Premier Pat Binns announced today that the new health care facility planned for Prince County will be both Government owned and operated.
That decision follows a review of potential public private partnerships for the construction and operation of the building. Premier Binns says "suggestions from a number of private sector firms lead to the exploration of a public private partnership, and it was very beneficial in identifying the expertise available, but the final decision will see government own as well as operate the facility."
The Premier said that government has decided to purchase the facility rather than lease it from a private sector firm because the financial markets are favourable and Government has received favourable reviews from bond rating agencies.
East Prince Partnerships Ltd., one of the five private sector teams who responded to Government's Request for Qualifications (RFQ), will be invited to submit a proposal for the development, design and construction of the new facility.
Health and Social Services Minister Mildred Dover advised that all five private sector teams were ranked by five evaluation teams in such areas as financial expertise and capacity, design and construction, operations, economic benefits, human resources and community relations.
"Since East Prince Partnerships Ltd. received the highest rating, it will be invited to submit a proposal to develop, design, and build the new facility," she said.
East Prince Partnerships Ltd. was the highest rated consortium. It pleases us as a Government that the firm's consortium also includes a number of Island firms.
Premier Binns advised that he is pleased that the private sector will continue to be involved with designing and constructing the hospital.
East Prince Partnerships Ltd. will now be asked to submit to Government a fixed price for which they can design and build the new East Prince Hospital.
Herman McQuaid Project Director for the East Prince Health Facility stated that an independent cost consultant will develop a reference case for Government to use to evaluate the fixed price submitted by East Prince Partnerships Ltd.," he said.
"This is a great day for the community of Summerside and fulfills another commitment by our Government to invest in health care. In the Speech from the Throne we said that we would launch a planning process with broad community participation to construct a badly needed new hospital for Prince County. We have certainly met this promise," said Dover.
"We look forward to the continued participation of numerous front line staff, board members, physicians, foundation members, and community citizens who are helping to plan a new health facility and the future of health care in East Prince."