Connecticut Swimming

2023-24 SC Bid Process

 

How to Become a Meet Host and Bid Procedures

Connecticut Swimming offers 2 competitive season calendars. Short Course season generally runs October through March and Long Course season generally runs April through July. For each season, USA Swimming clubs are welcome and encouraged to submit a bid declaration for a meet or meets that will appear on the CSI meet calendar. Short Course season bidding generally opens in May/June and Long Course in January. CSI Program Operations maintains formal bidding procedures that USA Swimming clubs agree to abide by. Bid Procedures for the current Short Course schedule are posted below. Bid Procedures for the upcoming Long Course season will be posted later in the season.

2023-2024 Short Course Bid Information and Procedures

Welcome to the SC Bid Declarations page for CSI Regularly-Scheduled meets and Regional Championships. Using the Connecticut FAST application Swim Meet Bids, clubs will post their bids "virtually" to a password protected online calendar, and in real-time, view all bid declarations. Bidding clubs may move, edit or remove their bids until the deadline. After the deadline, clubs may view all bids in a calendar format, but may not edit their bids.

Meet Announcement template  

Please note this preliminary Meet Schedule is PRELIMINARY!!  There could be errors that need correcting, and changes made by the time Teams fill out their acceptance form and pay their meet deposits.  

BLACKOUT DATES: The following dates are reserved for CSI championship meets and events.

BID DECLARATION LINKS:

DATES and DEADLINES:

July 7: Regional Championship Bid Open
July 17: Regional Championship Bid Deadline
June 18: Regularly Scheduled Meet Bid Open
July 19: Regional Champs awarded
August 25: Regularly Scheduled Meet Bid Deadline at 6:00p
August 29: Meet Acceptance Form deadline for all in-season and Regional meets.
August 31: Meet Announcement and event file deadline for Oct, Nov  meets
-- For any Meet held in September please notify Henk and Yolanda.  They will work with you to get your information posted ASAP and help set deadlines.
September 6: Meet Announcement and event file deadline for Dec, Jan, Feb meets
September 13: Meet Announcement and event file deadline for March meets
Regionals Meet Announcements will be due after the Age Group Committee finalizes cuts and meet protocols for Regionals.

REMINDERS:

BEFORE YOU START: Bidders will need the following information to submit a "virtual" bid:

  1. FAST administration page password.
  2. Officials registered with your club.  Please check FAST- Officials to make sure a.) your officials are currently registered, b.) your officials are listed with the correct certification, and c.) your officials are listed with the correct (your) club.  Any errors or omissions should be reported to Dave Pite, Officials Chair. Changes to officials’ club affiliation and/or certification will not be accepted after the bid deadline.
  3. Letter of Intention from "guest" officials. If your club is without a referee and/or starter for the meet you intend to host, you are required to supply Program Operations will a letter of intent from a guest official(s). This may be done by the guest official sending the letter of intent directly to Program Operations by the bid deadline. Penalty Regarding Letter of Intent for Guest Officials: Effective February 2019, bids received listing guest Officials must submit the accompanying letter of intent by the date listed above in "reminders." Bids without a letter of intent will be declined by Program Operations and the bidder will be given the opportunity to bid on an off-calendar meet.

The following information is required to submit a bid:

1. sanctioned or approved meet
2. meet dates
3. meet location (pool)
4. meet type (invitational, distance, etc.)
5. meet format (timed finals, prelim/finals)
6. age groups
7. meet session schedule and meet duration
 8. time standards
9. time trials
10. pool course
11. entries accepted from
12. awards
13. splash fees (entry fees)
14. officials

 

Regularly-Scheduled Meets:

Deadline is listed above. Bidding clubs will see all submitted bids in real time on the "Meet Bid Link" on their club administration page in Connecticut FAST. After bids close, the final bids maybe viewed but not changed. To submit a bid, clubs must login to Connecticut FAST administration page and click on "Swim Meet Bids"

Instructions for Regularly-Scheduled (non-championship) Meets:

Note about the pools. Pool information is pre-loaded into FAST. If a pool is missing, please email office@ctswim.org with the name of the pool, location, course(s), and number of lanes. After you select the course for your meet, the list of pools will refresh and contain only pools with the specified course.

  1. Log into Connecticut FAST administration page using your club's password. This is the same password that is used for Online Entries.
  2. Click on "Swim Meet Bids"
  3. Click on a calendar for the month in which you are bidding. Then select the day. A "New Swim Meet Bid" form will open. You must complete all the fields. If you plan to use officials from another club to round out your officials list, be sure to select that option. When you are done click "Submit New Meet Bid".
  4. To View your bid: Click on Details on the Calendar page.
  5. To Move your bid: Click on Edit on the Calendar page and change the dates. You will not have to re-enter any details.
  6. To Delete your bid: Click on Delete on the Calendar page.
  7. You may edit, move, delete and add as many bids as you like until the deadline. After the deadline, you may only view the calendar and bid details.
  8. You may View other clubs' bids, but you may not edit, move or delete another clubs' bids.
  9. You may select officials from another club, but you must have one official from your club and you must supply a letter of intent from "guest" officials to Program Operations.
  10. After bids close, Program Operations will review the list and look for pool conflicts, etc. You should be available to answer any questions from Program Operations.

Scheduling Procedures for a Regularly-Scheduled Meet

CSI clubs that wish to host a short course meet shall be required to declare their intention to sponsor a meet by completing a Declaration of Intention (bid) using Connecticut FAST "Swim Meet Bids" application. Clubs will be required to finalize their declaration by 11:59 PM, the date listed above.

