The Bermuda Hospital Board will announce "in about a month" the company that will build the new hospital.

The final cost of the multimillion-dollar project will not be known until the company is selected.

On Tuesday, Chief Executive Officer of the Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) David Hill told the Hamilton Rotary Club a lot of work has gone into the capital development project, which will see a whole new wing created at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

"We will announce our preferred bidder from among the three competing bid teams in about a month's time, move toward signing a contract with that team by year's end, and then groundbreaking shortly after," he said. "If this procurement process was a horse race, I would say we're in the home stretch."

Although the final costs have yet to be decided, the Ministry of Finance has estimated it will cost $315 million.

Mr. Hill explained that although the final figures has yet to be decided — it will depend on which company is chosen — the BHB already has a payment plan in place.

"Repayment to the private partner begins with a lump-sum payment when construction is completed to BHB's specifications, and then monthly payments for the 30 year repayment term," he said. " For clarity, BHB enters into a contract with the private partner before construction starts, with a repayment mechanism that will be spread over 30 years only once construction is completed to our satisfaction.

"In addition to the capital construction costs, the payments also cover design costs, financing costs, maintenance for the 30 year operating period, and life cycle costs for refurbishment and replacement of all major systems as necessary."

They have also told the three bidders the absolute max they are willing to spend, a figure which has not been made public.

"The reason this is not public information is that the whole negotiation is commercially sensitive, and could impact our ability to negotiate the best value for Bermuda if we make this confidential information public," he said. "The team which best meets BHB's specifications, while offering best value will be chosen as preferred bidder."

He said the company that wins the bid would submit their designs to the Department of Planning "in a month's time".

The BHB has undergone a long, detailed process before construction begins to ensure that the right decisions are made, he said. The current building is 50 years old, according to the a report by Johns Hopkins Medicine International in order to meet Bermuda's current and future medical needs they need an additional 50 percent of clinical space.

"Quite simply, the need for this new building is urgent if we are to provide the right services at the right standard in the near future and in the years to come. Anyone who has been to King Edward - and there are very few who never have occasion to go there - knows we are cramped.

"We have health care professionals sharing offices, up to four patients in public rooms sharing bathroom facilities, waiting areas are squeezed and lack privacy, even basic new equipment requires extensive and sometimes costly modernisation renovations, and the journey for patients through the hospital is unacceptable.

"An example of this is how patients sometimes have to be wheeled through public areas to get to diagnostic imaging, or how a tired and scared mother has to be wheeled out of maternity, through a public corridor and up a lift for an emergency caesarean. It is demeaning, lacks dignity and privacy for the patient, and from an infection prevention perspective far from ideal."