The following wording is suggested for inclusion in your Letter of Invitation. Depending on your normal style you may wish to insert the name of your institution or simply use a generic term such as Institution or University.
“[Name of Institution] is committed to meeting its responsibilities under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Accordingly, all information submitted to the [Name of Institution] may need to be disclosed and/or published. If you consider that any of the information included in your tender would give rise to an actionable breach of confidence and/or would prejudice your commercial interests, and/or constitute trade secrets (“commercially sensitive”) please identify it and explain (in broad terms) what harm might result from the disclosure and/or publication. You should be aware that, even where you have indicated that information is commercially sensitive, we may be required to disclose and/or publish it, whether or not your tender is accepted. We may also require to disclose and/or to publish details of unsuccessful tenders.
Whilst information of a sensitive nature in unsuccessful tenders, (e.g. pricing and daily rates) will not normally be disclosed and/or published, in certain circumstances we may be required to disclose and/or publish such sensitive information where the public interest in its disclosure and/or publication outweighs the public interest in keeping such information confidential.”