On 7 January, Nagasaki prefecture announced its application guidelines for a Kyushu/Nagasaki IR project, kicking of its RFP. The schedule for selecting an IR operator is as follows.
7 January 2021 (onwards):
Briefings regarding recruitment (video streams).
15 January 2021:
Deadline for questions from operators regarding recruitment (1st round).
28 January 2021:
Deadline for qualification examination/initial screening documents.
Applicants must have prior experience and positive results operating complex facilities in order to qualify for participation in the recruitment. Further, it is a strict requirement that they have no connection with organized crime. The prefecture will notify operators who have cleared this stage of the results.
15 February 2021:
Deadline for questions from operators regarding recruitment (2nd round).
1 March 2021 (subject to change):
Deadline for preliminary examination documents.
Mid-March 2021 (subject to change):
Preliminary examination results.
In the preliminary examination, the examination committee will consider the documents and proposals and narrow down the shortlist to three potential operators. During the preliminary examination, there is no plan to conduct field surveys or interviews with related parties. Further, if three or fewer candidates qualify for this round, the preliminary examination will not be held and all participants will proceed to the secondary examination.
Late March 2021 (subject to change):
Competitive dialogue.
A forum will be provided to exchange opinions between operators and prefecture/city to arrange implementation agreements.
May 2021:
Integrity survey implementation.
A survey on integrity and eligibility will be conducted by a research company determined by the prefecture. Participants are required to cooperate in good faith and bear the cost of the survey.
June 2021 (subject to change):
Deadline for secondary examination documents.
Applicants and those with particular relationships with the applicants are prohibited from multiple applications for an IR and participation in other regions’ recruitment starting from the submission of the secondary examination documents until the end of the recruitment process.
August 2021 (subject to change):
Presentations from participants.
In the secondary examination, in addition to examination of the documents, there will be screening based on the contents of a presentation. First and second place will be selected as the primary operator candidate and the runner-up.
August 2021 (subject to change):
Examination results announcement.
Nagasaki will publish the examination results and the evaluation process on the prefecture’s website.
