City of Austin Law Department ‘City Hall 301 West 2d Suet, P.O. Box 1088 Ati, Tease TET 828 (in) o7az268 Writer's Direct Line Writer's Fax Line (512) 974-2154 (512) 974.2388 November 3,2017 VIA FIRS Honorable Ken Paxton Attomey General ‘Open Records Division P.O. Box 12548 ‘Austin, Texas 78711 2548 Re: Public Information Request received October 20, 2017, from Bob Sechler, Adam Cahn, and ichacl King (PIR#S 37746, 37758, and 37768) Dear Attorney General Paxton, ‘The City of Austin (the “City”)reesived the above-referenced public information requests. The City has made a good-futh effort to relate the requests to information in its custody. The City has released some information. The City believes the information at issue is excepted from requited public «disclosure under section 552.104 of the Goverment Code. This eter isu request fora determination under section 552.301 of the Government Code that the information at issue is so excepted. A copy ‘of the request and a representative sample ofthe information at issue are enclosed. By copy ofthis letter the City is notifying the requestors that it has asked for a decision from the Office of the ‘Attomey General Section $52.104(a) of the Government Code excepts from disclosure “information that, released, ‘would give advantage to a competitor or bidder.” Gov't Code § 552.108(a). The “test under section 52.104is whether knowing another bidder’s [or competitor's information] would bean advantage, not whether it would bea decisive advantage.” Boeing Co. v. Paxton, 466S.W.3d 831 (Tex. 2015), Amazon.com, In. (“Amazon”), is anintemational e-commerce and coud computing company based jn Seattle, Washington. Amazon has announced its intentions to open a second headquarters somewhere in North America, expecting W invest more than $5 billion in construction and hire as ‘many as 50,000 employees. thas initiated a competitive process to choose alocaion and has invited interested localities to submit proposals as a way to bid on that development projec. The City has joined with other governmental entities in the Central Texas region to submit a proposal to Amazon, through the Austin Chamber of Commerce (the “Chamber"). The City has a contractual agreement with the Chamber to provide such services related to economic development. The City and itspariners are competing with 237 other regions in North America. Other metropolitan areas considered to be in the competition are Salt Lake City, Portland, Ore; Philadelphia; Boston; and Alana. The information at issue directly relates to the bid submitted by the City through the Chamber as par of this competitive process. Disclosing this information would harm the City's ability to compete against other regions by revealing its strategy and proposal. Such information in the hands of other competitors would allow them to adjust their proposals in response to what the City has proposed. Accordingly, the City may withhold the information at issue under tection 552.104 of the Goverment Code, {If you have any questions concerning this matter, you may contact me at (512) 974-2154 Sinegely, Neal Falgoust Assistant City Attomey Enelosure ce: (without enclosures) Bob Sechler ‘Austin American-Statesman 305 South Congress Avenue ‘Austin, Texas 78704 ‘Adam Cahn Michael King ‘The Austin Chronicle P.O. Box 4189 ‘Austin, Texas 78765