Dinosaur Isle Soft Market Testing Exercise

Concepts

• dinosaur isle museum
• newport
• historical sites and buildings
• dinosaur isle
• isle of wight council
• soft market testing exercise
• isle of wight
• provision of an accredited dinosaur museum
• development of the existing dinosaur museum
• soft market testing exercises

Location

Isle of Wight:

Description

The Isle of Wight Council (the Council) is seeking feedback and ideas from interested parties in response to the provision of an accredited dinosaur museum to display the collection. The collection will be retained by the Council but will be available to the operator on request. The expectation will be that the proposal will provide a major destination attraction for the Isle of Wight. This may be through development of the existing dinosaur museum (Dinosaur Isle) or alternatively the provision of new facility.

Total Quantity or Scope

Following a Soft Market Testing exercises in October 2017 and Stakeholder Consultation in November 2017, and considering comments and issues raised, the Council decided in May 2018 to seek a Development Partner for the museum through a formal procurement process. Unfortunately, this process has now ended. As a result, we are now launching a new initiative to find a partner or consortia to assist in developing the current Dinosaur Isle Museum in Sandown or locating an alternative venue for the provision of an accredited geological and palaeontological museum and visitor attraction. It is our hope to create a nationally important visitor destination further developing the existing offer as an important regional educational centre and a world-class scientific resource. We see each element of this vision as creating several distinct possible opportunities for experienced specialist investors, developers, suppliers, and operators to work with us to providing an accredited geological and palaeontological museum and visitor attraction. The reprovision of Dinosaur Isle is viewed as a key element of the Island wide Regeneration Strategy and critical to the rejuvenation of the Island. We are spreading the net widely for potential partners to ensure the best potential future for the museum and the island. To achieve this, we will be promoting this opportunity internationally to identify a partner with the track record, expertise, and vision to take forward our aspirations and fulfil the full potential of our collections and their development within a UNESCO Biosphere. As such, we would welcome responses from public sector, private sector and voluntary sector organisations, and consortia. We do not wish to be prescriptive about the details of how a site should be developed and managed in the future but would welcome opportunities of improving the existing site or providing a new site, as we are seeking innovative solutions. As a first step in developing parameters around potential partnerships and selecting the most appropriate way forward we are now seeking feedback on this opportunity from informed and interested parties through this Soft Market Testing Exercise. The council is seeking to engage the market to determine whether a future procurement exercise is viable and to identify options for the future management and operation, to include the feasibility of extending the existing facility to maximise user numbers and engagement or consideration for an alternative venue. It is essential that an interested partner can demonstrate a successful track record in the management and development of similar heritage/cultural facilities. The council is keen to explore the market’s ability and preferences to offer innovative solutions and support the delivery of the following objectives: • Maintain museum accreditation at the current site or develop a new museum to be accredited, with a commitment to continuous improvement. • Support and develop the geological and palaeontological collection in partnership with the Isle of Wight Council for public benefit while enhancing its global profile. • Maintain trusted and positive relationships with local collectors. • Improve the collection’s value and use as a regional educational resource (from Primary to Higher Education) and utilise the museum and local landscape for educational experiences and visits. • Ensure the new Dinosaur museum offer on the Island is financially sustainability operation or is able to move towards financial independence over an agree period of time. • Increase visitor numbers to the Island. The soft market test is intended to allow interested organisations with appropriate experience to outline their views and provide information with no commitment to themselves or the council. It is not part of a formal procurement process and the council is not committed to carrying out such a process. Organisations are asked to answer the questions set out in the document titled ‘Dinosaur Isle Feedback Form’ which can be found on the Council's e-tendering portal, ProContract, and return it to the Council by 14:00hrs on 18 March 2022. The link to the e-tendering portal is https://procontract.due-north.com/ and the reference number to find the opportunity is DN598204. Interested parties will need to log in (or register if you do not already have a log in) and once in, the questionnaire will be available to download. Participation in this exercise will neither benefit or disadvantage any participant in any future related procurement process or similar opportunity. The council reserves the right to alter its plans, including postponing or cancelling the proposed project, following this exercise or at any other time.

CPV Codes

• 92520000 - Museum services and preservation services of historical sites and buildings
• 92500000 - Library, archives, museums and other cultural services

Other Information

** PREVIEW NOTICE, please check Find a Tender for full details. ** Viewings of Dinosaur Isle will be available upon request. Organisation’s must submit their request to have a site visit by no later than 14:00hrs on 21 February 2022. Site visits will take place on either the 23rd, 24th or 25th February 2022. Organisations must indicate their preference of day/time when submitting their request. The request must be submitted using the Messaging facility on the ProContract e-Tendering Portal. The Messaging facility can be found on the right-hand side in the Tender Summary Screen. Submissions must be uploaded in to the ProContract e-Tendering Portal prior to the submission deadline. Please leave sufficient time to do this as uploading times can vary depending on the file size. Documents must be uploaded in an Open Document format, and all attachments will ideally be Zipped in to one file. (Tip: Use PDF documents where possible to reduce file sizes). Please note: Organisations can upload / amend their response via the ProContract e-Tendering Portal at any time prior to the submission deadline. The response is secure and only visible to the organisation up until the closing deadline date / time at which point the system is locked to the organisation and contents become visible to the Council. Following the submission deadline of the 18 March 2022, all organisation’s who have engaged and submitted feedback will be given an opportunity to have a time limited meeting with the Council to discuss the content of their feedback. Dialogue at this stage will be limited to information that is currently available within the public domain. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to share any confidential information at this stage. The council will consider the responses received and then consider its options. The aim of this exercise is to enable the council to suitably shape its future aspirations for this service area. This may result in a formal procurement process if sufficient market interest demonstrates that the council would attract viable interest in the management and operation of a Dinosaur Museum Offer.