11 February, 2011

Sport and Recreation New Zealand (SPARC) has received seven tenders to develop a national cycling centre of excellence.

Last year the Government announced plans to work with partners to develop a centre of excellence for cycling, which will include a world-class, indoor velodrome as well as community facilities.

As part of the process, interested parties were asked to submit expressions of interest in participating in the tender, and then on 22 October last year, SPARC released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the cycling centre to the 11 regions which had done this.

Tenders closed at midday today, and SPARC has received a total of seven tenders from Auckland, Waikato/Bay of Plenty, Taupo, Hawke’s Bay, Wanganui, Palmerston North and Christchurch regions.

SPARC chief executive Peter Miskimmin said evaluation of the tenders would begin immediately.

Miskimmin said SPARC had assembled a range of experts who would evaluate technical, commercial and financial aspects of the tenders. Senior personnel from BikeNZ, independent external organisations and SPARC were on the evaluation teams.

Following the evaluation process, a short-list will be drawn up. Those on the short-list will be advised of this in early March. A preferred tenderer will be advised in April. The successful bidder will be announced in early May.

Miskimmin said that because this was a closed tender process, he could not comment on the detail of the tenders.

ENDS

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