The province is turning to a major auditing firm to determine what, if any, aspects of a hospital redevelopment in Halifax could be a candidate for a public-private partnership.

The government announced on Thursday that Deloitte was given the contract to evaluate the various elements of the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre redevelopment as they are prepared by Kasian Architecture, the firm overseeing planning of the project.

When the project, which will see the replacement of the decrepit Victoria and Centennial buildings, was first announced, government officials said all financing options would be considered.

Determining market interest

Gary Porter, the executive director of corporate initiatives for the Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal Department, said Deloitte was selected in part because of the firm's experience working on previous hospital projects involving public-private partnerships (also known as P3).

Porter said Deloitte is tasked with assessing the market to see if there is any private-sector interest and assess the merits of using a government-led approach versus a P3 model for the construction and maintenance of the project over a 30-year period.

Given Deloitte's experience, Porter said the government is also asking the firm to examine what's worked well and what hasn't in other partnerships across the country.

"We know P3s are criticized often by auditor general findings. We want to really understand that and we want to make sure that we consider that in any sort of work that we do around the business case and that we move forward in a way that is in the best interest of Nova Scotian taxpayers," he said.

A Transportation Department spokesperson said there is no value attached to the contract because it will depend on the amount of work Deloitte does. Kasian is expected to wrap its work by the end of December and Porter said he expects Deloitte's work will be complete by February or March 2018.

Services to remain public

While the P3 model is contentious for some people, particularly when coupled with the public health-care system, Porter said ultimate ownership of facilities would be with the province.

"This in no way is related to the services that are delivered within the infrastructure; this is purely the infrastructure itself."