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RTK. Learning Outcomes: You should understand how the Right to Know Law may subject your work product to public scrutiny You should be able to provide basic guidance to proposers and bidders about what documents are public
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RTK Learning Outcomes: • You should understand how the Right to Know Law may subject your work product to public scrutiny • You should be able to provide basic guidance to proposers and bidders about what documents are public • You should have a basic understanding of the posting requirements contained in Chapter 17 of the law.
1. Understand how the Right to Know Law affects your work. • As a public employee, every document you create has the potential to be a public record, including any emails you send or receive. • Generally, emails or documents created internally for your supervisor will be protected from public disclosure under the deliberative process privilege. • Emails or documents sent to vendors will not be protected, and you should be aware that any such communication may potentially be released to the public if requested.
2. Be able to provide basic guidance to a proposer or bidder about what documents are public. • You should assume that most vendors are not aware about the public disclosure requirements that the Commonwealth is subject to under the Right to Know Law • Many vendors believe that if they stamp the word “confidential” on a document, it will not be released to the public. They are wrong • In order for a document submitted by a contractor to be exempt from public disclosure, it must fall under an enumerated exception.
Some of the major exceptions that you should be able to convey to vendors are: • Financial information submitted to demonstrate a bidder or offeror’s economic capability is explicitly protected from public disclosure • Information which if released could cause serious harm to the public is also protected from public disclosure • Trade secrets and confidential proprietary information may be protected from public disclosure if certain steps are followed (this will be dealt with in the next slide) • Depending on the type of contracts you handle, other information may be protected from public disclosure. You should check with your Agency’s Open Records Officer (AORO) if you have any questions.
Trade Secrets and Confidential Proprietary Information • It is vital that you be able to explain to a contractor how to handle the submission of trade secrets and confidential proprietary information • When a vendor submits a record that it considers to be proprietary, it must submit a signed statement stating that record contains confidential information or a trade secret • The statement should be specific and should provide a sufficient explanation of why the information is considered confidential or a trade secret • It is not sufficient for the vendor to simply claim their entire submission is confidential without justification • You should consult your Agency’s AORO or legal counsel for further guidance if needed.
