An effort to buy new Handi-Vans for the 3,500 or so Oahu residents who use the aging vehicles each day is moving ahead, now that a deadline to contest the city’s decision to go with a Honolulu-based company for the vans has passed.
Four protests against the city’s bid-selection process had already stalled efforts to replenish the 162-van fleet for more than two years. Honolulu transit officials say the city expects to buy 25 to 30 new vans each year.
The delay has kept older Handi-Vans on the road longer, and many of the passengers say the vehicles are showing their age with rickety seats, exterior lifts that don’t work and other issues.
The latest firm to protest the bid award was West Sacramento, Calif.-based Electro-Hydraulics LLC.
City officials recently rejected the company’s protest, but expressed concern that Electro-Hydraulics might appeal to the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, a move that would further delay the arrival of 99 new vans.
However, no such appeal was filed by the deadline Tuesday "so the city is in the clear to buy more Handi-Vans," Jesse Broder Van Dyke, spokesman for Mayor Kirk Caldwell, said in an email late Thursday.
Representatives for Electro-Hydraulics could not be reached Friday at the Honolulu-based office where they receive documents locally.
Department of Transportation Services Director Michael Formby said Electro-Hydraulics protested the city’s decision to award the Handi-Van bid to Soderholm Sales & Leasing because Soderholm did not provide warranty documents in its bid proposal. However, Formby said, Soderholm didn’t need to include those warranty documents with the bid, but they do need to be included when the Handi-Vans are eventually delivered.
About 80 percent of the TheHandi-Van fleet has exceeded its "minimum service life," or the number of years that a van purchased with federal dollars has to stay in service for the city to avoid financial penalties. Most of the fleet has a minimum service life of five years, according to a fleet roster provided by Oahu Transit Services.
City officials have said they hope to get the 99 new Handi-Vans in 2014. On Friday, they didn’t have any update.
Broder Van Dyke said city officials will do "everything in their power" to expedite the delivery of the vehicles.
