Karin Stanton/Hawaii247.com Contributing Editor

Repairs to a North Kohala gym that was damaged more than two years ago in the earthquakes have been delayed after the county sent the project out to bid again.

The Ikuo Hisaoka Gymnasium, a county Parks & Recreation facility in Kamehameha Park in Kapaau, North Kohala, sustained major structural damage during the Oct. 15, 2006 earthquakes.

The connections between several of the building’s concrete columns and the steel roof framing were compromised by a loss of concrete around the anchor bolts. The earthquake also damaged much of the suspended ceiling and many of the light fixtures.  Other damage included broken plumbing fixtures, cracked walls and broken tiles.

“We have been working closely with the apparent low bidder, BRK Construction, to determine the validity of its submitted bid and supporting documentation,” the Department of Parks & Recreation announced in the latest issue of the county’s newsletter. 

“In that time, we have been seeking advice and recommendations from the State’s Contractors Licensing Board, the county’s Corporation Counsel, the county’s Purchasing Agent and numerous staff project managers to determine the appropriate course of action to take and to resolve specific matters pertaining to the award,” the newsletter continues. “We were also in the process of seeking clarification on the State’s procurement law with the State Procurement Office for guidance on future incidents of this nature – should they occur.”

On Friday, Oct. 10 – more than month after opening the bid – the director of Public Works, with support from the Department of Parks & Recreation, determined the prudent action was to cancel the current bid and immediately re-bid the project. 

According to the newsletter, the low bidder’s failure to list appropriately licensed subcontractors for specialty classification work required for the project in compliance with state law and whether the 1 percent exception provided by state law on subcontractor listing can be applied as is allowed the discretion of the director of Public Works.  

Upon further study, the county found “grey areas with respect to interpretation and application of the state’s procurement code, wording in the county’s bid documents, as well as contractor licensing issues that were not readily resolvable.”  

Also, the price difference between the apparent low bidder and apparent second low bidder, $437,239 for the base bid alone or $534,762 for the complete project is too great a disparity.  

“What could also potentially complicate the decision to award to the apparent second lowest bidder is that funding for the project is primarily coming from the county’s insurer, AIG, and the majority of the balance from FEMA, so they could potentially have problems funding the project at the higher cost due to the aforementioned grey areas,” the newsletter states.

County officials now are beginning to schedule the new bid’s advertising, required pre-bid conference, and bid opening dates and getting quotes for printing of the new bid documents.  They also are working on the paperwork to cancel the previous bid and repackaging the documents for the new bid. 

Officials acknowledged the bid glitch was a disappointment, but the decision “was made in the best interests of the project’s timeline, sources of funds and procurement matters.”

The original bids ranged between $1.4 million and $2.4 million.

— Find out more:

Department of Parks and Recreation: http://co.hawaii.hi.us/directory/dir_parks.htm, 961-8311