March 26, 2012

Ms. Ashley R. Allen

Staff Attorney

Administrative Law Section

Texas General Land Office

P.O. Box 12873

Austin, Texas 78711-2873

OR2012-04418

Dear Ms. Allen:

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# 448585.

The Texas General Land Office (the "GLO") received two requests for bid tabulations and low bidders for the Village of Surfside Beach Dune Development. You claim the requested information "may implicate the protected privacy/proprietary interests of the bidders[,]" but take no position on whether the requested information is excepted from disclosure under the Act. ⁽¹⁾

Initially, we must address the GLO's obligations under section 552.301 of the Government Code, which prescribes the procedures that a governmental body must follow in asking this office to decide whether requested information is excepted from public disclosure. Pursuant to section 552.301(e)(1)(D), a governmental body must submit to this office within fifteen business days of receiving an open records request a copy of the specific information requested or representative samples, labeled to indicate which exceptions apply to which parts of the documents. You inform us the GLO received the first request for the information at issue on December 29, 2011. However, as of the date of this letter, you have not submitted a copy or representative samples of the specific information requested. Thus, the GLO failed to comply with the procedural requirements mandated by section 552.301.

Pursuant to section 552.302 of the Government Code, a governmental body's failure to comply with the procedural requirements of section 552.301 results in the legal presumption that the requested information is public and must be released unless the governmental body demonstrates a compelling reason to withhold the information from disclosure. See id. § 552.302; Simmons v. Kuzmich, 166 S.W.3d 342, 350 (Tex. App.--Fort Worth 2005, no pet.); Hancock v. State Bd. of Ins., 797 S.W.2d 379, 381 (Tex. App.--Austin 1990, no writ); see also Open Records Decision No. 630 (1994). You do not assert the requested information is excepted from disclosure under the Act. Thus, we have no choice but to order you to release the responsive information in accordance with section 552.302 of the Government Code.

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,

James L. Coggeshall

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JLC/ag

Ref: ID# 448585

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. We note we have not received correspondence from any interested third objecting to the release of the requested information. See Gov't Code § 552.305(d)(2)(B).

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