TORONTO -Infrastructure Ontario and St. Joseph's Health Care, London (St. Joseph's), have released a request for proposals (RFP) to three companies short-listed to design, build, finance and maintain two new mental health care facilities, which will be located in London and St. Thomas. 

The short-listed companies - A1 Health Group, Lend Lease Health Solutions - St. Joseph's and Integrated Team Solutions - have approximately seven months to prepare and submit their bids to Infrastructure Ontario.

The St. Joseph's Regional Mental Health Care London facility will be constructed adjacent to Parkwood Hospital in London. Its specialized programs will accommodate inpatient and outpatient longer-term mental health services for assessment; mood and anxiety disorders; psychosis; dual diagnosis; geriatric psychiatry; and adolescent psychiatry, serving Southwestern Ontario.  

St. Joseph's Regional Mental Health Care St. Thomas will be a new hospital for forensic mental health, built on the existing lands in St. Thomas. It will provide specialized inpatient and outpatient forensic services, including assessment, treatment, outreach and support services to individuals with a mental illness who have come into significant contact with the criminal justice system.

The two new facilities will be owned and operated by St. Joseph's.  

Once under construction, these new facilities will create hundreds of jobs and stimulate economic spin-off in both respective communities. 

St. Joseph's aims to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification for the design and construction of the new facilities.  LEED standards focus on healthy indoor environments, reduced greenhouse gas emissions and efficient use of energy, water and other resources.

A request for qualifications issued on June 1, 2009 short-listed the three teams with the design, construction, financial and facilities management capacity to undertake a project of this size and complexity.

Once submissions to the RFP are received, Infrastructure Ontario and St. Joseph's will evaluate them. Then they will select and announce the successful project team, anticipated in late fall 2010.

Infrastructure Ontario and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care will work with St. Joseph's to build the hospitals, which will remain publicly owned, publicly controlled and publicly accountable.  Infrastructure Ontario is a Crown corporation dedicated to managing some of the province's larger and more complex infrastructure renewal projects - ensuring they are built on time and on budget.

For more information about the procurement process and to view the RFP, visit www.infrastructureontario.ca.

Contacts: 

Marek Kubow  
St. Joseph's Health Care, London
519-646-6100 ext. 47788

Jessica Hooker
Infrastructure Ontario 
416-327-5325

Disponible en français 

Quotes: 

Deb Matthews, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care and MPP for London North Centre 
“Our government is committed to giving Ontarians and their families access to care close to home. This project is another example of our desire to improve healthcare delivery in the province.”

Chris Bentley, Attorney General and MPP for London West 
"Today's announcement marks another step toward state-of-the-art high quality care for those in our community who are living with mental illness."  

Khalil Ramal, MPP for London - Fanshawe 
“Taking this important step shows our government's commitment to providing the resources and infrastructure to meet our community's health care needs.” 

Cliff Nordal, President and CEO of St. Joseph's Health Care, London 
“This is an exciting day for St. Joseph's, our patients and the region that we serve. We are one step closer to our new state-of-the-art facilities.”