The BAI has announced no Statements of Intent (along with a €20,000 fee) have been received for any of the six contracts recently advertised.
The Contract Awards Committee will now consider whether to formally ratify the fast-track application process for each of the six contracts at its forthcoming meeting on Monday, 17th June 2013.
It means contracts held by Cork’s 96FM, C103, Red FM and Radio Kerry along with stations operating in Dublin, Counties Carlow & Kilkenny and County Kildared are likely to remain with their current operators.
In May 2013, the Contract Awards Committee of the BAI announced its intention to invoke the fast-track licensing process for six identified sound broadcasting contracts. Public notifications were placed in the national press and on the BAI website
The fast-track licensing process, which is permitted under Section 67(3) of the Broadcasting Act 2009, can be invoked by the Committee when only one expression of interest from an incumbent sound broadcasting contractor is received following a call for expressions of interest. Such a call was made by the BAI in January of this year and no additional expressions of interest were made for the six relevant sound broadcasting contracts.
The public notifications also stated that any person, other than the incumbent, interested in providing the named sound broadcasting service for the named franchise area was required to submit in writing that he/she wished to apply for the award of the contract (“Statement of Intent”), and to deposit the sum of €20,000.00 with the BAI by the stated closing date. The closing dates for the receipt of such submissions were the 11th and 12th June 2013.
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