New Engineer Takes Over Honolulu Rail Project
A new contractor is taking over some of the oversight on Honolulu鈥檚 $5.26 billion rail project, and will be paid nearly $50 million to do so.
On Tuesday, the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation awarded a contract to , an international engineering firm, to replace Parsons Brinckerhoff.
CH2M Hill鈥檚 contract is expected to run through the end of construction of the 20-mile rail line, which is slated to be fully operational by 2019.
The company, whose headquarters are in Englewood, Colo., beat out Parsons Brinckerhoff and several other companies to win the $46.1 million contract with HART.
Parsons Brinckerhoff has signed nearly $500 million in engineering contracts with HART that dealt with major components of the rail project, including helping to develop the plan that allowed the city to bring in $1.55 billion in federal grant funds for rail. The company’s current contract will end when the agreed-upon funding dries up, likely early next year.
鈥淲e wouldn鈥檛 be where we are today if it wasn鈥檛 for Parsons Brinckerhoff and the fine work that they did,鈥 HART Executive Director and CEO Dan Grabauskas said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just on the go-forward, we have some different needs. And, in meeting those needs, we scored CH2M Hill higher.鈥
HART鈥檚 most recent contract was with Parsons Brinckerhoff which explains the need to bid once again for a new general engineering contractor.
Grabauskas estimates HART will save millions of dollars because much of the work Parsons Brinckerhoff had been doing can now be brought in-house. HART will takeover certain duties that PB has been doing.
鈥淲e鈥檙e basically switching out consultants for full-time staff,鈥 Grabauskas said. 鈥淧art of that is there are a couple aspects of the contract that are no longer necessary.鈥
The Parsons contract included 23 tasks that the company was asked to do, including preparing a final environmental impact statement. CH2M Hill’s contract, however, only lists a handful of duties along the lines of cost estimates and technical design support.
HART’s operating budget, which includes staff and employee benefits, is $21.5 million for fiscal year 2015. It鈥檚 construction budget for that same year is set at $1.56 billion.
Grabauskas also promised a smooth transition from Parsons Brinckerhoff to CH2M Hill, saying there should be at least some overlap between the two companies.
CH2M Hill already has a for hazardous materials consulting and disposal.
