Operation of a new Visitors Centre at UNOG, Geneva

The United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) is currently working with a private foundation ‎to ‎build a new Visitors’ Centre within its compound, at the Palais des Nations. In the future ‎‎building, called the “Portail des Nations” (PDN), to be situated close to the emblematic “Place ‎‎des Nations” in Geneva, the general public will be informed of the important role of ‎‎multilateralism and of the work of the United Nations, with a special focus on the UN family in ‎‎Geneva. This unique center will boast a state-of-the-art exhibition, a café, a bookshop, and ‎‎seminar rooms. The building will house UNOG’s Visitor Service and will be the departure ‎point ‎for guided tours of the Palais des Nations. This new facility is planned to be inaugurated ‎in late ‎‎2023 / 2024.‎ The purpose of this RFI is to conduct a market survey to obtain information that can be used ‎to ‎identify available or potential solutions / suppliers to run the daily operations of this new ‎Centre.‎ This new Visitors’ Centre will allow UNOG to attract more visitors, improve the quality of their ‎‎experience, improve the UN’s public communication, while dissociating the entrance of the ‎‎visitors from the one of UN staff members. The Centre will include an interactive “trail” with ‎‎several thematic rooms on multilateralism, the UN’s ideals and activities. The building will also ‎‎contain several rooms for pedagogical activities. In parallel, the Centre will be the starting ‎‎point of the guided tours of the Palais des Nations; there will be an option for experiencing a ‎‎virtual tour of the Palais des Nations for visitors who do not wish/cannot join a guided tour of ‎‎the historical buildings. The bookshop on site will allow visitors to obtain general and technical ‎‎UN publications, as well as gift items, merchandising related to UN priorities and themes.‎ Indicative floor plan of the Visitor’s Centre:‎ See attached file ‎Operating modalities: A market study was done in 2019 which indicated that, in the worst case, the Portail des ‎Nations ‎would attract 250,000 visitors per year, and in the best case 350,000 visitors per ‎year. The ‎working assumptions are based on 198,200 visitors in year 1; 238,800 in year 2; ‎‎262,700 in year ‎‎3; 257,500 in year 4; and 244,600 in year 5. When considering the ‎operational modalities of the ‎Centre, there are five (5) income streams:‎ ‎1.‎ The Palais des Nations guided tour operation through the sale of tickets;‎ ‎2.‎ The UN Bookshop;‎ ‎3.‎ The in-building experience of the interactive trail through sale of tickets;‎ ‎4.‎ Activities on offer in the briefing rooms (which includes the rental operation of the ‎‎briefing rooms);‎ ‎5.‎ A café.‎ UNOG intends to outsource income streams 2, 3, 4 and 5 (i.e. bookshop, interactive trail, ‎‎briefing rooms, and café). According to UNOG’s estimates, the model is financially viable. It ‎‎should be noted that at Centre’s opening the interactive trail will be fully equipped, and the ‎‎café will already have some appliances.‎ For information, income stream 1 will be managed by UNOG. Income stream 2 is currently ‎‎outsourced to a vendor and as such might not be subject to an outsourcing contract at the ‎same ‎time and vendor as income streams 3 to 5. Income streams 2 to 5 will all be ‎outsourced and ‎could be awarded to different vendors (split awards).‎ Ticket pricing aspects: Visitors will be able to purchase a ticket for the guided tour of the Palais des Nations (which ‎‎would include access to the interactive trail), or a ticket to visit the interactive trail only. The ‎‎assumption is that approx. 60% of the overall number of visitors will be taking the guided tour ‎‎and experience the interactive trail, while approx. 40% of the overall number of visitors will ‎‎experience the interactive trail only. Thus, all visitors will be visiting the interactive trail.‎ Concerning ticketing prices, the combined tickets for individual visitors range from CHF ‎‎14.50 ‎for children to CHF 27.50 for adults, and from CHF 13 per person for school groups to ‎CHF 18 ‎per person for commercial groups. The pricing structure was subject to a market ‎study to ‎ensure that they are supportable to visitors and allow for operational solvability. ‎UNOG expects ‎the introduction of special tickets and arrangements in order to make the ‎combined offer (trail ‎offer and guided tour) more accessible to certain groups, in particular ‎schools and universities.‎ The external provider in charge of income streams 3, 4, and 5 will be expected to: ‎ ‎•‎ Cover salaries costs of personnel working in the Portail (in conformity with Swiss law); ‎‎ ‎•‎ Update the interactive trail experience;‎ ‎•‎ Maintain the interactive trail equipment; ‎ ‎•‎ Cover operational expenses for educational activities and events;‎ ‎•‎ Cover pre-opening salaries;‎ ‎•‎ Cover pre-opening marketing costs;‎ ‎•‎ Cover 50% of the overall cleaning costs, with UNOG covering the remaining 50%.‎ The purpose of this RFI is to obtain information that can be used to identify available or ‎‎potential solutions / suppliers to run the daily operations of this new Centre. In this regard ‎‎UNOG would like to engage with the market to better understand if its intent to outsource ‎‎income streams 3, 4 and 5 of the Visitor Centre is 1) of interest; 2) if the UN’s expectations ‎‎are in line with market expectations, and 3) obtain feedback from the market on the ‎‎envisaged operating model and collect suggestions of business model / cost-profit sharing ‎‎mechanism.