3rd Party Hosting Contracts

WMFS OFFICIAL – NEW – FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST – FOI24091 

Ref: FOI/24091  

RE: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 REQUEST 

I am writing to confirm that the West Midlands Fire Service has now completed its search for the information you requested further to your Freedom of Information request. 

Please find below a summary of our findings. 

Request 

I wish to submit a request to the organisation around their hosting contract(s) with 3^rd party providers. 

You may have received the same request in the past and this information sent has now expired and I require an update as soon as possible for the following. 

The type of contract I wish to see is below: 

1.       Dedicated hosting- Managed environment 

2.       Co-Location- hosting allows a business to still own their own server equipment; however, instead of storing it in their own data centre, they instead are able to store it in rented space in a colocation hosting centre. 

3.       Cloud Hosting- Cloud hosting services provide hosting for websites on virtual servers, which pull their computing resources from extensive underlying networks of physical web servers. 

Not all of these will be applicable to the organisation. 

For the different types of hosting services, can you provide me with the following information: 

1.       Type of hosting – Dedicated, Co-Location, Cloud Hosting, Other? 

2.       Who is the supplier of the contract? If possible can you also provide me with the name of the vendor, if applicable? 

3.       What is the annual contract value for each contract? 

4.       What type of cloud environment? 

Private Cloud– a distinct and secure cloud based environment in which only the specified client can operate.  

Public Cloud – where cloud services are provided in a virtualized environment, constructed using pooled shared physical resources, and accessible over a public network such as the internet. 

Hybrid– integrated cloud service utilising both private and public clouds to perform distinct functions within the same organisation. 

5.       What is the original start date of the contract agreement? If there are more than one contract please provide me with the start date for each contract. 

6.       What is the actual expiry date of the contract agreement? If there are more than one contract please provide me with the expiry date for each contract. 

7.       When will the organisation plan to review this contract? If there are more than one contract please provide me with the review date for each contract. 

8.       What is the contract period in years? Please include whether the agreement has any extension periods? 

9.       What services are provided under the contract? Please do not put hosting information such as web hosting, file storage, hosted application. The more information the better, 

10.   Can you please provide me with the contract officer responsible for this contract? Complete contact details if possible name, title, contact email and number. 

Reply 

The contracts relating to co-location hosting and cloud hosting are exempt under Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 as we do not hold this information, we do not utilise co-location hosting or cloud-hosting.  

We do utilise dedicated hosting however, as a major emergency service provider, you will appreciate that releasing information have wider implications that we must consider.  By this we mean that disclosing this information may prejudice our ability to maintain our own security. We believe that maintaining security and ensuring public safety in a national and local context takes precedence over this request. Therefore, we refuse the request to release contract details under S24 National Security of the Freedom of Information Act. 

We accept that this type of information is of interest to commercial companies and to researchers but believe that it is not in the greater public good to release detailed information on the contract details and suppliers we use for dedicated hosting. 

We can release that the contract end date for our dedicated hosting ends September 2026.  

10. With regards for the contact details of responsible persons, WMFS operates a single point of contact policy and callers are directed via HQ general contacts on 0330 058 9000. The call will be directed to the person with responsibility for the specific service. There is a direct email address for suppliers making sales enquires email: procurement.enquires@wmfs.net. Furthermore, guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office is as follows: 

• The presumption is in favour of protecting privacy, so the release of personal information will only be fair if there is a genuine reason to disclose. This involves a three-stage test. A public authority will generally have to satisfy itself that: 

• There is a legitimate interest in disclosure; 

• The legitimate interest can only be met, or fully met, by the disclosure of information which identifies individuals (i.e. the disclosure is necessary to that purpose); and, the disclosure would not involve unwarranted detriment to the individual’s privacy or other rights and legitimate interests. 

• You can find out more about FOI exemptions from the Information Commissioner’s Office. This will explain which one or more of the FOI exemptions applies, and tell you how to appeal if you disagree with our decision. 

If you have any queries about this Freedom of Information request, please contact us. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.  

For service complaints, issues or comments regarding this request please contact The Public Relations Department, West Midlands Fire Service, 99 Vauxhall Road, Birmingham, B7 4HW 

Further information concerning Freedom of Information requests can be found on the Information Commissioner website at either the following link: https://ico.org.uk/ or at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF.