The troubled £300m PFI scheme to build a new hospital in Plymouth is to be retendered after the client last week ended negotiations with the sole remaining bidder Medico Vanguard, which includes contractor Amey.

As had been widely expected the South West strategic health authority admitted that as two of the three shortlisted bidders had dropped out in March – Multiplex and Hochtief – it would need to return to the drawing board.

Project director for the health authority Andy Ibbs said that the situation had been “far from ideal” and the authority would have struggled to prove the project represented value for money with just one bidder.

It is likely that the project to refurbish the Derriford hospital and build a new outpatient centre will now be broken up into different contracts and retendered at different stages.

The move follows the abandonment of the £1.1bn Paddington hospital PFI project last month (QS News, 24 June, page 5) amid signs that the Treasury is determined to clamp down on spiralling costs in complex PFI projects.

Source

QS News