Oulu mobile hospital project faces legal challenge

Plans for a mobile hospital in Oulu, which would be one of Finland’s largest if built, are being reviewed by the Market Court after a challenge to the procurement process, Yle reports. The North Ostrobothnia wellbeing services county urgently needs the hospital, estimated to cost more than 30 million euros.

The oldest parts of Oulu University Hospital are deteriorating. Many of its functions have already moved to a new hospital that has been under construction for several years, but the wider hospital project, costing more than one billion euros, will not be completed until 2030.

In the meantime, several treatment units are operating in buildings affected by indoor air and water problems.

“This has been a continuous race against time. We cannot predict when or where the next pipe will burst,” said Tuomas Holma, a chief development physician at the wellbeing services county.

Legionella bacteria have also been detected in part of the old water network, which is being monitored regularly. Healthy premises are needed for treatment units in several medical specialties, while the new permanent facilities are still about four years away.

Healthcare is to remain on the hospital campus

The planned prefabricated hospital would house outpatient clinics for internal medicine, pulmonary diseases and dermatology. It would also accommodate cancer research and the kidney unit.

The new hospital is supposed to be operational in about a year. A possible several-month review by the Market Court could disrupt that timetable, forcing the wellbeing services county to consider alternative premises.

“Almost all options are in use, but every effort will be made to keep patient care on the hospital campus,” Holma said.

Some functions are nevertheless already scheduled to move closer to central Oulu in the autumn. The relocation of the neurology outpatient clinic is unrelated to the prefabricated hospital project.

Price and speed determined the procurement

Three companies bid for the North Ostrobothnia wellbeing services county’s prefabricated hospital contract in Oulu. Elementit-E ranked clearly first and won the contract for the mobile hospital facilities.

The company performed well in the quality comparison, but gained the decisive points with the lowest price. It was also two months faster than its competitors in the construction schedule comparison.

The 15-year contract is worth about 33 million euros and covers approximately 8,000 square metres. Both figures are unusual nationally. Kimmo Katajisto, chief executive of Elementit-E, said the project would be the company’s largest and exceptionally large for the sector in Finland.

The other bidders, Parmaco Finland and Adapteo, have also described the Oulu hospital project as one of the largest of its kind in Finland.

“The project is highly interesting and one of the biggest in this field in Finland,” said Tuomas Vaalto, chief executive of Adapteo Finland, which requested a correction and filed the appeal.

Appeal cites several shortcomings

According to Adapteo, the winning bid did not meet the procurement requirements and should have been excluded from the competition.

“In our view, there are fairly significant shortcomings in the facilities, which affected the outcome and left us second in the price comparison,” Vaalto said.

He said Adapteo recognised the urgency and importance of the project, but that its appeal concerned substantial differences in areas including the structural solutions, fire safety and corridor widths.

Holma said the identified deviations were minor and could be corrected during the design process. He added that all spatial solutions remained possible and that decisions would be made as quickly as possible.

The board of the North Ostrobothnia wellbeing services county is due to discuss the situation next week.