SLA's Ideas Tender Scheme encourages entrepreneurs to suggest new and innovative ideas for use of State properties

• Entrepreneurs with new and innovative ideas on how State properties can be best used to fit their business strategies may see their ideas realised when SLA implements the Ideas Tender Scheme tomorrow (26 August 2005).
  
  
• The Ideas Tender Scheme aims at recognising and encouraging businessmen and entrepreneurs to pursue innovative ideas for uses of State properties.
  
  
• The pilot scheme allows businessmen and entrepreneurs to provide new or alternative ideas, instead of restricting them to the pre-approved uses. Under this scheme, SLA will not reveal the ideas submitted in the tenders. The successful tenderer's idea can only be revealed at an appropriate time after the winning tender is awarded. This scheme is in line with the First Mover Framework and it safeguards the interest of all tenderers while allowing new or alternative ideas to be considered. (The First Mover Framework was jointly announced by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Trade and Industry in December last year.)
  
  
• The Ideas Tender Scheme is an addition to SLA's current open tender system for renting out State properties. Under the current system, a tenderer who submits an alternative idea outside the approved uses will not have his tender evaluated as it does not meet the tender requirements.
  
  
• The Chief Executive of SLA, BG (NS) Lam Joon Khoi said: "Entrepreneurs are in a vantage position to seek out and generate innovative ideas, capitalise on new trends and try out new business models. The Ideas Tender Scheme will allow them to surface good ideas on the use of State properties not previously thought of."
  
  
• Under the pilot scheme, when SLA places a State property for tender, businessmen and entrepreneurs are encouraged to submit their bids to use the property for any of the approved uses (basic offer). In addition, they can also submit a maximum of two alternative offers. The idea that is selected must meet planning guidelines and be approved by the competent authorities. Details of the Ideas Tender Scheme are at Annex A.
  
  
• For a start, SLA has identified five State properties and a cluster of seven buildings at Dempsey Road (Annex B) with a wide spectrum of uses. These properties are available for rental up to nine years or less and will be available for public tender progressively. The first property, at Block 22 Dempsey Road, is to be tendered out tomorrow (26 August 2005).
  
  
• If this pilot project is successful, SLA will place more properties under the Ideas Tender Scheme. Other vacant State properties which have not been selected for this pilot project will continue to be made available in the usual open tender system.
  
  
• This new scheme is another pro-business initiative by SLA. In March this year, SLA introduced the RentDirect scheme, which allows businessmen looking to rent a State property to make direct offers to SLA from a pre-determined list, instead of participating in a tender system.
  
  

Issued by:
Singapore Land Authority
25 August 2005