Canadian privacy & access decisions

The complainant alleged that Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) improperly withheld information under several sections of the Access to Information Act related to a Request for Proposals (RFP). The OIC found that ECCC failed to properly exercise its discretion under subsection 19(2) regarding publicly available personal information and did not seek consent from individuals where appropriate. While ECCC's application of paragraph 21(1)(a) for evaluators' comments was upheld due to the specialized field and small number of competitors, the Commissioner found that certain financial and commercial information withheld under paragraphs 20(1)(b) and 20(1)(c) did not meet the exemption criteria, particularly where information was publicly available or absolute confidentiality was unreasonable for public funds. The complaint was found to be well founded, and ECCC agreed to implement the Commissioner's recommendations to disclose the identified information.

• Whether s.19(1) personal information exemption was properly applied
• Whether ECCC reasonably exercised discretion under s.19(2) for publicly available personal information
• Whether s.21(1)(a) advice or recommendations exemption was properly applied to evaluators' comments
• Whether ECCC reasonably exercised discretion under s.21(1)(a)
• Whether s.21(1)(b) accounts of consultations or deliberations exemption was properly applied
• Whether s.20(1)(c) financial impact on a third party exemption was properly applied to evaluators' comments
• Whether s.20(1)(c) financial impact on a third party exemption was properly applied to the lowest bid amount and per diem rate
• Whether s.20(1)(c) financial impact on a third party exemption was properly applied to the Response to the RFP
• Whether s.20(1)(b) confidential third-party financial, commercial, scientific or technical information exemption was properly applied to the lowest bid amount and per diem rate
• Whether s.20(1)(b) confidential third-party financial, commercial, scientific or technical information exemption was properly applied to the Response to the RFP
• Whether the information met the confidentiality criteria under s.20(1)(b)