October 31, 2008

Ms. Helen Bright

Office of General Counsel

University of Texas System

201 East Seventh Street

Austin, Texas 78701-2902

OR2008-14897

Dear Ms. Bright:

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# 326559.

The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (the "university") received a request for the current contract for help desk services that are being provided to the university and "a copy of the winning RFP that determined Atos Origin would be awarded this contract." Although you take no position as to the release of the information responsive to this request, you indicate that its release may implicate the proprietary interests of a third party. Accordingly, you have notified Atos Origin ("Atos") of the request and of its right to submit arguments to this office as to why the submitted information 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 disclosure under the Act in certain circumstances. We have reviewed the submitted information.

Initially, we note that you have not submitted information pertaining to the "winning RFP" that determined that Atos Origin would be awarded the contract. To the extent this information existed on the date the university received this request, we assume you have released it. If not, then you must release it at this time. See Gov't Code §§ 552.301(a), .302 see also Open Records Decision No. 664 (2000) (if governmental body concludes that no exceptions apply to requested information, it must release information as soon as possible).

Next, we note that some of the submitted information, which we have marked, is not responsive to the present request for information. This ruling does not address the public availability fo any information that is not responsive to the request, and the university need not release this information in response to this request.

We note that an interested third party is allowed ten business days after the date of its receipt of the governmental body's notice under section 552.305(d) to submit its reasons, if any, as to why information relating to that party should be withheld from public disclosure. See Gov't Code § 552.305(d)(2)(B). As of the date of this letter, we have not received any arguments from Atos Origin for withholding any of the submitted information. Therefore, we have no basis to conclude that the release of any of the submitted information would harm the proprietary interests of Atos Origin. See id. § 551.110(b); Open Records Decision Nos. 661 at 5-6 (1999) (stating that business enterprise that claims exception for commercial or financial information under section 552.110(b) must show by specific factual evidence that release of requested information would cause that party substantial competitive harm), 552 at 5 (1990) (party must establish prima facie case that information is trade secret). Accordingly, we conclude that the university may not withhold any portion of the submitted information on the basis of any proprietary interest that Atos Origin may have in it. As no other exception to disclosure of this information is raised, it must be released to the requestor.

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). If the governmental body does not file suit over 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,

Jonathan Miles

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JM/jh

Ref: ID# 326559

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Mr. Steve Higgason

545 East John Carpenter Freeway #610

Irving, Texas 75062

(w/o enclosures)

Mr. Greg Finn

Atos Origin Services, Inc.

5599 San Felipe, Suite #300

Houston, Texas77056-2720

(w/o enclosures)

POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US
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