HART board defers $8.7M delay claim approval

For a third month in a row, rail board members have held off approving a nearly $9 million delay claim for Ansaldo Honolulu because they’re not yet comfortable with the deal.

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation board’s Finance and Project Oversight committees deferred approving the $8.7 million Ansaldo claim during their joint meeting Thursday. The group first looked at the deal for approval in July, but instead of approving it, they’ve repeatedly opted to scrutinize whether the costs are justified.

“It’s not something that we should allow anyone to feel that because there’s this money that we’re somehow going to roll over or cave in,” board member Colleen Hanabusa said after the joint meeting Thursday. Ansaldo officials did not respond to requests for comment Friday.

In 2011 Ansaldo won a $1.4 billion contract — the largest in state history — to design, build, operate and maintain Oahu’s elevated rail project. The contract doesn’t include the elevated guideway or stations.

Rail staff say the delay claim would cover the approximately nine-month delay in 2012 that barred Ansaldo from starting work, when rival Bombardier challenged the award of that contract in court. The city awarded Ansaldo the contract in March 2011, and Ansaldo expected to start work the following month, but the Bombardier challenge kept work from starting until January 2012, according to HART documents.

Hanabusa said there could be an issue over whether Ansaldo followed the proper steps to remain entitled to the delay claim.

“Are they entitled to or did they waive the rights to the claim? The contract is specific to what you must do, and did they waive the rights to the claim? They say no, we say yes, so, it comes down to that,” Hanabusa said Thursday. “This is an issue that’s before us for the settlement, and that’s what the staff is recommending, a settlement. And the reason why we’re doing what we’re doing is we’re not sure. And we think the time that we spend to think about it is to everyone’s benefit.”

The board first deferred the claim when board member and city Department of Transportation Services Director Mike Formby raised concerns that rail staff hadn’t presented them with sufficient information to decide whether it was a good deal.

“There’s not enough material here for me to even ask informed questions,” Formby said July 30. “I know we’ve asked in the past for more specificity (on change orders), but I just don’t see it.”

The HART board next meets in mid-October.