July 11, 2001

Mr. Kuruvilla Oommen
Assistant City Attorney
City of Houston - Legal Department
P.O. Box 1562
Houston, Texas 77251-1562

OR2001-2986

Dear Mr. Oommen:

You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 149244.

The City of Houston (the "city") received a written request for the proposals of Casco Industries, Incorporated and Morning Pride Manufacturing, L.L.C., which were submitted to the city in connection with an RFP for firefighter personal protective equipment. You do not contend that the requested information is excepted from public disclosure, but rather have sought a decision from this office pursuant to section 552.305 of the Government Code, which allows governmental bodies to rely on third parties having a privacy or property interest in the information to submit their own arguments as to why the requested information is excepted from public disclosure.

This office did not receive any comments from either of the two companies whose records are at issue indicating that they wished to have their respective records withheld from the public. Consequently, this office has no basis on which to conclude that any of the information at issue is excepted from required public disclosure under the Public Information Act. Accordingly, we conclude that the city must release the requested information in its entirety.

This letter ruling is limited to the particular records at issue in this request and limited to the facts as presented to us; therefore, this ruling must not be relied upon as a previous determination regarding any other records or any other circumstances.

This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For example, governmental bodies are prohibited from asking the attorney general to reconsider this ruling. Gov't Code § 552.301(f). If the governmental body wants to challenge this ruling, the governmental body must appeal by filing suit in Travis County within 30 calendar days. Id. § 552.324(b). In order to get the full benefit of such an appeal, the governmental body must file suit within 10 calendar days. Id. § 552.353(b)(3), (c). If the governmental body does not appeal this ruling and the governmental body does not comply with it, then both the requestor and the attorney general have the right to file suit against the governmental body to enforce this ruling. Id. § 552.321(a).

If this ruling requires the governmental body to release all or part of the requested information, the governmental body is responsible for taking the next step. Based on the statute, the attorney general expects that, within 10 calendar days of this ruling, the governmental body will do one of the following three things: 1) release the public records; 2) notify the requestor of the exact day, time, and place that copies of the records will be provided or that the records can be inspected; or 3) notify the requestor of the governmental body's intent to challenge this letter ruling in court. If the governmental body fails to do one of these three things within 10 calendar days of this ruling, then the requestor should report that failure to the attorney general's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at 877/673-6839. The requestor may also file a complaint with the district or county attorney. Id. § 552.3215(e).

If this ruling requires or permits the governmental body to withhold all or some of the requested information, the requestor can appeal that decision by suing the governmental body. Id. § 552.321(a); Texas Department of Public Safety v. Gilbreath, 842 S.W.2d 408,411 (Tex. App.--Austin 1992, no writ).

Please remember that under the Act the release of information triggers certain procedures for costs and charges to the requestor. If records are released in compliance with this ruling, be sure that all charges for the information are at or below the legal amounts. Questions or complaints about over-charging must be directed to Hadassah Schloss at the General Services Commission at 512/475-2497.

If the governmental body, the requestor, or any other person has questions or comments about this ruling, they may contact our office. Although there is no statutory deadline for contacting us, the attorney general prefers to receive any comments within 10 calendar days of the date of this ruling.

Sincerely,

Karen A. Eckerle
Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Division
KAE/RWP/seg
Ref: ID# 149244
Enc. Submitted documents

c: Mr. Cliff Gallarneau
Lion Apparel
P.O. Box 13576
Dayton, Ohio 45413-0576
(w/o enclosures)

Mr. William L. Grilliot
Total Fire Group
Morning Pride Manufacturing, L.L.C.
P.O. Box 14616
Dayton, Ohio 45413-0616
(w/o enclosures)

Mr. Bob Yancy
Casco Industries, Inc.
1014 Ann Street
Pasadena, Texas 77506
(w/o enclosures)

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