January 25, 2011

Ms. Zeena Angadicheril

Office of General Counsel

The University of Texas System

201 West Seventh Street

Austin, Texas 78701

OR2011-01230

Dear Ms. Angadicheril:

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# 407217 (OGC# 134149).

The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (the "university") received a request for the bids and current contract award ending on December 31, 2010 for maintenance services at the Ferry Road Apartments. You state you will withhold security numbers pursuant to section 552.147 of the Government Code. ⁽¹⁾ In addition, you state you will withhold insurance policy numbers under section 552.136 of the Government Code pursuant the previous determination issued in Open Records Decision No. 684 (2009). ⁽²⁾ Although you take no position on whether the requested information is excepted from disclosure, you state release of this information may implicate the proprietary interests of David's Island. Accordingly, you have notified David's Island of the request and of its right to submit arguments to this office as to why its information should not be released. See Gov't Code § 552.305(d) (permitting interested third party to submit to attorney general reasons why requested information should not be released); Open Records Decision No. 542 (1990) (statutory predecessor to section 552.305 permitted governmental body to rely on interested third party to raise and explain applicability of exception to disclosure under certain circumstances). We have reviewed the submitted information.

We note that an interested third party is allowed ten business days after the date of its receipt of the governmental body's notice to submit its reasons, if any, as to why information relating to that party should not be released. See Gov't Code § 552.305(d)(2)(B). As of the date of this decision, we have not received correspondence from David's Island. Thus, David's Island has not demonstrated that it has a protected proprietary interest in any of the submitted information. See id. § 552.110(a)-(b); Open Records Decision Nos. 661 at 5-6 (1999) (to prevent disclosure of commercial or financial information, party must show by specific factual evidence, not conclusory or generalized allegations, 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), 542 at 3. Accordingly, the university may not withhold the submitted information on the basis of any proprietary interests David's Island may have in the information. As no exceptions to disclosure have been raised, the submitted information must be released.

This letter ruling is limited to the particular information 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 information or any other circumstances.

This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For more information concerning those rights and responsibilities, please visit our website at http://www.oag.state.tx.us/open/index_orl.php, or call the Office of the Attorney General's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at (877) 673-6839. Questions concerning the allowable charges for providing public information under the Act must be directed to the Cost Rules Administrator of the Office of the Attorney General, toll free at (888) 672-6787.

Sincerely,

Vanessa Burgess

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

VB/dls

Ref: ID# 407217

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Mr. David L. Rambin

David's Island

P.O. Box 269

Galveston, Texas 77553

(Third party w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Section 552.147(b) authorizes a governmental body to redact a living person's social security number from public release without the necessity of requesting a decision from this office under the Act.

2. We note that, in Open Records Decision No. 684, this office issued a previous determination to all governmental bodies authorizing them to withhold ten categories of information, including insurance policy numbers under section 552.136 of the Government Code, without the necessity of requesting an attorney general decision.

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