Over the last year, Vancouver Coastal Health and Providence Health Care have been engaged in a competitive bid process for Environmental Services (formerly housekeeping services) at our acute and residential care sites. As the current contract with Aramark expires in September 2015, Business Initiatives and Support Services began the procurement process last November to re-tender the contract.

Evaluation committee chooses Compass Group Canada

A multidisciplinary evaluation committee— including clinical and operations leaders from across both organizations—was unanimous in recommending Compass Group Canada to enter the next phase of the procurement process. This involves determining the scope of Environmental Services, the exact service outcomes and the financial model.

The procurement process being used is called Mutual Value Solution. It allows for extensive collaboration between the service providers and internal stakeholders to determine service needs and outcomes and takes into account price considerations.

Contract negotiations to begin shortly

VCH and PHC will be negotiating on a wide range of services that have the potential to help reduce hospital acquired infections, improve patient flow and cater to site-specific residential care needs.

Contract negotiations are expected to be complete by early next year. If successful, a seven-year contract is anticipated to start on October 1, 2015, and would include one or more options for an extension of a maximum of seven additional years.

Aramark remains a “proponent-in-waiting” in the event that a contract with Compass cannot be negotiated.

For now, it’s “business as usual”

A final decision on the Environmental Services service provider is expected later this year, which will be followed by transition planning to ensure service continuity. If negotiations with Compass are successful, they will explore the option of providing employment opportunities for existing staff currently employed in locations covered by the procurement process.

During this time, we would like to thank Aramark staff for their continued hard work to ensure the safety and cleanliness of our facilities.