOI requests have been combined.

The requests do not relate to the same documents, and the subject matter of the documents are not the same. It seems to me obvious that the requirements of s24 have not been met.

How is it that tender documents and correspondence between Swiss8 and DVA, can be combined under s24 with the documents and correspondence under FOI 38197?

The only thing these sets of documents have in common is they both relate to entirely separate tenders. This does not seem to me a fair justification for combination of requests under s24.

Likewise for FOI38200 and 38202.

I am more than happy to clarify and revise the scope of my FOI requests. Please await further correspondence from me, upon which I will clarify and specify exactly which kind of documents I am looking for.

Yours sincerely,

John Smith

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

Dear Mr Smith,

Please see attached correspondence in relation to your FOI requests:
38197, 38198, 38200 and 38202.

Kind regards,

Molly (Position Number 62213164)

Legal Officer

Information Law Section

Legal Services and Audit Branch

Department of Veterans’ Affairs

t 1800 555 254 | e [1][email address] | [2]www.dva.gov.au

p GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601

[3]cid:image001.png@01D0027A.1DAB84F0

P Please consider the environment before printing this email

[4]cid:image001.png@01D32593.9CC39540The Department acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land throughout Australia and their continuing connection to country, sea and community. We pay our respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their cultures and to their elders past and present.

IMPORTANT: This document contains legal advice and may be subject to legal professional privilege. Unless it is waived or lost, legal professional privilege is a rule of law that, in part, provides that the client need not disclose confidential communications between a legal practitioner and client. To keep this privilege, the purpose and content of this advice must only be disclosed to persons who have a need to know and on the basis that those persons also keep it confidential.

You should consider this advice and take it into account when forming a decision on how best to proceed. If you decide to adopt a position that does not align with this advice, you should not state that DVA Legal Services & Audit Branch has cleared or endorsed a particular position.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #6722 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:
https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...

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.

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______________________________________________________________________
IMPORTANT
1. Before opening any attachments, please check for viruses.
2. This e-mail (including any attachments) may contain confidential information
for the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient,
please contact the sender and delete all copies of this email.
3. Any views expressed in this e-mail are those of the sender and are not
a statement of Australian Government Policy unless otherwise stated.
4. Electronic addresses published in this email are not conspicuous publications and DVA does not consent to the receipt of commercial electronic messages.
5. To unsubscribe from emails from the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) please go to
http://www.dva.gov.au/contact_us/Pages/f...
, and advise which mailing list you would like to unsubscribe from.
6. Finally, please do not remove this notice.

hide quoted sections

** This is an automated response. Please do not reply to this email **

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Thank you for your email. The Department will take all reasonable efforts
to respond to your email and process your request.

Please note that due the threat of COVID-19 (Coronavirus), the Department
is experiencing a diversion of resources that are critical to managing
Australia’s response. This means we may not be able to process your
request within the expected timeframe and where needed, will be seeking
extensions of time to manage requests and may need to consult with you if
your request is not clear or is for a large and unmanageable number of
documents. The Department remains committed to ensuring it can process as
many information access requests as it can during the pandemic. We ask for
your assistance by only making requests where they are of a priority and
to ensure those requests are as specific as possible.

We apologise for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding,
cooperation and patience during this difficult time for all Australians.

More detailed messaging can be found on the Department’s website at
[1]https://www.dva.gov.au/newsroom/latest-n....

Kind regards,

Information Law Section
Department of Veterans' Affairs

References

Visible links
1. https://www.dva.gov.au/newsroom/latest-n...

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Dear Mr Smith

Thank you for your email below and for agreeing to revise the scope of
your FOI request.

We ask that you confirm your agreement to the below revised wording. For
ease of reference, I have placed a strike through over the parts of your
request that have been removed in accordance with your revision.

