Inside Honolulu: August 8
There’s always something interesting going on at Honolulu Hale.
Civil Beat is reporting from the inside.
1:42 p.m. Bombardier on Appeal
On Friday, the state’s Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs officially rejected the rail appeal filed by would-be contractor Bombardier.
Vice President Andy Robbins says the company will “seriously consider” taking the case to court. He provided the following statement to Inside Honolulu this afternoon:
Mike, We continue to believe that the law is on our side and that the DCCA Hearings Officer got this one wrong. It appears that the Hearings Officer relied on a clever twisting of the facts by the City鈥檚 attorney when he conceived a theory that Bombardier 鈥渃onditioned鈥 its proposal to gain a price advantage on its competition. There was zero actual evidence presented to the Hearings Officer to justify such a theory. As the person responsible for Bombardier鈥檚 proposal, I can absolutely tell you that this is 100% false 鈥 Bombardier鈥檚 price would not have changed one bit at that time or now.
Bombardier is hugely disappointed it was never afforded the chance for a full hearing to present evidence and testimony to tell the real story of what happened and to show clearly that the City never had any meaningful discussions in regard to the issue on which it would disqualify our proposal at the last moment.
The real shame of this situation is that the Bombardier proposal represented the lowest total price and highest technical and management score (a fact apparently missed by the Hearings Officer) and therefore should have been given every consideration even if the City felt there was a flaw in the proposal. I believe taxpayers would want the City to do everything it could to include the best proposal, not find a way to disregard it. The Hawaii procurement code not only permits this course of action but compels the City to do so in the interest of the taxpayer; instead we now have a situation where the City must defend its decision that is considered a poor choice by transportation experts.
The Bombardier proposal also contained many important elements that were passed over in the course of this controversy 鈥 for example the inclusion of local assembly of the train cars, superior seating for passengers on the proposed trains, jobs and training arrangements with local colleges and the University of Hawaii, the inclusion of both noise/vibration control experts and corrosion control experts on its team and the inclusion of the Vancouver SkyTrain operating company to ensure that Honolulu鈥檚 system would be operated correctly right from the start.
Additionally, Bombardier has completed a multitude of complex design-build-operate-maintain projects in North America and would therefore not have to rely on any support from 13 time zones away in Europe. Even our other competitor, Sumitomo, has completed a few similar projects here in the United States. The selected supplier not only has never completed any such projects here but does not have the expertise here 鈥 for proof one simply can examine their proposal and see who their key personnel are and where they are located.
Bombardier has a ten day period from last Friday鈥檚 ruling by the Hearings Officer to appeal to Circuit Court and will seriously consider doing so.
11:07 a.m. Carlisle In Da Hale
Mayor Peter Carlisle is back in town.
Out of state 鈥 and the country 鈥 last week for a visit to Japan, Carlisle was spotted just moments ago descending the steps at Honolulu Hale. He’s wearing a dark pinstripe suit, and had just enough time for a smile and a wave.
According to Carlisle’s note to the Honolulu City Council, Managing Director Doug Chin was running the show from Aug. 1 through yesterday.
Carlisle has no public events on his schedule until Thursday, but if he’s jet-lagged, he’s sucking it up at the office.
8:38 a.m. Where’s City Oversight?
A good story elsewhere on Civil Beat this morning from Washington Bureau Chief Adrienne LaFrance about how the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development says the city should have caught the problems at ORI Anuenue Hale before the federal probe uncovered them.
Read it here: HUD: City Should Have Caught ORI’s Problems
8:32 a.m. Police Department Names Names
The Honolulu Police Department can’t seem to make up its mind on a policy of releasing even the names (let alone the salaries) of its officers.
Read the latest episode, reported on Civil Beat this morning by John Temple and Alia Wong, here: Honolulu Police Declines to Name Promoted Officers 鈥 Then Names Them
Carlisle on Japan, in Video
Over the weekend, the mayor’s office shared four videos of Peter Carlisle talking about various aspects of his trip to Japan. Here are those videos:
Where’s Carlisle?
Mayor Peter Carlisle was scheduled to be out of the state through Aug. 7, meaning he was to have returned either yesterday or today. He might be back from Japan, but has no local public events scheduled for today.
Read Previous Editions of Inside Honolulu
August 5: 6:51 p.m. Carlisle in Japan, in Photos; Bombardier Officially Rejected; Ansaldo Enlisted to Fix San Fran’s Light Rail Cars; Traffic Ticket Quota; Carlisle’s Public Sked; Ansaldo Honolulu “Pleased” With Finmeccanica Restructuring; Waianae’s Clean Water Award; Chair Garcia’s Checklist; Where’s Carlisle?
August 4: Congestion Tolls in Honolulu … Someday; HART Here, HART There; Zoning Appeals Board Appointments Advance; Committee Moves Sign Bill Forward; Moratorium Lifted on New Sewer Connections in Waimanalo; Free Speech vs. Open Space; Today’s Committees; Where’s Carlisle?
August 3: Board Defends Rate Hike; Appointee Asked About Water Rates; Tow Trucking Debated; Seniors, Disabled Ask for Help; ORI Discussion Coming Soon; Today’s Committees; Fewer Golfers, More Money; Chang’s Public Service; Where’s Carlisle?
August 2: Case Closed, Not Decided; City Rests, Ansaldo Satisfied; City Witness Rebuts Sumitomo; Ireland, Silva Like Merger; Talking Merger; No Competition for Carlisle; Berg: GOP “Party of the Skin Heads”; Today’s Committees; Want Train? Get Brains; Where’s Carlisle?
August 1: Across the Street?; Waipahu Board Backs Hoopili; Executive Session?; Ansaldo Responds; Rail Appeal Continues, With Questions Churning About Ansaldo; Sewage Spill in Kailua; Where’s Carlisle?
