More untendered cash approved for Hogan Court health-care project

Nova Scotia Health paid more money to Ernst & Young last month as part of an untendered contract the province's auditor general criticized in a report earlier this year.

The payment, dated Aug. 22, is listed on the province's alternative procurement website and valued at $960,000. The work is described as "transformation support program Hogan Court."

Hogan Court is the location in West Bedford where the provincial government bought an unfinished hotel last year for the purpose of converting it into a transitional care facility, only to announce plans this year tosell the property to long-term care provider Shannex. The company will finish construction at the site and then operate the 178 beds asthey becomeready.

The EY contract isseparate from theuntendered contract for Shannex worth $120 millionthat was recently posted on the government's alternative procurement website.The Health Department said that was the total approvedfor negotiations with the companyto cover costs including both construction and operations of the site when it opens.

A statement from Nova Scotia Health said EY is contracted until March 2025 to provide support for "operational readiness" of the first phase of the Hogan Court project, which will see 68 beds open by the end of this year.

The company is also providing negotiation support for the second phase of work, which will see the completion of an addition that includes another 110 beds.

'An absolute disaster'

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said the fact so much money is required to assess a deal that still isn't done is a concern.

"If the government has to spend millions of dollars to have somebody figure out the details of this, I think that's evidence that it's been an absolute disaster," he said in an interview at Province House.

"This is an example of a government willing to throw literally tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars, at something that has not made one lickof difference in our health-care system."

Churchill said the auditor general mightneed to take another look at the project.

The health authority's statement said the work EY is doing includes:

• "Develop analysis to support NSH position on key commercial issues."

• "Assist NSH to negotiate the detailed terms with Shannex which provide good value for NSH and Nova Scotia."

• "Provide project management of the transaction, coordinating stakeholders and deliverables."

"I don't know what any of the things on that list mean,"NDP Leader Claudia Chendersaid in an interview at Province House. "I don't know what this money is for."

Chender said what the government needs to be spending money on is things such as family doctors, primary care and housing.

"We want those dollars spent on tangible things that help the lives of Nova Scotians."

Although the agreement to sell the property to Shannex was announced in March, Health Minister Michelle Thompson told reporters last week that negotiations with the company continue as the two sides work to finalize terms of the deal.

Auditor general flagged concerns

Auditor General Kim Adair's report in February slammed the government for the decision and process used to buy the unfinished hotel.

The report also criticized the health authority's decision to expand an untendered contract for EY from its original intention of securing and distributing personal protective equipment in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, to later include work related to thedevelopment of the YourHealthNS app and the Hogan Court project. Atthattime, the consultant had already been paid $18 million.

None of the work was previously revealed before Adair's report because the original contract was signed during the provincial state of emergency, a circumstance that allows the government to bypass alternative procurement documentation to minimize delays in addressing urgent needs during a public health crisis.

Development of the YourHealthNS app and the Hogan Court project, however, were not part of the government's COVID-19 response and Adairdetermined that the work did not follow proper government procurement procedures.

When the transitional care facility is ready, it will house hospital patients who are no longer sick enough to require an acute care bed but are not ready to return home. Thompson and Premier Tim Houston have defended the approach used on the project as a way to get more beds into a health-care system in dire need of more space.