The award of what is expected to be the largest public works contract in city history has been delayed in part because the city rail authority hasn’t been able to obtain city permits for work along the rail line, according to a consultant that is overseeing the rail project for the federal government.

Officials with the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation have said they repeatedly delayed awarding the contract for a public-private partnership, or P3 agreement, to built the last segment of the rail line because the bidders asked for more time.

But a new report from federal consultant Hill International Inc. says the P3 procurement is stalled by delays in getting city permits for city center utility relocation work along the path of the rail line, and also by the need to increase the “production capacity” of the contractor responsible for moving those utilities.

In other words, the city rail authority is having trouble getting permits from another city agency, which is delaying the effort to award a huge new city contract.

When asked about that line in the Hill International report, HART Executive Director Andrew Robbins said, “I wouldn’t totally agree with the way they worded it.”

Promptly awarding the P3 contract is critical to the rail project because the new contractor must complete the last 4.1-mile segment of the 20-mile rail line along with eight city center rail stations in time for the scheduled opening of the entire rail system in December 2025.

The P3 contractor is also supposed to build a 1,600-stall parking garage and transit center at Pearl Highlands, and would be tasked with operating and maintaining the entire rail line from East Kapolei to Ala Moana Center for 30 years.

The construction work under the P3 contract is expected to cost about $1.4 billion, and operating the new system is expected to cost the city between $127 million and $144 million per year. That means the contract will be worth billions of dollars in the decades ahead.

The utility relocation work is critical to the P3 contract because it involves moving power, water and other utilities out of the way of the rail project so the P3 contractor can quickly begin construction on the rail guideway and stations in the city center area.

According to the federal consultant, HART must notify the P3 bidders by March 9 when that utility work will be done, and the winning bidder will get access to each segment of the city center portion of the project. The P3 bids will be based in part on those access dates.

But that utility relocation work is now running seven months behind schedule, according to Hill. To speed up the process, HART has been seeking city permission to close all but one lane of traffic in each direction along the Dillingham Boulevard corridor so utility relocation crews can work on the project both night and day.

Everyone understands that utility relocation construction will cause a traffic snarl in a particularly busy section of the city, and HART was required to submit a new traffic management plan to the city Department of Transportation Services before its construction crews are allowed to restrict the traffic flow on Dillingham to just two lanes.

HART submitted that traffic plan to the city in December, and is still trying to win final city approval of the plan so the city can issue permits for day and night construction to accelerate the utility relocation work along Dillingham Boulevard.

HART and city transportation officials have been in discussions for months to try to work out details such as the use of off-duty police officers to direct traffic, and how HART will ensure businesses and residents along Dillingham that they can be guaranteed access to their properties at all times.

Robbins said HART expects to finalize the traffic management plan with DTS by Feb. 24, “and we would look forward to getting the permits soon after,” he said. “We’re at the point now where we’re buttoning all that up,” and can soon begin closing lanes to make room for major utility relocation construction in mid-March.

He told the HART board Thursday that the rail authority will host a community meeting at Kalihi Kai Elementary School on March 10 to brief the community on its plans.

As for the consultant’s observation that the delay in city permits is delaying both the utility work and the awarding of the P3 contract, Robbins said the delay in the P3 bidding was mostly because the bidders asked for more time.

“They had issues with regard to their teams and the amount of work that they needed to do, so that is correct, that’s the primary reason,” Robbins said. But he acknowledged there were delays in providing some key information to the bidders, “so that did contribute somewhat.”

The P3 contract was originally supposed to be awarded Sept. 30, but HART has now delayed the date four times. The contract is now scheduled to be awarded May 15.