Super Pan Developer Choice Due Shortly

Before Friday 12th March, the next stage in the development of ‘Super Pan Development,’ will take place.

Super Pan Developer Choice Due ShortlyCllr Peter Bingham and Cllr Dawn Cousins will either select the development partner between a choice of two organisations, or halt the scheme.

Clearly getting a huge project like this moving is not a simple task and many stages have been gone through already, which we’ve abridged below.

There’s a need for the decision to be made quickly as the contract has to be signed and work started on the site before the end of March 2010. Failure to meet this would lead to the loss of £11.1M to the project from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) Kickstart programme.

To make sure this doesn’t happen, the decision is being made under a delegated powers (PDF) and unusually the papers have been marked, “Owing to the urgency of this Decision, Call In has been dis-applied.”

What’s a Call In?
Call In allows councillors to ask the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to look at decisions made under delegated powers, described by the IWC as “a safety net in the event of unexpectedly controversial decisions.” (ref)

Following a briefing, the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Local Ward Member for Newport East commented that, “There is a clear need for an urgent decision and disapplication of the Call In procedure of this report.”

Details to remain confidential
The details of who the bidders are and what is the make up of their bids won’t be made public as they are confidential and exempt by virtue of Paragraph 3 of Part I of Section 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 because they “relate to financial or business affairs of any particular person.”

The bits you won’t know
The Budget Implications – how much money will be flowing in or out of the council S123 Recommendation Report – details of how the council will be selling off its land.

Scoring for Best and Final Offers – although we do know the outcomes …

  • Bidder A scored an aggregate of 65.10 for their qualitative submission and 73.02 on their financial submission making an overall score of 69.06.
  • Bidder B scored an aggregate of 62.78 for their qualitative submission and 65.45 on their financial submission making an overall score of 64.12.

Super Pan: Recent stages
Back in December 2009, planning permission was given.

Five potential development partners passed through the “Pre Qualifying Questionnaires. These were analysed, leading to four companies going though to the next stage.

Judging was on three criteria

  • Their financial offer to the Isle of Wight Council
  • Their ability to enter into a development agreement that ensures a start on site by March 2010
  • Their development proposals and how they intend to ensure delivery and meet the technical and quality areas of their submission.

The four bidders submitted their bid by 18th December 2009. One bidder was lost as they did not meet the requirements.

Another developer removed themselves from the process due to their inability to provide the Partners with a Parent Company Guarantee.

The two developers were then invited to submit their Best and Final Offers (BAFO) by 12th February 2010.

Image: jdanvers under CC BY 2.0