 ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS GREG ABBOTT | |
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July 24, 2012 Ms. Michelle T. Rangel Assistant County Attorney County of Fort Bend 301 Jackson Street, Suite 728 Richmond, Texas 77469 OR2012-11461 Dear Ms. Rangel: 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# 459858. The Fort Bend County Purchasing Department (the "county") received a request for evaluation materials, including pricing information, used by the county to award the bid for RFP 12-026 to the requestor's company. Although you take no position on the public availability of the submitted information, you state release of the information at issue may implicate the interests of third parties. (1) Accordingly, you notified the interested third parties of the request for information and their right to submit arguments to this office as to why the submitted 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. 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 requested information relating to that party should be withheld from disclosure. See Gov't Code § 552.305(d)(2)(B). As of the date of this letter, the notified third parties have not submitted any comments to this office explaining how release of the submitted information would affect their proprietary interests. Accordingly, the county may not withhold any of the submitted information on the basis of the proprietary interests of the notified third parties. See id. § 552.110; Open Records Decision Nos. 661 at 5-6 (1999) (stating business enterprise claiming exception for commercial or financial information under section 552.110(b) must show by specific factual evidence release of requested information would cause that party substantial competitive harm), 552 at 5 (1990) (party must establish prima facie case information is trade secret). As no exceptions to disclosure are raised, the county must release the submitted information to the requestor. 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, Ana Carolina Vieira Assistant Attorney General Open Records Division ACV/som Ref: ID# 459858 Enc. Submitted documents c: Requestor (w/o enclosures) Mr. Mark Wright ADA Resources 6603 Kirbyville Houston, Texas 77033 (w/o enclosures) Mr. Patrick Barnecut Southern Counties Oil 1800 West Katella, Suite 400 Orange, California 92867 (w/o enclosures) Ms. Riti Madugula Four Sisters Petroleum 2900 North Quinlan Park Drive, Suite B240 Austin, Texas 78732 (w/o enclosures) Mr. Rick Enright RKA Petroleum Companies 28340 Wick Road Romulus, Michigan 48174 (w/o enclosures) Ms. Gail Workman Susser Petroleum Company, LLC 555 East Airtex Dr. Houston, Texas 77073 (w/o enclosures) Mr. Steven Boyd Sun Coast Resources, Inc. 6922 Cavalcade Houston, Texas 77028 (w/o enclosures) Mr. Jeff Thomas TAC Energy 100 Crescent Court, Ste. 1600 Dallas, Texas 75201 (w/o enclosures) Ms. Linda Stephens Petroleum Traders 7120 Pointe Inverness Way Fort Wayne, Indiana 46804 (w/o enclosures) Mr. Nick Divirgilio J.A.M. Distributing Company 7010 Mykawa Road Houston, Texas 77033 (w/o enclosures) Mr. David Zarfoss Mansfield Oil Company 1025 Airport Parkway Southwest Gainesville, Georgia 30501 (w/o enclosures) Mr. Crayton Nelson Pumpelly Oil Company 16450 Lee Road Humble, Texas 77396 (w/o enclosures) Mr. JJ Rodriguez Gold Star Petroleum, Inc. P.O. Box 11151 Spring, Texas 77391-1151 (w/o enclosures)
1. The third parties are: ADA Resources, Inc.; Atlas Oil Company; Four Sisters Petroleum, L.L.C.; Gold
Star Petroleum, Inc.; J.A.M. Distributing Company; Mansfield Oil Company; Petroleum Traders Corporation;
Pumpelly Oil Company; RKA Petroleum Companies, Inc.; Southern Counties Oil; Sun Coast Resources, Inc.;
Susser Petroleum Compnay, L.L.C.; and TAC Energy.
POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US |