Just a week before bids were due, the first round of sales at auction of the now-bankrupt Steward Health Care System’s hospitals will be delayed by several weeks, according to court filings.

The Bay State is home to eight operational Steward Hospitals, all of which are up for sale now that the Dallas-based company is going through bankruptcy proceedings. Bids for the hospitals were due, according to a court order, by the end of next week with an auction to follow.

However, in filings with the court this week, Steward has pushed the bid deadline back to July 15, with an auction to commence on July 18 and a sale hearing on July 31.

Steward did not — and according to the “Global Bidding Procedures” included in a prior court order — does not have to include a reason for the delay in their court filings.

“Pursuant to the Global Bidding Procedures, the Debtors may, after consultation with the Consultation Parties, extend one or more of the Bid Deadlines for any reason whatsoever, in their reasonable business judgment, for all or certain Potential Bidders, without further order of the Bankruptcy Court, subject to providing notice to all Potential Bidders and the Consultation Parties,” Steward’s lawyers wrote.

The company did indicate this may not be the only delay.

“The deadlines set forth in this notice may be further extended in accordance with the Bidding Procedures Order and Global Bidding Procedures,” attorneys for the hospital system wrote.

Steward filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protections on May 6, following months of reporting on their struggle to keep up with their debts and maintain their 31 hospitals.

State monitors have been in place in the company’s Bay State hospitals since January, deployed to ensure quality of patient care, after it was revealed the healthcare provider is apparently behind on its debts enough to find itself embroiled in several lawsuits from suppliers and the owners of the land on which the hospitals sit.

Just before Steward announced they would begin bankruptcy proceedings, Gov. Maura Healey’s administration launched an “emergency operations plan” aimed at dealing with whatever fallout may come from Steward’s dire financial circumstances and the potential for disruption to patient care at any of the company’s Massachusetts hospitals.

Steward facilities include Carney Hospital in Dorchester, Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Holy Family Hospitals in Haverhill and Methuen, Morton Hospital in Taunton, Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River, and St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton. Steward’s Norwood Hospital has been closed since 2020 due to flooding, and the company recently closed New England Sinai Hospital permanently.

A spokesperson for Steward did not return a request for comment.

Also on Thursday, advocates from the communities surrounding Holy Family Hospital in Haverhill and the Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer delivered petitions urging “Governor, Attorney General, and Legislature to step up and use their power,” to save the facilities.

“We’re done with politicians putting on a show; it’s time for them to actually help us get the healthcare we need,” the petitions read.