NDP wants auditor general to probe surgical facility procurement process

Alberta’s Opposition has asked the province’s auditor general to investigate the procurement process being used to build potential private surgical facilities, amid reports the government is throwing its support behind one particular group.

NDP health critic David Shepherd wrote to auditor general Doug Wylie on Tuesday asking that Wylie investigate whether the appropriate processes are being followed and that his office do a cost-benefit analysis of any contract before it is signed.

The move comes after CBC reported that a group of lobbyists, orthopedic surgeons and a developer behind a proposal to build and operate a 270,000-squarefoot contracted surgical facility in Edmonton said it has “tentative” political support from Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro. Shandro’s principal adviser, Ivan Bernardo, has reportedly also offered to help.

The group had reportedly responded to the government’s call for expressions of interest in February.

Shepherd argued that those meetings — prior to a contract being awarded — suggest political interference and go against procurement protocols.

“We have a group of wealthy UCP insiders, donors, lobbyists, property developers, who want to get Tyler Shandro’s political seal of approval for their bid, their proposal, first, and then force this private hospital onto AHS and onto Alberta taxpayers as a done deal,” Shepherd said Wednesday.

Experts have said the $200-million facility would represent a major shift in the health-care sector that will be very difficult to reverse even if the UCP were to lose the next election.

While Shandro has not publicly endorsed the project, which still needs to go through an approval process, his press secretary Steve Buick said earlier this week that the proposal appears to be in line with the government’s surgical wait times initiative. The plan is to approve more chartered facilities to “improve outcomes for patients,” and reduce costs, he said.

In a statement Wednesday, Buick said the auditor general is “free to look into what he likes” and that the government is letting the request for expressions of interest process unfold.

“This is just yet another political publicity stunt by an NDP that cannot accept that the government has an electoral mandate to improve health-care options,” he said.

Val Mellesmoen, spokeswoman for the auditor general’s office, said Shepherd’s letter has been received and will be reviewed by the appropriate officials to decide whether they will investigate.

Mellesmoen said auditors focus on whether the appropriate processes are followed. As for whether the office would do a cost-benefit analysis prior to a contract being signed, Mellesmoen said that decision would be up to the auditor but it would be highly unusual to do so.