California Institute for Regenerative Medicine: Site Search Subcommittee Makes Recommendations for ICOC; San Francisco, Sacramento and San Diego to Present Bids to ICOC on May 6th in Fresno.

EMERYVILLE, Calif. -- The Site Search Subcommittee of the Independent Citizens' Oversight Committee (ICOC) announced its final award of points to the four finalist proposals based on visits to each site. The site visit points were taken from each subcommittee member, averaged, and then added to the points already awarded by the Subcommittee based on a review of bids by a joint CIRM/Department of General Services (DGS) team. San Francisco was awarded the greatest amount of points at 222.75. Sacramento and San Diego finished less than one point apart with 200.5 and 199.8 respectively.

Point breakout:
                 Revised Points      Site Search           Total
Emeryville       119                 52.7                  171.7
Sacramento       135                 65.5                  200.5
San Diego        127                 72.8                  199.8
San Francisco    158                 64.75                 222.75

Last week, the Subcommittee visited Emeryville, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco, using a 90-point scorecard to rate each site. The Subcommittee will provide a listing of points awarded to all four sites and recommend that the ICOC award the site to San Francisco. San Francisco, Sacramento and San Diego will each be allowed to make a ten-minute presentation before at the ICOC May 6 meeting in Fresno, prior to the board's final decision. Although it finished behind the other three proposals, Emeryville will also be invited to make public comment.

"On behalf of the Site Search Subcommittee and the people of California, I thank each city for its gracious welcome and inspiring visit. California is truly the world-leader in life sciences -- proven by the fact we had four outstanding meetings with cities dedicated to providing world-class facilities for the Institute's permanent home," said Robert Klein, chair of the Site Search Subcommittee and the ICOC. "We look forward to reviewing our recommendation with the full ICOC this Friday and selecting the site that will best meet the Institute's mission to advance stem cell research in California."

As part of a bidding process to determine the location of its permanent headquarters, CIRM asked local governments, working in partnership with building owners, to provide approximately 17,000 square feet of office space at little or no cost. An evaluation team of CIRM and DGS staff members reviewed ten proposals submitted by the March 16 deadline to decide whether they fully met the minimum requirements in the CIRM RFP.

On April 13, the Subcommittee accepted bids from Emeryville, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco. From April 29-May 1, each of the four sites hosted a tour of its facilities for Subcommittee members, the public and the media. Each visit consisted of a presentation, a site tour and time for public comment.

For more information, please visit www.cirm.ca.gov.