Tighten control of UH construction

The audit of the development of the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex is a story of missed opportunities. The revitalization of Cooke Field should have been a moment of glory for the University of Hawaii-Manoa, capitalizing on the largest donation ever pledged to UH Athletics. Instead, the facility’s construction is overdue and overbudget, and better management could have prevented many of the problems.

As the UH’s Office of Internal Audit makes clear in its report on the matter, the UH Office of Facilities and Grounds should have run a much tighter ship to reduce the cost overruns and delays associated with the design and construction of the complex, which is at least $3 million overbudget and about a year behind schedule. Along with the higher costs to taxpayers, the delays temporarily got UH in hot water with the NCAA, given that completion of the complex is key to the university meeting Title IX gender-equity requirements in college sports.

The complex, now predicted to be finished in April or May, will include a three-story building on the mauka side of the field that will house offices, locker rooms and a meeting room for women’s soccer, cross country, track and field and sand volleyball. The facility will have grandstand seating for about 2,500 fans and a sand volleyball venue with 800 seats and two courts.

The construction was complicated, with some unavoidable delays caused by unforeseen issues such as underground asbestos. However, poor communication among UH departments and poor budget oversight, cost controls and management by OFG caused the biggest problems. These serious deficiencies are not limited to this project — they reflect systematic failures in the way the university oversees construction projects.

So the solutions must be systematic too, especially when the university is seeking legislative and public support for a massive outlay of revenue bonds to tackle a backlog of $487 million worth of repair and maintenance projects across its 10 campuses. Community support for this outlay depends on being able to trust UH to spend the money wisely, and this project stands out as an example of what not to do.

First and foremost, the Office of Facilities and Grounds, which manages UH construction projects, must correct the problems cited in the 17-page audit, applying the recommendations systemwide. Among the most important points:

» OFG must improve its collaboration with design architects, in this case Mitsunaga and Associates Inc., to ensure that project plans do not exceed the construction budget. More comprehensive reviews up front could have detected and corrected design issues that ended up being discovered during the construction phase of the Ching complex, leading to expensive change orders that simultaneously inflated costs and delayed construction.

» OFG must actively and aggressively monitor construction schedules and costs, and improve its oversight of outside construction managers, in this case Community Planning and Engineering Inc. The Office of Internal Audit was unable to determine what steps, if any, OFG took to get the Ching complex back on track, from either a cost or timing perspective. OFG monitored neither costs-to-date, nor estimated costs at completion, an accounting abdication that must be rectified as soon as possible. Such costs should be analyzed monthly, to determine whether a project is staying within budget.

Although close monitoring of construction projects lies within the university’s management ranks, the leadership to restore the public trust starts with the Board of Regents. The regents must set the tone that "business as usual" on campus construction just won’t cut it, with so many campuses needing so much work.

The Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation intended its $5 million pledge to be a "transformative" gift for UH Athletics, one of lasting and catalyzing impact. Let’s hope that the lessons learned here serve to transform not only the old Cooke Field, but the way the UH Office of Facilities and Grounds operates.