AHS Prime Consultant Agreement
Contract issue: Alberta Health Services Prime Consultant AgreementBackgroundNew Prime Consultant Agreement appears Well over a year ago, the CAA began a discussion with Alberta Health Services over the Prime Consultant Agreement they began using for hospital projects. This agreement is a significant departure from previous ones, NOT an industry-standard agreement, and contains many clauses of concern. It is our position that it is an unfair and unbalanced document. Moreover, it has not been tried and tested, and there are numerous risks inherent in the use of such a document. Therefore we have warned our members to be cautious when entering to a contract with Alberta Health Services.
Advocacy work begins The CAA has met with AHS representatives, and there has been follow up correspondence between our two organizations where we have outlined, in great detail, our concerns and suggestions for revision. AHS has since made a few very minor adjustments to their contract, but the majority of it remains the same.
Transition of portfolio In the fall of 2010, there was a transition of responsibility for the management of capital projects between AHS and Alberta Infrastructure. AHS now oversees projects of below $5 million, and Alberta Infrastructure manages the others. We were hopeful that the transition would mean that all hospital projects would be done using the standard documentation previously used by Alberta Infrastructure. In the following months, members of our Contracts Committee reported back to us that there were ongoing challenges with AHS and that some firms were being successful in negotiating improvements to the agreement, while others were not. Through our subsequent inquiries to AHS we were told there were no plans to make any adjustments to the agreement.
Industry associations join together in advocacy efforts A few months back, the CAA and our colleagues with the Alberta Construction Association decided to approach the Minister of Health directly to let him know of our concern with the non-standard contracts. The June 9, 2011 response to our letters came not from the Minister of Health, but from the Minister of Infrastructure who assured us that AHS was "currently reviewing their contracting procedures to address concerns expressed by your Association and other industry partners, and expect to implement the resulting revisions over the next few months." Click here for a copy of the Minister's letter to ACA Current StatusThe unbalanced contract remains of grave concern to our membership. We will be requesting a face-to-face meeting with the Minister of Health to pursue this issue further. Online member discussion forumLogin Here to access the CONFIDENTIAL online member discussion forum on this issue. |
