STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2372

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2457

       S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2457 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PROCUREMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require a hearings officer to affirm the decision of a procurement officer in protests, unless the procurement officer's decision is shown by clear and convincing evidence to be arbitrary, capricious, fraudulent, or clearly erroneous.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from General Contractors Association of Hawaii; Ralph S. Inouye Co. Ltd; Associated Builders and Contractors Inc.; Grace Pacific Corporation; King & Neel, Inc.; S & M Sakamoto, Inc.; Healy Tibbitts Builders, Inc.; Royal Contracting Co., Ltd.; Nordic Construction PCL; Rons Construction Corporation; and Forest City Military Communities Hawaii.  Testimony in opposition to this measure was received from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs.

     Your Committee finds that the intent of this measure is to simplify and expedite the procurement appeal process by recognizing the procuring agency's experience and expertise in the procurement process, while preserving the right of review of a procuring agency's decision to the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  On the recommendation of the General Contractors Association of Hawaii, inserting additional language that details a hearings process that better balances the expediting of procurements delayed by constant protest appeals with preservation of the right of review of a procuring agency's decision; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2457, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2457, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs,

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair