Hospital draws global suitors

By JORDAN NICURITY Thursday, June 28, 2007 http://www.dailycourier.ca/stories.php?id=51126

The expansion of Vernon Jubilee Hospital and Kelowna General Hospital is one step closer to reality as three development teams have been short-listed to carry out the project. An amalgamation of companies from Canada, Europe, Australia and the United States with expertise in design, finance, construction, engineering and maintenance have expressed interest in the project. The three development teams will now be asked to participate in the request for proposal phase of the tender process. “This scale of project rarely receives over three submissions,” said Cam McAlpine, a communications officer with Interior Health. “We‘re quite happy that we had three responses, that will raise the level of competition.”

Twenty-four different companies, including Vernon‘s MQN Architects, were among the three teams to respond to the request for qualifications – which acts as a resume phase of the tendering process – and all three made the short list. Controversially, all three of the groups that have been short-listed have a company on roster that is involved in housekeeping and maintenance contracting. According to Interior Health, whether the housekeeping and maintenance contracts will be part of the final proposal is yet to be decided. A recent Supreme Court of Canada decision struck down portions of Bill 29, the contentious bill that paved the way for the privatization of some health care services. This decision gave the government of B.C. one year to implement the ruling, which protects collective bargaining under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“Given the results (of the ruling), we are waiting for some feedback from the government, who are looking at it,” said Joanne Konnert, chief operating officer for the Okanagan region of Interior Health. The Hospital Employees‘ Union (HEU), which represents the housekeeping and maintenance staff of the hospitals, does not feel that the government is responding to the Supreme Court decision. “The court gave them one year to deal with the repercussions of the ruling,” said Zorica Bosancic, speaking on behalf of HEU. “But they did not hand this government a free pass to continue to fire workers or make long-term business deals based on an unconstitutional law.” The union said that more than 300 jobs will be lost if the housekeeping and maintenance contracts are privatized. Konnert said the government would let Interior Health know how the ruling would affect the tendering process before it put out the specifications the three groups would need to include in the request for proposal. Those specifications are due out in mid-July. The tendering process is expected to be completed by the end of the year and construction is slated to begin in 2008 and finish in 2010. The new Vernon Jubilee Hospital tower will include outpatient care services, intensive care, cardiac care, and maternity services as well as pediatrics.