Request for qualifications released for new Vaughan hospital

Vaughan Weekly
March 12, 2014
By Angela Gismondi

Infrastructure Ontario and Mackenzie Health are looking for companies who are qualified to build Vaughan’s new hospital.

Last Thursday, Infrastructure Ontario and Mackenzie Health issued a request for qualifications (RFQ), the first step in the process to select a team to design, build, finance and maintain a new state-of-the-art hospital that will be constructed at Major Mackenzie Drive and Jane Street in Vaughan.

Submissions will be reviewed over the next few months to pre-qualify project teams with the design and construction experience as well as the qualified personnel and financial strength to deliver a project the size and scope of the new Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital, explained Altaf Stationwala, president and CEO of Mackenzie Health.

The most qualified project teams identified through the RFQ process will then be invited to respond to a request for proposals (RFP) for the 30-year contract. The RFP is expected to be issued in September.

“We will assess and review these groups and identify the consortia that are qualified to bid for the request for proposal - the ones that have the construction and design experience, financing and the ability to maintain this hospital for the next 30 years,” Stationwala explained.

He added the project continues to be on time and on budget. Construction is slated to begin on the new hospital in 2015 with doors opening in 2019.

“We are excited that the project continues to be on schedule,” said Stationwala. “We have a lot of work in front of us to get set for the next phase, but we’re going to continue to move this project forward.”

The new Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital will include a state-of-the-art emergency department, modern surgical services and operating rooms, acute inpatient and intensive care beds, technologically-advanced diagnostic imaging, specialized ambulatory clinics, single acute care patient rooms for infection prevention and control and a flexible design to permit adaptation over time as new thinking and best practices emerge.

Infrastructure Ontario, an agency of the Province, and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care are working with Mackenzie Health to build the new facility, which will be publicly owned, publicly controlled and publicly accountable.

“The announcement demonstrates our government’s commitment to the people of Vaughan,” said Deb Matthews, Minister of Health and Long Term Care in a release. “The construction of the new Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital is part our government’s Action Plan for Health Care commitment to provide the right care, at the right time, in the right place.”

The City of Vaughan is also moving ahead to prepare the site for development, which includes putting necessary municipal infrastructure in place to support the new hospital site. The planning and design for this work is currently being conducted by the City to allow the project team to begin construction on the new hospital project as early as possible after it is selected.

“Today’s announcement brings Mackenzie Health yet another step closer to the opening of the Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital in 2019 and to realizing its vision of creating a world class health experience for the people of our community,” said Dina Palozzi, Chair of the Mackenzie Health Board of Directors.

For more information, visit www.infrastructureontario.ca or www.mackenziehealth.ca.