FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - REQUEST REF: FOI2025/00005S 

Thank you for your email of 3 February 2025 asking for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. You asked: 

I would like to make an FOI request for information in relation to the following contracts: 

JEF CIS Technical Assurance Partner - Contracts Finder 

Please can you provide: 

1) What were the specific search terms used to shortlist suppliers via G-Cloud? 

2) What services are being utilised as part of this contract? 

3) How much resource and number of people are they using on the current contract? 

4) What is the description of each role being utilised under the contract? 

5) Was this a direct award or, if not, how many suppliers were invited to respond? 

6) Are there any enduring requirement beyond the end of the current contract term? 

7) Are there extension options in the current contract? If so, have/will they be invoked etc. 

8) Finally could we confirm what the timescale would be and the procurement route should this be recompeted? 

I am writing to confirm that we have now completed the search for the information which you requested.   

I can confirm that FCDO Services does hold information relevant to your request, as set out below. 

1) Search criteria: C2, Technical assurance in all categories where suppliers are prepared to make sure their staff have Developed Vetting (DV).    

2) The service deliverables include but are not limited to: 

• Setting of the Security Assurance Strategy and Approaches;  

• Leadership of the security aspects of Secure by Design assurance; 

• Organisation and Leadership of Security Working Groups;  

• Engagement with and Contribution to Technical Working Groups;  

• Contribution to and Assurance of Design Risk Management Processes; 

• Contribution to and Assurance of an Integrated Test and Assurance Strategy; 

• Assurance of Solution and Design Artefacts; 

• Assurance of Architecture Products. 

3) No records held. The contract was issued for a service delivery. Therefore, FCDO Services would have no visibility on the resource used to deliver the service. 

4) The contract was issued for a service delivery as is not around resource / role requirements.  Service is delivered by parties against the following functions: Technical Lead, Senior Governance, Technical Security, Security & Accreditation, Design, Assurance, Test Support, Business Analyst / Requirements Engineer, Architecture Assurance. 

5) The search criteria identified 5 potential suppliers who were invited. 

6) No. 

7) No – all extension options have been applied. 

8) No further decisions have been made regarding this contract. 

Once an FOI request is answered, it is considered to be in the public domain.  To promote transparency, FCDO Services may now publish the response and any material released on GOV.UK in the FOI releases section.  All personal information in the letter will be removed before publishing.  

Where copies of information have been supplied to you they will continue to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.  You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting.  Any other re-use, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder.  Most documents supplied by the FCDO will have been produced by government officials and will be protected by Crown Copyright.  To re-use Crown Copyright documents please consult the Open Government Licence v3 on the National Archives website. 

Information you receive which is not subject to Crown Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. You must ensure that you gain their permission before reproducing any third party (non-Crown Copyright) information. 

If you would like to request a review of our decision, you should write to the Data Protection Officer (DPO), Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) Team, FCDO Services, Hanslope Park, Milton Keynes, England, MK19 7BH (e-mail: FCDOServices.DataProtectionOfficer@fcdo.gov.uk).  Please note you have 40 working days to do so from the date of this letter. Please quote the reference number above in any future communications. 

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may then apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.  Generally, the Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the FCDO. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, or online at: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/  

Yours sincerely, 

FOI Officer 

Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) Team 

FCDO Services