A business in India has expressed early interest in providing the Southern District Health Board's cleaning and orderly services.
The SDHB is seeking a provider for the services through the Government's official tenders website.
At present, cleaning and orderly services are provided by multinational ISS Facility Services.
The new contract, potentially for five years, will start in October.
The unidentified Indian business lodged a question on the tenders website asking for more information before going ahead with a bid, given the "geographical constraint of personally reviewing the document''.
The SDHB has teamed up with the South Canterbury District Health Board in the tender to reduce procurement costs. South Canterbury requires only a cleaning service.
Tender documents show 133 cleaning and orderly staff are employed at the SDHB by the current contractor. Of the staff, only nine earn more than $20 an hour.
The request-for-proposals document says the successful tenderer must have the ability to manage changes on the Dunedin Hospital site, given there will be a redevelopment there.
"We don't want proposals for services that are unrealistic, hard to [put into operation] or that take a prolonged period of time to implement.
"We are not interested in proposals from suppliers without requisite experience or capability.
"Suppliers must have experience in providing services to organisations of similar size and complexity,'' the document says.
"We are looking for providers who have the capability, experience and infrastructure to deliver the required services across the South Canterbury, Otago and Southland district,'' it says.
Asked for comment, chief operating officer Lexie O'Shea said the board would "consider all compliant proposals received as part of our commercial process''.
"The respondent must have experience in cleaning secondary and tertiary hospital sites, or have successfully implemented the Cleaning Standards for Victorian Health Facilities (2011) in a similar health facility to that tendered. Documentation may be requested to support their claim,'' Mrs O'Shea said.
The contract is for three years, with a two-year renewal option.
Four criteria are considered when choosing a successful tenderer. Of those, price has a 45% weighting in the decision, while ability to meet quality and standards carries a 25% rating, the tender document shows.
