$9M rail delay claim deferred

For a second consecutive month, those overseeing Honolulu’s rail project have held off approving a nearly $9 million delay claim for Ansaldo Honolulu, the firm that’s creating the elevated transit system’s rail cars and operating system.

The deferral Thursday by the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation board is the latest example of heightened project scrutiny in the wake of rail’s projected $910 million budget shortfall — and the state’s authorization of a five-year rail tax extension to cover those costs. Board members say they want as much detail to justify the claim as possible, and that they don’t want to serve as a rubber stamp in approving such claims.

The $8.7 million Ansaldo claim stems from a nine-month delay in 2012 that barred the firm from starting work while rival Bombardier challenged the award of that contract in court.

At its July 30 meeting, the HART board opted not to vote whether to accept the claim after one of its members, city Department of Transportation Services Director Mike Formby, expressed frustration at not having enough details to cast an informed vote.

“There’s not enough material here for me to even ask informed questions,” Formby said at the July meeting. “I know we’ve asked in the past for more specificity (on change orders), but I just don’t see it.”

At Thursday’s joint meeting of rail’s Finance and Project Oversight committees, HART board member Colleen Hanabusa said the board would defer on the claim again. After the meeting, Hanabusa, who joined the board earlier this summer, said that she’s still looking for more details from rail staff on the claim as it pertains to Ansaldo’s contract.

“I just want to feel very comfortable that when we arrive at a decision that we have looked at everything,” Hanabusa said. “It’s the public’s money. … It’s being able to justify it to the public.”

A challenge, Hanabusa added, is that much of the existing HART staff working on the issue wasn’t with the semiautonomous agency back when Ansaldo’s contract was inked.

Ansaldo did not respond to requests for comment after the meeting.

On Thursday those committees did approve a delay-related change order of $6.23 million to cover the extra costs of reinforcing steel (rebar) used to build the rail line. Kiewit Infrastructure West, which is building the first 10 miles of the line, endured a combined 33-month delay due to legal challenges in state court, and from rail officials’ prematurely granting notice to start their contract before project officials had all the proper permits secured.

Kiewit had initially requested some $9.4 million in rebar-related costs due to the claims, according to HART Deputy Project Manager John Moore. Moore, who also serves as rail’s chief negotiator, gave the board a detailed rundown on the rebar claims and how rail staff calculated what they deemed to be a fair settlement. Daniel Grabauskas, HART executive director and CEO, said that resulted from Formby’s request for more details at the previous meeting.