Tēnā koutou,

The 2017 Briefing to Incoming Minister has been released under the Official Information Act and made publicly available at this URL: https://www.beehive.govt.nz/sites/defaul...

It is a text-based PDF, with "Released under the Official Information Act 1982" watermarked on each page, and some information has been withheld.

Many responses to OIA requests from various agencies come in the form of image-based PDFs, which are inaccessible and often require manual transcription or the use of automated software for them to be useful.

I believe it would be in the public interest for these agencies to use the same process as the Ministry of Defence used in creating this redacted and watermarked BIM document. I'd like to request information about it, so I can suggest to other agencies that they might use it.

Please release the following information:

1. The name of the software used to create the PDF of the 2017 BIM released under the OIA at the aforementioned URL
2. A list of all costs associated with using this software

For part 2 of my request, my intent is to get an impression of what the costs would likely be for other agencies to also use this software. I anticipate that this might involve purchasing a licence for its use, for example, but do not need a specific breakdown of costs that would not apply to another agency using this software to respond to requests for official information.

I would be happy to receive separate responses to parts 1 and 2 of my request, if necessary, as I expect it will be much easier to retrieve the name of the software than the list of costs.

If any part of my request is unclear, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Ngā mihi,
Mark Hanna