Freedom of Information Act 2000 reference number RFI

Transcription

1 P. Norris By to: 02 November 2011 Dear P. Norris Freedom of Information Act 2000 reference number RFI Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act ( the Act ) of 5 October 2011 seeking: details on the purchase of Apple products by the BBC for the use of staff between September 2009 and September Specifically IPHONEs, IPADs, and MACs. 1) Provide a breakdown showing the quantity of each device purchased during each of the 24 months. 2) Reason why the Apple products were purchased as oppose to the cheaper alternatives available that provide the same functionality. 3) Details of any supply or discount agreements with Apple. 1) Breakdown showing the quantity of each device purchased during each of the 24 months Table 1 The BBC regularly trials new and alternative devices to test how they work with our systems and to see how they can help us deliver the best possible services to audiences. The following table shows the number of iphones, ipads and Macs acquired by the BBC through its corporate procurement service ( BBC Procurement ). Any request to purchase an ipad must be authorised by the appropriate Head of Technology or Finance Partner for the respective BBC Division.

2 Year month ipad iphone Mac Grand Total 2009 September October November December January February March April May June July August September October November December January February March April May June July August September Grand Total Table 2 The following table shows the number of Apple Macs and iphones provided to the BBC by Siemens/Atos under the Technology Framework Contract during each month between September 2009 and September Apple ipads are not approved for general use by BBC staff and are, therefore, not available via the Atos IT commodity portal.

3 Period Apple Macs iphones Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep TOTAL In addition to the above, iphones and ipads may have been purchased locally within BBC Divisions for reasons such as research purposes. In order to locate details of each such purchase, we would have to contact each business area within each Division. We estimate that this would take longer than two and a half days. Under section 12 of the Act, we are allowed to refuse to handle the request if it would exceed the appropriate limit. The appropriate limit has been set by the Regulations (SI 2004/3244) as being 450 (equivalent to two and a half days work, at an hourly rate of 25). 2) Reason why the Apple products were purchased as oppose to the cheaper alternatives available that provide the same functionality. For certain purposes, software programs that are used by the BBC on MACs, such as Final Cut Pro (editing software used during content production), are optimised for the Mac OS X operating system and do not perform well on other platforms For products such as iphones and MACs, the comparable cost, when support costs are taken into account, are generally in line with or lower than alternative products. Apple iphones and MACs are provided to the BBC through the Technology Framework Contract ( TFC ) with Atos, whereby Atos acquires the products for the BBC under sub-contracts with third parties. Information about the TFC can be found at this link:

4 3) Details of any supply or discount agreements with Apple. BBC Procurement has a Major Account Pricing Program with Apple Sales International which enables the BBC to obtain discount through Nominated Apple Resellers. The level of discount applied to BBC purchases varies across the different products. As explained above, Apple products supplied under the TFC are acquired by Atos under subcontracts with third parties. We hope you find this information useful. Appeal Rights If you are not satisfied with this response you have the right to an internal review by a BBC senior manager or legal adviser. Please contact us at the address above, explaining what you would like us to review and including your reference number. If you are not satisfied with the internal review, you can appeal to the Information Commissioner. The contact details are: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, telephone or see Yours sincerely Kate Leece Head of Legal and Business Affairs Future Media and Technology Divisions

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