‘…copies of any contracts, MOUs, tenders, or agreements that have existed
between your department and the following entities:

-'TJ Affiliates'

-'Remembrance Foundation'

-The 'modern soldier' social media page

-The natural person 'Talissa Papamau'

Please also include the most recent email between your department and the
above four entities in this FOI request, if such emails exist.

copies of any contracts, correspondence, and/or terms of agreement that
relate to the awarding of Commonwealth tender ID CN3574734.

Any terms of agreement, purchase orders, or contracts between the DVA and
the developers of the app 'Swiss8'.

The five most recent emails as at the date of this email, between DVA and
the developers of Swiss8.

a copy of any contract, correspondence, and terms of agreement held by
your department in relation to the Commonwealth tender ID CN3528664…’

Request Timeframe

Following your confirmation of the above revised scope, the Department
will now commence a search and retrieval process for relevant documents.

Your request currently falls due on 26 October 2020. The Department will
notify you if this time period changes. Noting your request for contracts
and terms of agreement, it is likely that the decision maker will be
required to undertake a third party consultation with any involved third
parties (in relation to their personal or business information). We will
notify you if this is required and advise you of any change to the
processing time.

If possible, we would be grateful to receive your confirmation of the
above revised scope by COB 19 October 2020.

Kind regards

Molly

Molly (Position Number 62213164)

Legal Officer

Information Law Section

Legal Services and Audit Branch

Department of Veterans’ Affairs

t 1800 555 254 | e [1][email address] | [2]www.dva.gov.au

p GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601

[3]cid:image001.png@01D0027A.1DAB84F0

P Please consider the environment before printing this email

[4]cid:image001.png@01D32593.9CC39540The Department acknowledges the
Traditional Owners of the land throughout Australia and their continuing
connection to country, sea and community. We pay our respect to all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their cultures and to their
elders past and present.

IMPORTANT: This document contains legal advice and may be subject to
legal professional privilege. Unless it is waived or lost, legal
professional privilege is a rule of law that, in part, provides that the
client need not disclose confidential communications between a legal
practitioner and client. To keep this privilege, the purpose and content
of this advice must only be disclosed to persons who have a need to know
and on the basis that those persons also keep it confidential.

You should consider this advice and take it into account when forming a
decision on how best to proceed. If you decide to adopt a position that
does not align with this advice, you should not state that DVA Legal
Services & Audit Branch has cleared or endorsed a particular position.

-----Original Message-----
From: John Smith [mailto:[FOI #6722 email]]
Sent: Monday, 19 October 2020 3:29 AM
To: INFORMATION.LAW <[email address]>
Subject: RE: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Terms of
agreement & purchase order [TO BE CLASSIFIED] [SEC=OFFICIAL]

Dear INFORMATION.LAW,

I agree to remove correspondence from the request

Yours sincerely,

John Smith

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

Dear Mr Smith

Thank you for your email.

The Department has made a decision to combine your requests under 24(2) of
the FOI Act and consult with you under section 24AB of the FOI Act. The
reasons for the Department's decision to combine and consult with you on
the requests is provided in our section 24AB notice.

The Department considers that your 4 remaining requests relate to a
substantially similar subject matter, in that they all request documents
relating to Department tender processes, terms of agreement or other
commercial arrangements with third parties. This view was formed after an
initial consultation and search process was undertaken by various business
areas of the Department who are involved in such activities and the
Department identified an amount of overlap in the relevantly identified
business areas.

I again note that paragraph 3.123 of the Guidelines issued by the
Australian Information Commissioner, notes that the most common
circumstances that requests will be combined includes where multiple
requests are made by a single applicant.

The purpose of the consultation is assist you in revising the scope of
your requests so as the practical refusal reasons no longer exist. Noting
that the requests have been combined, the consultation process now
encapsulates all requests that the Department considered to be voluminous
and/or unclear. Rather than issuing four separate practical refusal
notices, this process will enable the Department to more effectively
consult with you and assist you in revising the scope of your request so
as to remove any practical refusal reasons.

As provided in our consultation letter, we note that you may wish to
consider:

- the removal of correspondence altogether, to reduce the volume of
documents falling within scope;

- the removal of any correspondence or documents between the Department
and any unsuccessful Tender applicants; or alternatively,

- you may wish to withdraw specific parts of your request and focus on one
topic of document at a time, staggering your requests out.

Because the Department has not yet proceeded to a practical refusal
decision or decision on access, the Department is not able to commence an
internal review process. This will only become available to you once a
final decision on access is made.

We note that we have asked you to provide a response to our consultation
notice within 14 days. Please let me know if you require further time to
consider a revision of scope.

Please don't hesitate to contact me should you require any further
assistance as to how you may wish to revise the scope of your request.

Kind regards,

Molly (Position Number 62213164)

Legal Officer

Information Law Section

Legal Services and Audit Branch

Department of Veterans’ Affairs

t 1800 555 254 | e [email address] | [5]www.dva.gov.au p GPO Box 9998,
Canberra ACT 2601

Please consider the environment before printing this email The
Department acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land throughout
Australia and their continuing connection to country, sea and community.
We pay our respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,
their cultures and to their elders past and present.

IMPORTANT: This document contains legal advice and may be subject to legal
professional privilege. Unless it is waived or lost, legal professional
privilege is a rule of law that, in part, provides that the client need
not disclose confidential communications between a legal practitioner and
client. To keep this privilege, the purpose and content of this advice
must only be disclosed to persons who have a need to know and on the basis
that those persons also keep it confidential.

You should consider this advice and take it into account when forming a
decision on how best to proceed. If you decide to adopt a position that
does not align with this advice, you should not state that DVA Legal
Services & Audit Branch has cleared or endorsed a particular position.

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

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

[6][FOI #6722 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:

[7]https://www.righttoknow.org.au/help/offi...

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.

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

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IMPORTANT
1. Before opening any attachments, please check for viruses.
2. This e-mail (including any attachments) may contain confidential
information
for the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient,
please contact the sender and delete all copies of this email.
3. Any views expressed in this e-mail are those of the sender and are not
a statement of Australian Government Policy unless otherwise stated.
4. Electronic addresses published in this email are not conspicuous
publications and DVA does not consent to the receipt of commercial
electronic messages.
5. To unsubscribe from emails from the Department of Veterans' Affairs
(DVA) please go to
http://www.dva.gov.au/contact_us/Pages/f...
, and advise which mailing list you would like to unsubscribe from.
6. Finally, please do not remove this notice.

References

Visible links
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2. http://www.dva.gov.au/
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6. mailto:[FOI #6722 email]
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Dear Mr Smith

We note that we have not received any further response to our confirmation
of scope below.

As such, we will proceed on the understanding that the below revised scope
is accurate.

No documents – s 24A of the FOI Act

Following your revision of scope, we confirm that the Department does not
hold documents in response to the part of your request for:

‘Any terms of agreement, purchase orders, or contracts between the DVA and
the developers of the app 'Swiss8'.

Could you please confirm whether you agree to withdraw this part of your
request, or whether you would prefer the Department to proceed to a formal
24A decision in respect of this part of your request.

We would appreciate your response to the above by COB 28 October 2020.

Extension of time – third party consultation

In processing your request, the Department has identified the need to
consult with third parties under sections 27 and 27A of the FOI Act.

Pursuant to section 15(6) of the FOI Act, the processing period of your
FOI request has now been extended by a further 30 days to accommodate this
consultation process.

The new due date for your request is 25 November 2020. We will notify you
if this processing period changes any further.

Kind regards,

Molly

Molly (Position Number 62213164)

Legal Officer

Information Law Section

Legal Services and Audit Branch

Department of Veterans’ Affairs

t 1800 555 254 | e [1][email address] | [2]www.dva.gov.au

p GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601

[3]cid:image001.png@01D0027A.1DAB84F0

P Please consider the environment before printing this email

[4]cid:image001.png@01D32593.9CC39540The Department acknowledges the
Traditional Owners of the land throughout Australia and their continuing
connection to country, sea and community. We pay our respect to all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their cultures and to their
elders past and present.

