WELLINGTON
The Customhouse, 1 Hinemoa Street, Wellington
PO Box 2218, Wel ington 6140
Phone: 04 901 4500 4555 Al general enquiries phone: 0800 428 786
Email: [email address] Website: www.customs.govt.nz
22 May 2024
Ref: OTH 24-028
Mr Shane Gibson
By email:
[FYI request #22736 email] Tēnā koe Mr Gibson
Request for information under the Official Information Act
Thank you for your email received on 9 May 2023, to New Zealand Customs Service
(Customs), received via the FYI website, requesting the following information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act):
“I would like an extract of the annual amount spent with all suppliers for the 2021/2022
financial year.
I would like this data in an open format, csv or json formats would be suitable.
I would like the following details provided:
- Supplier Name
- Suppliers NZBN number (if available)
- Total Amount Spent
Please provide the GST Exclusive amount spent.”
On 18 January 2024, Customs was invited by the Chief Ombudsman, Peter Boshier to review
Customs response to your request [OIA 23-187 refers] sent on 5 July 2023. Please find below
Customs’ updated response to your request. For ease of reference Customs has divided the
decision on the release of your request into three parts. These decisions are outlined below.
In response to your request outlined above, please find attached a document titled ‘
Appendix
one - amount spent with all suppliers for the 2021/2022 financial year’ which contains the
annual amount spent by Customs with suppliers for the 2021/2022 financial year, including
supplier names we are able to release, New Zealand Business Number (NZBN) (where
available), and the total amount spent (GST exclusive).
The information contained in this document was obtained from a Customs database. While
the information is considered correct at the date it was extracted (20 March 2024), it is
preliminary and may be reviewed or amended as part of year-end financial reporting
procedures.
Please note that the information in the attached document excludes employee expense claims
and payments for Customs MasterCard transactions, as these are not considered direct
‘suppliers’.
Page 1 of 3
Request for names of Customs’ suppliers
In response to your request for the names of Customs’ suppliers, I can advise that Customs
has identified the names of 991 suppliers within scope of your request. Customs has released
the names of the remaining 942 suppliers for the financial year 2021/2022 as requested in the
response document attached.
Customs carries out various law enforcement functions to support our Border Protection
strategy. To do this effectively, we rely on specialised providers, both in New Zealand and
overseas, for training, technology, and services. Customs considers that the release of some
supplier names could harm our relationships with these providers and compromise our ability
to successfully undertake operational and investigative work as part of our border protection
role.
Therefore, Customs has withheld 49 supplier names (as well as the related NZBNs and
expenditure) under the following sections of the Act:
• section 6(a) - where making available the information would be likely to prejudice
New Zealand’s defence, security, or international relations; and
• section 6(c) - where making available the information would be likely to prejudice
the maintenance of the law, including the prevention, investigation, and detection
of offences, and the right to a fair trial.
Request for New Zealand Business Number of suppliers
In response to your request for NZBNs for suppliers, Customs has provided 372 out of 991
NZBNs, where those NZBN’s are available and recorded in our systems.
As outlined above, NZBNs wil not be provided for the 49 suppliers whose names have been
withheld under section 6(a) and 6(c) of the Act. This is due to the sensitive nature of the
information pertaining to these suppliers.
For the remaining 570 NZBNs that are not available and recorded in Customs’ systems,
Customs’ declines to provide them under section 18(f) of the Act – that the information
requested cannot be made available without substantial collation or research. As these
numbers are not stored in Customs’ systems, it would require substantial collation to manually
check and transfer each number from the New Zealand Business Number website.
For the remaining NZBN information of those suppliers released in Customs’ response, we
direct you to access the information on the New Zealand Business Number website at the
following link:
https://www.nzbn.govt.nz/mynzbn/search/ .
Request for value spent with suppliers for the financial year 2021/2022
Customs considers the value spent with each supplier for the financial year 2021/22 may be
considered confidential information based on the relevant contract in place with each supplier.
To ensure confidentiality and to accurately verify the terms of each applicable supplier
confidentiality requirements, Customs would need to review each individual contract. This
process is crucial to prevent any potential contract breaches and to maintain efficient Customs
operations.
Customs has carefully assessed the resources required to identify and review the relevant
confidentiality clauses, as well as to conduct the necessary contractual consultations with
specific suppliers to facilitate the release of the amount spent with each supplier.
Unfortunately, the resources required for this task are too high, and would, if undertaken,
Page 2 of 3
impair the ef icient administration of Customs, in particular our Corporate Services team. We
consider that this portion of your request is subject to section 16(2)(a) of the Act - that Customs
should make the information available in the way preferred by the requestor unless doing so
would impair Customs’ efficient administration. We are therefore unable to provide the value
spent information in the format you have requested it.
Instead, in accordance with section 16(1)(e) of the Act, we have provided an aggregate
summary of the information, specifically the expense range for each relevant supplier in the
relevant time period. This summary information, in our assessment, upholds transparency and
accountability by providing valuable insight into Customs’ spending, while not breaching any
of Customs’ confidentiality obligations to any particular supplier.
Finally, I refer you to the 2021/22 Annual Review of the New Zealand Customs Service
which provides published values spent for specific types of suppliers, namely contractors.
This information is publicly available on the Parliament website at the link below. These
numbers are published as part of Customs normal annual financial reporting and have been
confirmed as non-confidential public information:
https:/ www.parliament.nz/resource/en-
NZ/53SCFD_EVI_127545_FD1710/1488551b2940754cfc1bba707f4e90cdced73872.
Please let us know if you have any further questions
If you have any queries in relation to this response, please contact the Correspondence,
Reviews and Ministerial Servicing team at:
[email address].
You have the right, by way of complaint to the Of ice of the Ombudsman under section 28(3)
of the Act, to seek an investigation and review of this response. Information about how to make
a complaint is available online at
: www.ombudsman.parliament.nz, or you can phone 0800
802 602.
Please note that Customs proactively releases responses to Of icial Information Act requests
on our website. As such, we may publish this response on our website after we have sent it to
you. Your name and contact details wil be removed.
Nā māua noa, nā
Greg Hanlen
Chief Financial Officer
Page 3 of 3
