Kiama Council has issued a select request for tender to shortlisted tenderers who have expressed interest in buying the cash-strapped council’s Blue Haven Bonaira aged care facility.
The Council says it is the next step in the resolved divestment process to sell the residential aged care facilities and services.
The site at 14A Bonaira Street in Kiama comprises:
- Blue Haven Bonaira 134-bed Residential Aged Care Facility;
- 59 Independent Living Units (ILUs);
- Matterson Hall;
- Barroul House café;
- Chapel, gym and hair salon;
- Administration offices for Blue Haven Home Care Services and Blue Haven Transport.
In August, Council sought expressions of interest (EOI) from interested approved aged care providers. The EOI closed in September 2023 and our Tender Evaluation Panel (TEP) has now reviewed the submissions and invited a shortlist of organisations to participate in the next step: a select request for tender (RFT) process, Council said in a statement.
“All RFT documentation has been completed in accordance with legal probity advice. The select RFT is now live on our tendering portal TenderLink for the selected organisations,” the Council said.
The select RFT will close 19 December. The Tender Evaluation Panel will then assess all tenders against a range of criteria and will recommend a winning tenderer to be approved by the elected Council early in the new year.
Evaluation criteria outlined in the EOI document covered both qualitative and quantitative information. This included:
- strategic relationship or intent of the applicant regarding the Kiama LGA;
- the applicant’s care service model and cultural synergies;
- indicative financial offer;
- financial capacity of the applicant.
NSW Local Government Minister, Ron Hoenig last week told a Budget Estimates hearing he was concerned about Kiama Council’s “fire sale” approach to the sale of assets and was monitoring the situation closely.
“I am also very concerned, bearing in mind their financial position in relation to other asset sales that have been occurring,” the Minister told the hearing.
“I want to be satisfied, not directly related to Blue Haven, but generally speaking, [about] whether or not the council are getting a fair return for other assets that they are selling, or whether or not there is a fire sale of assets.”
Blue Haven is one of the largest publicly owned aged-care providers in the State and employs half of Kiama Council’s total workforce.
View the Blue Haven EOI: https://www.kiama.nsw.gov.au/Council/Projects/Blue-Haven-Bonaira-sale-by-selective-tender-EOI
