It is difficult for a health board to provide its own fertility service, given the challenge of keeping pace with technology, Fertility Associates chief executive Alex Price says.
The company is a possible tenderer if the Otago Fertility Service (OFS) is outsourced by the Southern District Health Board.
Concerns have been raised a private provider would shift the service from Dunedin to Christchurch. Speaking from Auckland, Mr Price said basing the service in Christchurch would be challenging, given the large number of patients and the travel entailed from Otago and Southland.
Fertility Associates already provides scientific and systems support on contract to the OFS. It also operates a private satellite clinic in Queenstown.
Fertility Associates would ''have an interest'' in the service, which would be weighed against the company's other commitments.
Southern was the only New Zealand health board providing all its publicly funded fertility treatments, he said. Most outsourced completely, while Auckland's health board used a mix of private and public provision.
Mr Price said fertility services tended to be outsourced because economies of scale kept them up to date with modern techniques, and ensured financial viability.
''It's actually quite hard for an individual DHB by itself to provide those services, because there just won't be the scale in an individual geographical area to do that.''
While it was the health board's decision, ''it's fair to say a unit of that scale will face significant challenges in offering world-class care in the future''.
Funding for public procedures was strictly rationed, and nationwide about 60% of IVF cycles were privately funded. Health boards were not well equipped to cater for private-paying patients, he said.
Released in April, the outsourcing proposal has met resistance from staff, prompting the health board to delay the decision.
In a submission, staff said the consultation document contained crucial factual inaccuracies. The board had not listened to suggestions from the unit about how it could increase revenue, the submission said.
