 ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS GREG ABBOTT | |
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April 1, 2008 Ms. Sharon Alexander Associate General Counsel Texas Department of Transportation 125 East 11th Street Austin, Texas 78701-2483 OR2008-04264 Dear Ms. Alexander: You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Public Information Act (the "Act"), chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 307662. The Texas Department of Transportation (the "department") received a request for the final proposal and contract for bid number Q44 2007 057345. You state the department will release some of the requested information to the requestor. Although you take no position with respect to the public availability of the remaining requested information, you state that its release may implicate the proprietary interests of a third party, Saber Software, Inc. ("Saber"). Accordingly, you have notified Saber of the request and of the company's right to submit arguments to this office as to why the information at issue should not be released. See Gov't Code § 552.305(d); see also Open Records Decision No. 542 (1990) (determining that statutory predecessor to section 552.305 permits governmental body to rely on interested third party to raise and explain the applicability of exception to disclose under Act in certain circumstances). We have reviewed the submitted information. We note that the requested information was the subject of a previous request for information, in response to which this office issued Open Records Letter No. 2008-01995 (2008). As we have no indication that the law, facts, and circumstances on which the prior ruling was based have changed, the department must continue to rely on that ruling as a previous determination and withhold or release the requested information in accordance with Open Records Letter No. 2008-01995. See Open Records Decision No. 673 (2001) (so long as law, facts, and circumstances on which prior ruling was based have not changed, first type of previous determination exists where requested information is precisely same information as was addressed in prior attorney general ruling, ruling is addressed to same governmental body, and ruling concludes that information is or is not excepted from disclosure). 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 file suit in Travis County within 30 calendar days. Id. § 552.324(b). In order to get the full benefit of such a challenge, 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, upon receiving this ruling, the governmental body will either release the public records promptly pursuant to section 552.221(a) of the Government Code or file a lawsuit challenging this ruling pursuant to section 552.324 of the Government Code. If the governmental body fails to do one of these things, 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 challenge that decision by suing the governmental body. Id. § 552.321(a); Texas Dep't of Pub. 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 Office of the Attorney General 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, Cindy Nettles Assistant Attorney General Open Records Division CN/mcf Ref: ID# 307662 Enc. Submitted documents c: Mr. Robert Natham McWilliams & Associates 1220 Colorado Street, Suite 100 Austin, Texas 78701 (w/o enclosures) Mr. Nitin Khanna Saber Software 1800 Southwest First Avenue, Suite 350 Portland, Oregon 97201 (w/o enclosures)
POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US |