Reminder: Submitting Proposed Meet Schedule or a session report is required. The proposed schedule should list your meet's sessions, time schedule, and age groups. Session Reports for the short-course season will be required with your meet announcement if not submitted with your bid.

Declarations of Intention for meets must include the proposed dates of the meet(s), and a description of the meet format, splash fees, awards, entry times, etc.

Clubs who submit a Declaration will view in real-time a list of all bids, which includes type of meet proposed, and the pools and dates requested and will have until the deadline to move, delete, or edit their bid declarations.

Officials: All bidding clubs are required to list a certified Stroke and Turn Official, Starter, Administrative Official, and Referee no later than the bid deadline. For clubs unable to meet this requirement for a Referee, Starter, and/or Administrative Official (All bid forms also must include at least one certified Stroke and Turn Official, registered with the host club, in order to bid.), the requirement can be met by acquiring a letter of intent, sent to CSI Program Operations, demonstrating the commitment of the Referee, Starter, and/or Administrative Official to work the bid meets. Note that a second Referee may be used to satisfy the requirement for an Administrative Official. Please send this letter not later than: by 11:59p, the date listed above.

Date and Pool Conflicts: If there is more than one club bidding for a particular pool on a particular date, preference will be given to a club who has included on its bid form a list of its club’s officials, at least one of whom is a referee and one of whom is a starter, who have committed to work at that particular meet. All bid declarations also must include at least one certified Stroke and Turn Official (also registered with the host club). Bids not meeting the minimum of at least 1 Stroke and Turn official will be rejected. Clubs using guest officials will receive lower priority or exclusion in any case where Program Operations makes a determination regarding a meet award.

A lottery system will be used if there is more than one club with a full complement of officials bidding for a particular pool on a particular date. Any club with officials who receives a date by lottery will be ineligible for a second meet by lottery until all clubs with officials have received their first meet. Clubs with guest officials may also receive pools and dates by lottery; but, club(s) with a full complement of officials bidding, that club(s) will be given priority.

Jointly Hosted Meet: If the meet is jointly hosted by two clubs, only the club which the online bid was made will receive the benefit of the splash fee waiver. The Club must demonstrate in writing that various meet functions are shared between two clubs to constitute jointly hosted meet. Please let this be known on your on-line bid application in the "comment" portion. Upon receipt, the officials from the club in alliance will be considered equal to the bidding club. Only one (1) bid may be submitted per meet per joint host.  A meet may not be jointly hosted by more than two clubs.

Meet Announcements, session reports, and meet event files are due to the Central Office for meets following the schedule listed above. 

Meet Acceptance Form for ALL meets will be due by the dates listed above.  Any tardy information will still be posted but you jeopardize your viewership potential. The Meet Acceptance and Sanction Fee Policy are available on the club's FAST Administration page. 

If you have any questions, please contact Program Operations. Technical questions regarding the website and/or online submittal should be directed to Henk, office@ctswim.org.

Regional Championships:

On-line bid submittals are due by the date listed above. Bidding clubs will receive, via email attachment, a list of all bid declarations prior to awarding.  Please read:

 

Instructions for Regional Championship bids:

Regional Championship Scheduling Procedures

CSI clubs that wish to host a 2023 SC Regional Championship meet shall be required to declare their intention to sponsor a meet by completing an online Declaration of Intention. Clubs will be required to return their declaration by by the date listed above. Declarations will be submitted on-line at ctswim.org. Declarations will be date and time stamped by the CSI server.

Clubs who return a Declaration will receive a list of all bidders, no later than August 2, 2022. Clubs may withdraw their bids no later than August 11, 2022.

Format: CSI will be conducting up to six (6) Regional Championship meets (subject to change) on the date listed on the CT Championship schedule. Declarations of Intention for meets must include: 1.) All officials registered with bidding club; 2.) Experience running championship meets; 3.) Club biography outlining club's qualifications for running a championship meet. Specifics regarding the Meet Director’s prior experience and the proposed facility including number of lanes, deck occupancy, locker facilities, and parking should be included.

Official Requirement: Upon submitting a bid, clubs are required to have the following Officials with current certifications:

Regional Bid Committee: Program Operations Vice Chair, Technical Planning Chair, Age Group Chair, Program Development Vice Chair.  If any of the above Committee Members are a member of or directly associated with a bidding club, that person may participate in the meeting and discussion, but must abstain from voting.

The Regional Bid Committee will review all the declarations. Program Operations will put forth its recommendation to the CSI Board of Directors for approval. Scheduled bid award date is August 3, 2022. (The Program Operations Division and the Board of Directors reserve the right to make final Regional Championship awards later than scheduled, if necessary.)

Program Operations reserves the right to assign athletes to the awarded venues based on the number of lanes available at the selected facilities in order to prevent overcrowding during warm-up and to attempt to balance the session timelines among bidders/venues. Hosts will receive the entry fees from athletes entered and assigned to their venues.  No revenue or cost sharing between hosts will be provided.

 

Other Regional requirements:

Below is a list of requirements. This list is not all-inclusive. Hosts should refer to CSI Policies and Procedures and the Meet Managers Guide.

Technical questions regarding the website and/or online submittal should be directed to Henk, office@ctswim.org.

Glossary of Meets

2021 SC Bid process