Wednesday was the last day to submit applications for concluding the concession agreement for services involving the management of the International Convention Center and the „Spodek” sport and exhibition hall. Two out of four companies, which were invited to the final stage of the procedure, decided to file their offers.
The procedure is being conducted by the City Hall of Katowice, which has carried out several rounds of negotiations with the tendering companies before the final invitation to submit the applications. At the end of September, the City Hall invited four tendering candidates to make their offers: SMG Poland, PTWP Event Center (subsidiary of PTWP Group), HKO and Campus Stella (company related to Global Retail and Residential Estate Services).
Two candidates are still in the race to perform management services of the ICC and “Spodek”. „PTWP Event Center and HKO have decided to submit their final offers. Now the applications will be evaluated. It is expected to sign the final concession agreement in November this year” – said Janusz Nowak, project manager of the International Convention Center.
PTWP Event Center is a subsidiary of PTWP Group, which is responsible for the organization of the European Economic Congress in Katowice since its first edition in 2009. The company is based in Katowice.
HKO is registered in Warsaw and is connected with Toruń-based Trias SA – the company specializes in promotion and multimedia events. One of Trias subsidiaries is responsible for the management of the Szczecin Arena.
The two tendering companies had to include four main criteria in their applications, which will be considered by the City Hall: amount of expenditures incurred by the concessioner for the ICC, time of performing the concession, amount of forecast payments made by the concessioner for the benefit of the City Hall and number of days when the City of Katowice may use the ICC free of charge.
First events are expected to be held in the International Convention Center in March 2015. The building is currently under construction. The works should be finished at the beginning of 2015.