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As for the last two proposals, well they might be just about anything. All we know about a bid led by Devcore Group is that the Gatineau developer is proposing to build “multiple cultural institutions” around “a grande allée.” And the bid from Focus Equities is bizarre: it’s proposing to “house the headquarters of an international organization,” along with building some cultural venues.

What international organization? You probably should have one more-or-less signed up before you put in a bid promising to house its headquarters in your new real estate development.

But maybe Focus Equities — a Victoria commercial and industrial developer — has an international organization in mind. We don’t know because we aren’t allowed to ask anyone at the company.

In its Request for Qualifications, the NCC stipulates that there are to be no “public announcements, comments or media releases” about the bids at during the RFQ, or the upcoming Request for Proposals stage, which the four shortlisted proponents are now entering. Speaking publicly about details of the bids “is grounds for disqualification, at the sole discretion of the NCC.”

But everyone’s confused about whether the NCC really means it. A request for clarification from NCC officials remained unanswered by deadline.

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This secrecy demand is nonsense. Sure, there are details that proponents will want to hold back for competition’s sake, but that’s their call — not the NCC’s. More importantly, most of these bids call for the inclusion of cultural institutions, which should have a public consultation component to their mandates. So how can a proponent approach a cultural group but keep it all secret?