Province begins search for firms to handle P3 work for hospital overhaul

The search has started for the team that will design, build, finance and maintain the new tertiary health complex in Halifax and an outpatient clinic just outside the city.

As part of the plan to replace and upgrade parts of the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, government issued two requests for supplier qualifications for the public-private-partnership components of the work on Monday.

One request is for a new community outpatient centre to be located in Bayers Lake and the other is for the Halifax Infirmary site, which will include a new cancer centre, outpatient centre, inpatient centre, more hospital beds and operating rooms, and a new learning centre.

A news release from the province said the requests were being issued separately "because of the differences in size and complexity of the two developments."

"It will also allow the community outpatient centre to more forward at an accelerated pace."

Premier Stephen McNeil announced in October the total cost of the system overhaul, which also includes work already underway or completed to expand the Dartmouth General Hospital and Hants Community Hospital, will be $2 billion.

The project will mean the aging and decrepit Centennial Building and Victoria Building will eventually be demolished after services are relocated. The Dickson Building will also become obsolete after the new cancer care centre opens at the updated Halifax Infirmary site.

The deadline for submissions on the Bayers Lake component is March 22, while bidders will have until April 26 to submit proposals for the Halifax Infirmary work.