In order to maintain transparency and avoid controversies, the Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) is following International Cricket Council (ICC) recommendations for the next TV rights deal, scheduled for March this year, Cricket Age exclusively learns.
Subsequent to the discussions then Sports Minister Harin Fernando had with the ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar, Official of ICC and Officials of SLC, a directive was issued appointing a committee comprised of Secretary of Ministry of Sports, board president Shammi Silva, CEO Ashley De Silva and representation from ICC. The committee was entrusted to evaluate and steer the processes pertaining to the SLC International Media Rights Tender with utmost Transparency and in compliance with the applicable procurement requirements.
As per the discussions Management of SLC had with then Sports Minister Harin Fernando and Officials of ICC, it was acknowledged and agreed to obtain the input, advice and assistance of ICC for the sale of International Media Rights. Accordingly, following officials of SLC visited Dubai from 14th-18th October 2019 and engaged in discussions with Top officials of ICC and industry experts in order to strategize and determine the methodology which SLC ought to adopt for the captioned Media rights tender which ensures the transparency in the process and maximize the revenue generation for SLC.
Shammi Silva – President
Raveen Wickramaratne – Vice President
Mohan de Silva – Secretary
Lasantha Wickremasinghe – Treasurer
Ashley de Silva – Chief Executive Officer
Cricket Age understands that during the said meetings, the Officials of SLC with the assistance and guidance of ICC officials and experts and in consideration of the past experience and recent industry norms, deliberated at length to explore the best suited model which SLC should follow for the said media rights tender, and ICC officials during the said meetings further agreed to extend their support towards;
Preparing and or assist in preparing the EOI and RFP Documents
Preparing and or assist in preparing the Bid Documents and;
Assistance for the evaluation of Bids.
It was proposed during the said meetings that in consideration of the market conditions it is best to call separate tender for Broadcasting, Digital Rights, Ground & Title Rights and Production Services separately. Moreover, President and CEO of SLC representing the committee appointed by the then Minister, by the directive, traveled to ICC Headquarters in Dubai, UAE for the next round of meetings in order to regularize the process and request for the assistance in preparing the documents which were pledged by ICC in relation to captioned tender process.
Accordingly, a Team comprising of representative from SLC Internal Auditors, Legal Consultant and Manager Legal visited ICC in order to have consultation with ICC Legal and other experts on the subject matters and to discuss timelines within which the process required to be concluded and draft necessary documents in consultation with ICC which are applicable for the captioned tender process. The said initial drafts are currently being prepared in consultation and with the instructions of SLC which includes the preparation of separate NDA’s (“Non-Disclosure Agreement), Instruction to Bidders, ITT’s (“Invitation to Tender”) and Final Agreement’s for International Broadcasting Rights, Digital Rights, and Production services.
Cricket Age learns that Once the said draft documents are being finalized, it will then be reviewed by ICC subject to the approval of the Technical and Tender Committee which are to be appointed by Executive Committee of SLC in terms of the SLC Procurement Manual.
During the meetings held with the officials of ICC, SLC was informed of the sensible and effective process which ought to be followed by SLC in consideration of the limited time factor and also to ensure transparency. Accordingly, SLC has agreed to the following timelines and processes which were proposed by ICC to be used for the tender process in securing Sponsor for International TV & Radio broadcasting, Digital Broadcasting rights and TV Production.
Stages of the Tender Process and tentative timelines:
Advertising the sale of rights / Publication of EOI 24 December 2019 to 6 January 2020
Issue NDAs and obtain non-refundable deposit 7 January to 11 January 2020
Release of ITT and draft agreement 14 January 2020
Provision of clarification to bidders 14- 19 January 2020
Submission of bids 31 January 2020
In consideration of the advice and recommendations made by ICC to conclude the process within the set timelines and to ensure transparency, it has been decided to execute a ‘Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)’ and obtain a ‘non-refundable deposit’ from the parties interested in order to prevent them in disclosing the contents and or information pertaining to the process and rights. Once the NDA is executed and deposit placed, bidders will be provided with the relevant Bidding Documents (Invitation to Tender and draft Agreement) in order to submit their respective bids. Together with the Invitation to Tender, SLC will serve a copy of the final agreement to the Bidder requiring bidder to sign and submit the same along with its bid, leaving no room for further negotiations on the captioned sale of rights.
Accordingly, the process intended to be adopted by SLC as per the recommendations of ICC ensures the high level of integrity and transparency in the process.
As of now, SLC has taken required steps to advertise calling for Expressions of Interest (EOI) from Interested Firms/ Organizations in respect of TV & Radio Broadcasting Rights, Digital Broadcasting right, TV Productions services in respect of the inbound tours to be played as per the Future Tour Programme (FTP) of ICC for new three years (2020 April to 2023 March).
In compliance with the SLC procurement guidelines, SLC published said EOI in all the newspapers of Sri Lanka in all three languages and also published the same on official SLC Website. Additionally, SLC has forwarded the said EOIs to marketing Agencies and International TV and Broadcasting Companies who had been engaged with SLC in previous occasions to provide similar services and SLC has also made a request to ICC to publish the said EOI’s on its website for which favorable response has been received.
Present Status
NDA, ITT and Final Agreements in respect of International TV & Radio Broadcasting, Digital Broadcasting and TV Production are being constructed by SLC Legal Consultants and Audit representatives in consultation with Executive committee of SLC, Tender Board, Technical Committee and ICC which will also be forwarded to the Ministry for information.
By the very nature of this procurement, sale of Media Rights will be considered and deemed to be a procurement in relation to a Major transaction and as per the provisions of the Procurement Manual of SLC, following committee will be appointed to complete the process.
Evaluation Committee will comprise of the following:
Vice president of SLC
Head of Finance SLC
Representative from the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs
Representative from the Auditor General’s Department
Representative from Internal Auditors
Chief Cricket Operating Officer SLC
Representative of ICC
Representative from Asian Cricket Council
Procurement committee will comprise of the following:
President SLC
Secretary of SLC
Treasurer of SLC
Chief Executive Officer of SLC
Representative from the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs
Representative from the Auditor General’s Department
Representative from Internal Auditors
Cricket Age understands that the above committees would be appointed subject to Executive Committee Approval.
Cricket Age further learns that, at the Executive committee meeting held on 3rd January 2020, it was further decided to carry out a financial valuation of rights which are to be sold under this Tender, for which agreement was reached to entrust Government Chief Valuer of Sri Lanka to carry out the said valuation on the market value of the rights and the final report thereto to be submitted only to the Ministry of Sports under sealed and confidential cover which will be kept in such state until the bids are opened by the Appointed committees.
In the event, SLC has not received a fair value as the rights fee as opposed to the market value of the rights as valued by the Government Chief Valuer, SLC will go for a another round of bidding requesting bidders to re-bid on their respective financial values in order to secure considerable and fair value to SLC under this tender.
