New Zealand Fire Service
National Headquarters
Level 12
80 The Terrace
PO Box 2133
Wellington
New Zealand
Phone+64 4 496 3600, Fax +64 4 496 3700
22 February 2017
A J
By email: [FYI request #5298 email]
Dear A J
OFFICIAL INFORMATION REQUESTS RELATED TO MYFIRE
Background
In your correspondence of 28 - 30 January 2017, you requested a range of information from
the New Zealand Fire Service Commission (‘
NZFS’) pursuant to the Official Information Act
1982 (‘
OIA’).
Namely, your requests were as follow:
1
If this request is to be denied via the reason that the software is in fact a trade secret of the
supplier; I would expect to see the section of the original contract (or the contract in its
entirety) that states that the IP and software still belongs to the supplier and not the NZ
Fire Service Commission.
2
I’m unsure how the old supplier’s trade secrets could be protected from every potential
future competitors / supplier (given the new supplier would be working with the old source
code) and Guidance in this area would be appreciated as to how exactly the New Zealand
Fire Service Commission believes the trade secrets of suppliers will be protected into the
future.
3
What unit test framework and language(s) are used for the development of the myFire
mobile app?
4
Who has the rights over the myFire source code? Specifically, the right to make this
information public? If it is the developer, please provide the developers details. If it is the
NZ Fire Commission, please revisit the OIA request which was declined as releasing trade
secrets. If the developer has rights over the source code, does this mean the developer is
also able to withdraw the source code from the fire service to protect his/her trade secrets
from their competition had the latest tender been won by a different supplier? Is the
expenditure on the myFire app therefore considered a donation, as the NZ Fire
Commission does not actually have rights over what was paid for? If this was a donation,
is the developer a registered charity?
5
How many submissions were made for the latest myFire tender (Nov/Dec 2016 period)?
www.fire.org.nz
Leading integrated fire and emergency services for a safer New Zealand │Te Manatū o ngā ratonga ohotata kia haumaru
ake ai a Aotearoa
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The purpose of this letter is to respond to OIA Request [1], and update you on NZFS’s
progress in respect of OIA Requests [2] – [5].
OIA Request [1]
Intellectual property and trade secrets
In OIA Request [1], you asked:
If this request is to be denied via the reason that the software is in fact a trade
secret of the supplier; I would expect to see the section of the original contract
(or the contract in its entirety) that states that the IP and software still belongs
to the supplier and not the NZ Fire Service Commission.
NZFS commissioned and owns the myFire Source Code (with the exception of certain
intellectual property, incorporated into myFire, which continues to be owned by the supplier).
Notwithstanding that ownership of the myFire Source Code, NZFS considers that the source
code incorporates trade secrets of the supplier (as earlier set out in my letter of 26 January
2017). NZFS anticipates providing you further information, in connection with that matter, in
the course of responding to OIA Request [4].
Contract governing the supply of the myFire Source Code
The contract between NZFS and the supplier of the myFire Source Code, that governed the
supply of myFire, is the all-of-government
Services Agreement relating to the Supply of
Design Services (the ‘
AoG Agreement’).
The AoG Agreement is prepared by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment
(‘
MBIE’). MBIE negotiated the provisions of the AoG Agreement on behalf of a number of
state sector agencies, and appointed a number of suppliers to a panel that could be engaged
by agencies when required.
As the terms of the AoG Agreement are more closely connected with the functions of MBIE,
than with the functions of NZFS, NZFS has transferred OIA Request [1] to MBIE in
accordance with subsection 14(b)(ii) of the OIA.
MBIE has been notified of this transfer, and is required to respond to OIA Request [1] within
no more than 20 working days from the date it receives it. For your convenience, I note that
MBIE can be contacted at
[email address] or
PO Box 1473, Wellington 6140.
OIA Requests [2] – [5]
NZFS is presently collating the information required to respond to OIA Requests [2] – [5],
and looks forward to providing that information to you in due course.
Yours sincerely
Leigh Deuchars
Director, Office of the Chief Executive
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