/ Abercrombie House, Eaglesham Road
East Kilbride, Glasgow G75 8EA
Tel:
Email: / 01355 84 3699
13 March 2012
Dear Mr Goode,
Freedom of Information Request F2012-060
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request dated 14 February 2012. You asked for the following information:
“Please advise the spend for each calendar year on the American Express Lodge Cards.
Please also provide details of the competitive tender process that was undertaken and a copy of the successful bid by American Express.
Please also advise details of any financial bonuses offered at initiation of the contract and the start and end dates of the contract.
Please also advise of the annual spend for each calendar year for all of the corporate and purchasing card programmes delivered by RBS”
DFID holds some information relevant to your request.
DFID’s spending on the American Express Lodge Card programme, by calendar year is as follows:
July 2009 to December 2009£3,527,066
January 2010 to December 2010£6,975,859
January 2011 to December 2011£5,515,432
DFID appointed American Express under the Office of Government Commerce (now Government Procurement Service) Framework Agreement. DFID does not hold a copy of the American Express bid.
DFID does not hold any information on financial bonuses offered under this Framework Agreement. The Framework Agreement runs from July 2009 to January 2013.
DFID’s current purchasing card arrangement with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) commenced in April 2010. Annual spend figures since then are as follows:
April 2010 to December 2010 £1,404,763
January 2011 to December 2011£919,023
You might also like to know that, in line with the Government’s Transparency Agenda, DFID is publishing information on all Government Procurement Card (GPC) transactions made in the United Kingdom above £500 from April 2011. Information for the period April 2011 to January 2012 is available in the following link. We will continue to publish information on a monthly basis.
If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me, quoting reference F2012-060.
If you are unhappy with the service we have provided and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision, you should write to the Openness Unit at the address shown above or email within two months of the date of this letter.
If you do make a complaint and are not content with the outcome, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted DFID’s complaints procedure. You can contact the Information Commissioner at the following address:
The Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
The Constitution Unit of University College London is studying the use of Freedom of Information requests as a research method. If you are an academic or student (undergraduate and above) and have used FOI requests for scholarly work, the Constitution Unit would like to invite you to share your experiences to help other academics make the best use of FOI possible. Please fill out their short online survey, by visiting
The Constitution Unit is also conducting interviews with academics about their FOI use. Please email if you would be interested in participating. For more information about the Constitution Unit, please visit
Yours sincerely
John McGinn
Openness Unit