The Foundation for Medical Services has issued a three-day call for the purchase, delivery and installation of a modular extendable pre-fabricated hospital which must be up and running within eight weeks. 

Wuhan in China, which was the epicentre of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, built a similar prefabricated hospital with capacity for 1,000 patients in just nine days. 

The Health Ministry is looking for offers inclusive of purchase, delivery and installation of a modular, extendable, fully-equipped hospital that is capable to cater for over 90 patients and staff. 

Although coronavirus is not mentioned in the call, in the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, modular, prefabricated and mobile units can easily keep patients quarantined until cleared without already entering facilities containing immune-compromised patients. 

According to the request for participation published by the Central Procurement and Supplies Unit on Monday, the contract will be awarded through a negotiated procedure which allows for a contracting authority to consult the economic operators of their choice and negotiate the terms of a contract only in cases of extreme urgency brought about by unforeseeable events. 

It gave interested parties until noon on Tuesday for clarification requests and until noon on Thursday for a quotation, including technical data of what is being offered.

The hospital must include:

• a triage area;
• an emergency room clinic unit;
• two inpatient high dependency ward units equipped with a minimum of 24 beds, with patient monitors and 12 ventilators;
• six intensive care units equipped with 60 beds, 60 patient monitors and 45 ventilators;
• a doctor’s room;
• a medical staff room;
• an X-ray room and a central sterilisation room;
• a pharmacy unit;
• a mortuary;
• a kitchen capable of accommodating 120 medical staff;
• a dining hall unit and two generators. 

As in all other public contracts, the sole award criterion will be the price - the contract will be awarded to the tenderer submitting the cheapest priced offer satisfying the administrative and technical criteria.

The new hospital must be up and running within eight weeks from the confirmation of the order. The document provides for a penalty of €50,000 per day for late commencement and for every day until the project is executed.