X Solicitors and Westmeath County Council

The applicant sought an internal review of the decision to refuse access to the successful tender documents by way of letter dated 14 January 2014. The Council's internal reviewer issued his decision on 7 February 2014, refusing access to the records at issue under section 27(1)(b) of the FOI Act. On 21 July 2014, the applicant sought a review by this Office of the Council's decision.

I note that, in correspondence with the applicant, Mr. Niall Mulligan of this Office set out his view in relation to the exemptions claimed. The applicant offered no further submissions or correspondence to this Office. I therefore consider that the review should now be brought to a close by the issue of a formal, binding decision.

In conducting my review, I have had regard to the Council's decision on the matter and its communications with this Office, as well as the applicant's communications with this Office and the Council. I have also had regard to the provisions of the FOI Act and to the records in question, a copy of which have been provided to this Office for the purpose of this review.

During the course of the review, the applicant confirmed to Mr Mulligan of this Office, by way of email dated 30 September 2014, that it was willing to limit the scope of the review to the breakdown of figures making up the tender totals, as contained in the tender documents.

Accordingly, this review is concerned solely with the question of whether the Council was justified in refusing access under section 27(1)(b) of the FOI Act to the pricing schedules of each tender document which sets out a detailed breakdown of the individual pricing elements involved in each tender.