IMPORTANT: This document contains legal advice and may be subject to legal
professional privilege. Unless it is waived or lost, legal professional
privilege is a rule of law that, in part, provides that the client need
not disclose confidential communications between a legal practitioner and
client. To keep this privilege, the purpose and content of this advice
must only be disclosed to persons who have a need to know and on the basis
that those persons also keep it confidential.

You should consider this advice and take it into account when forming a
decision on how best to proceed. If you decide to adopt a position that
does not align with this advice, you should not state that DVA Legal
Services & Audit Branch has cleared or endorsed a particular position.

From: INFORMATION.LAW
Sent: Monday, 19 October 2020 9:14 AM
To: '[FOI #6722 email]'
Cc: INFORMATION.LAW
Subject: Freedom of Information request - FOI 38197 [SEC=OFFICIAL]

Dear Mr Smith

Thank you for your email below and for agreeing to revise the scope of
your FOI request.

We ask that you confirm your agreement to the below revised wording. For
ease of reference, I have placed a strike through over the parts of your
request that have been removed in accordance with your revision.

‘…copies of any contracts, MOUs, tenders, or agreements that have existed
between your department and the following entities:

-'TJ Affiliates'

-'Remembrance Foundation'

-The 'modern soldier' social media page

-The natural person 'Talissa Papamau'

Please also include the most recent email between your department and the
above four entities in this FOI request, if such emails exist.

copies of any contracts, correspondence, and/or terms of agreement that
relate to the awarding of Commonwealth tender ID CN3574734.

Any terms of agreement, purchase orders, or contracts between the DVA and
the developers of the app 'Swiss8'.

The five most recent emails as at the date of this email, between DVA and
the developers of Swiss8.

a copy of any contract, correspondence, and terms of agreement held by
your department in relation to the Commonwealth tender ID CN3528664…’

Request Timeframe

Following your confirmation of the above revised scope, the Department
will now commence a search and retrieval process for relevant documents.

Your request currently falls due on 26 October 2020. The Department will
notify you if this time period changes. Noting your request for contracts
and terms of agreement, it is likely that the decision maker will be
required to undertake a third party consultation with any involved third
parties (in relation to their personal or business information). We will
notify you if this is required and advise you of any change to the
processing time.

If possible, we would be grateful to receive your confirmation of the
above revised scope by COB 19 October 2020.

Kind regards

Molly

Molly (Position Number 62213164)

Legal Officer

Information Law Section

Legal Services and Audit Branch

Department of Veterans’ Affairs

t 1800 555 254 | e [5][email address] | [6]www.dva.gov.au

p GPO Box 9998, Canberra ACT 2601

[7]cid:image001.png@01D0027A.1DAB84F0

P Please consider the environment before printing this email

[8]cid:image001.png@01D32593.9CC39540The Department acknowledges the
Traditional Owners of the land throughout Australia and their continuing
connection to country, sea and community. We pay our respect to all
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their cultures and to their
elders past and present.

IMPORTANT: This document contains legal advice and may be subject to legal
professional privilege. Unless it is waived or lost, legal professional
privilege is a rule of law that, in part, provides that the client need
not disclose confidential communications between a legal practitioner and
client. To keep this privilege, the purpose and content of this advice
must only be disclosed to persons who have a need to know and on the basis
that those persons also keep it confidential.

You should consider this advice and take it into account when forming a
decision on how best to proceed. If you decide to adopt a position that
does not align with this advice, you should not state that DVA Legal
Services & Audit Branch has cleared or endorsed a particular position.

-----Original Message-----
From: John Smith [[9]mailto:[FOI #6722 email]]
Sent: Monday, 19 October 2020 3:29 AM
To: INFORMATION.LAW <[10][email address]>
Subject: RE: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Terms of
agreement & purchase order [TO BE CLASSIFIED] [SEC=OFFICIAL]