The successful bidder for the Wood Innovation and Design Centre contract could be announced at a news conference Friday.

Local cabinet ministers Pat Bell and Shirley Bond will be holding a lunch hour news conference on Friday to made "an important announcement" relating to the centre, which is to be built on the site of the old P.G. Hotel.

Last year, a short list of three contenders for the contract was named and Bell had said he expected the winner to be announced soon.

First promised as a massive $160 million project in 2009, the building has been scaled back to $25 million. It's intended to house University of Northern B.C. wood technology research facilities.

However, the contracting and procurement process has been dogged by controversy. A loan awarded by Northern Development Initiative Trust to local company Commonwealth Campus Corp., for land assembly is now in foreclosure and the NDP have called for an investigation into claims there was political interference in the tendering process.