It has been confirmed that the Saskatchewan Hospital North Battleford project will not be able to meet its June 1 target date.
The P3 vendor for the SHNB project, Access Prairies Partnership, is anticipating a two to three month delay, due to a subcontractor unable to deliver according to the overall schedule.
The news was confirmed to the News-Optimist by an email from the government, ahead of a scrum with reporters by Premier Scott Moe and minister of SaskBuilds David Marit.
The province is saying other subcontractors are already in the works to complete the work. All costs related to the delay will be the responsibility of Access Prairies Partnership.
The government is also saying that under the project agreement it is the private sector partners who are assigned responsibility for risks and all related costs to deliver the build on time and on budget. Mechanisms are in place for government to recoup costs relative to delays as well.
SaskBuilds minister Marit confirmed to reporters in Regina that his office had heard of issues with the hospital build, but “didn’t hear formally until recently.”
“The SaskBuilds officials were working with the partners on trying to figure out what the concerns were and what the delays were. So we do know that the partners have hired extra staff and they’re working a night shift now to try and work through this. This is a big thing for them as delays do cost them money.”
Marit noted the penalties to the consortium are on a per-month basis.
“To my knowledge it’s in the neighbourhood of $1.25 million per month that they’ll be penalized for the delays.”
Marit did not express concern that the delay could extend even longer.
“Obviously, every delay is costing them money also, so they want to get this resolved as quick as possible.”
He reiterated there was no further cost to the people of Saskatchewan.
As for when it is finally completed, Marit said there would be a transition period of two or three months to “get people moved from one facility to another.”
In speaking to reporters, Premier Moe acknowledged it was “challenging, as we were hoping it would be finished so that we could start our move into that facility.”
“But in saying that this is, you know, I think it bodes well for the agreements that we signed and the value for money audits that we do prior to building infrastructure like this, as the costs of this delay will be borne by the consortium, not the people of the province of Saskatchewan, so I think that’s important to note.”
Moe further expressed confidence in the process.
“We feel the process is sound. It’s been looked at not only by internal auditors in the government but external auditors as well.”
