Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2014, I wish to request access to the following: 1. Copies of any correspondence (emails, letters, memos, etc) dating from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2012 between the then Department of Finance secondary secretary general Donal McNally and the then Department of Defence secretary general Michael Howard relating to the awarding of the contract to Babcock Marine for the purchase of vessels for the Irish Naval Service. 2. Copies of any records dating between January 1, 2009 and May 1, 2018 showing the cost of the contracts awarded to Babcock Marine for the purchase of vessels for the Irish Naval Service and details of the tenders submitted by unsuccessful bidders. In relation to the second category, to avoid issues of commercial sensitivity, the department does not need to identify the unsuccessful bidders, only the amounts they bid for the contracts. If the records are voluminous and could lead to prohibitive costs being imposed on this FOI Act request, perhaps the department could provide the amounts for the successful and unsuccessful bids in the case of each contract awarded to Babcock and not the records, though my preference would be to obtain copies of records.