Electoral system management contract

23 December 2022

Your request

  1. Which company is the supplier of the Electoral Management System (EMS) for the London Borough of Lambeth?
  2. What modules are included in the contract for the supply of Lambeth’s EMS? Examples could include tablet canvassing, automated boundary changes, online staffing app etc.
  3. What is the annual value of the current EMS contract, including any modules mentioned in response to question 2?
  4. In what year was the current contract awarded?
  5. For how many years was the current contract awarded?
  6. Is the authority’s EMS contract now on a fixed term basis or a rolling annual basis?
    1. If fixed, when does the current contract expire?
    2. If rolling, what is the anniversary renewal date?
  7. When is the next EMS procurement process scheduled to begin? If this information isn’t known, please provide a best estimate and make clear that it’s an estimate.
  8. When did the last EMS procurement take place?
  9. Which suppliers were invited to bid during the last EMS procurement?
  10. What is the name and the job title of the person at Lambeth that manages electoral services?
  11. If known, what is the name, work phone number and job title of the procurement officer at Lambeth who will manage the next EMS procurement process?

 Our response

  1. Civica Xpress
  2. We have a rolling contract for the Civica Xpress core 'Register and Management' system as detailed on their company product page (https://www.civica.com/en-gb/product-pages/mobile-election-app/). We also have separate licences x60 for the Civica Xpress mobile canvassing app.
  3. £16,446 for core system plus £15,400 for mobile canvassing app licences. Total annual cost - £31,846.
  4. 2022 (rolling contract automatically renewed)
  5. 1
  6. Rolling annual contract
    1. N/A
    2. 01 April 2023
  7. Under FOI Section 1(1) any person making a request for information to a public authority is entitled (a) to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds information of the description specified in the request (b) if that is the case, to have that information communicated to them. 

I am advised by my colleagues that Lambeth Council does not hold any such information, as FOIs only cover recorded information; an estimate of when something may happen in the future is not recorded information.

Consequently, the answer to Section 1(1)(a) is no and thus our further duty under 1(1)(b) does not arise on this occasion.  

8. 2014

9. Under FOI Section 1(1) any person making a request for information to a public authority is entitled (a) to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds information of the description specified in the request (b) if that is the case, to have that information communicated to them. 

Officers have conducted a manual search using in various search terms and looked through physical storage for paper records and can confirm that no documents are held on record which list the names of suppliers invited to tender during the 2014 exercise.

Consequently, the answer to Section 1(1)(a) is no and thus our further duty under 1(1)(b) does not arise on this occasion.

10. Lambeth Council can provide details at the Strategic Level only; this information is available on the Lambeth website below.

How Lambeth Council is organised | Lambeth Council

The email address follows the Lambeth standard logic of initialfirstnamelastname@lambeth.gov.uk 

We are unable to give out individual phone numbers.

I can confirm that we have reviewed this part of your request and consider disclosure would breach the Data Protection Act 2018 and therefore engage Section 40(2): Personal Data to this request.

The definition of personal data is set out in provision 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018 as follows:-

(2)“Personal data” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual 

(3)“Identifiable living individual” means a living individual who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to— 

(a)an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data or an online identifier, or 

(b)one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of the individual. 

We note this request asks for information which would allow an individual(s) to be identified.

I have considered whether it would be fair to disclose the information including whether disclosure would cause any unnecessary or unjustified damage or distress to the individual concerned; the individual’s reasonable expectations of what would happen to their information; and balancing the rights and freedoms of the data subject with legitimate interests.

In this case, I can confirm that it would not be fair to the individuals to disclose information about their names and emails as it could cause distress to the individuals.

I do not consider that the individuals would expect the Council to disclose any information which may allow them to be identified. Although I acknowledge the legitimate interest in disclosing general information relating to this request, I do not consider the legitimate interest overrides the rights and freedoms of the individual on this occasion.

In accordance with Section 17 FOIA this letter represents a Refusal Notice for this part of the request

11. As per Q7