Company wins hospital contract

A $198,650 contract to plan a new $25-million-plus hospital for Watson Lake has been awarded to a local firm.

A $198,650 contract to plan a new $25-million-plus hospital for Watson Lake has been awarded to a local firm.

Kobayashi & Zedda Design Group won the bid over FSC Architects Eng. of Whitehorse and Sinclair and Associates Ltd., also of Whitehorse.

The request for proposals requires Kobayashi and Zedda to describe the extent of work needed to make a hospital out of what was originally to be an multi-level care facility primarily for seniors.

The prices submitted by the two other firms were not opened, as is typical when government requests detailed proposals instead of bids based on the lowest bid.

Originally planned as a $5.2-million multi-level care facility, the project has been described by opposition parties as a horrific example of Premier Dennis Fentie mismanaging public funds for use in his hometown riding.

Construction began in 2005 with several sole-sourced contracts approved by Fentie and his cabinet.

Four years later, it is a boarded-up, two-storey shell. The government is currently tendering a project to put temporary siding on the structure to protect the shell and a remote service building from the weather.

While in excess of $10 million has been identified for the multi-level care facility in successive territorial budgets, the premier insists less than $5 million has been spent to date.

And both he and Public Works Minister Archie Lang have scoffed at recent suggestions in the legislature that the project is over-budget.

Fentie maintains it was only after construction started that government officials were able to determine the multi-level care facility could not be attached to the existing 33-year-old hospital, as originally planned. Changing directions now, he explained recently, will still ensure southeast Yukon is provided with topnotch health care facilities.

Among the list of tasks outlined in the request for proposals is to describe what would be entailed in ripping up the concrete floor and rearranging the plumbing to meet hospital code standards. With indications of mould on the inside interior, Kobayashi & Zedda are being asked to investigate how to fix any problem.

The government wants to know whether door and window openings will need to be relocated to meet hospital standards. It also wants to know if existing elevator shafts are large enough.

A preliminary budget of $25 million has been identified for the hospital project, on top of what has been spent to date, but not including furniture, interior fixtures or hospital equipment.

Under the original tender, which closed Sept. 30, the winning company was to have the full report completed by Nov. 25, with the conceptual design for the new hospital completed by next Feb. 25.

Government spokeswoman Jennifer Magnuson said this morning the original schedule has been pushed back because the assessment of the three proposals took longer than expected.

The end date for completion of all work, and the submission of a final conceptual design is still Feb. 25, or thereabouts, she said.

Opposition parties argue that Fentie and company are simply throwing taxpayers’ good money after bad.

The Yukon Party’s change in direction for the multi-level care facility came to light last August when the call for proposals quietly appeared, with no prior indication or public consultation regarding the new direction.

Fentie has declined to say when cabinet made the decision.

But contracts were issued for work this summer, under the old heading of the multi-care level care facility.