On January 24, 2012, the Committee on Economic Revitalization and Business held a hearing to discuss a number of different bills being considered in the 2012 legislative session. Attached here is an agenda for the meeting, which identifies proposed legislation that can affect Hawaii's construction industry. Excerpts from the meeting agenda include the followng:
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RELATING TO PROCUREMENT. Imposes time limits on rendering administrative and judicial review decisions; limits protests to those that are a minimum percentage of the contract value; requires posting of a protest bond, to be forfeited if the protesting party does not prevail.
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ERB, FIN |
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RELATING TO PUBLIC WORKS. Establishes a preference for the use of American iron, steel, and manufactured goods in the construction, alteration, or repair of public works.
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ERB, CPC, FIN |
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RELATING TO THE HAWAII PUBLIC PROCUREMENT CODE. Amends section 103D-707, HRS, to permit an additional post-award remedy if the contract is not fully executed. Allows for rescission of the award and application of remedies provided for in section 103D-706, HRS.
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RELATING TO PROCUREMENT. Temporarily authorizes the governor or a county mayor to exempt a construction or design-build procurement from protest concerning the procurement and administrative review of a nonresponsible offeror determination. Requires, as a condition of the exemption, that all bids and proposals, including amendments or revisions, evaluations, and ratings be released for public inspection. Requires the posting of the information on the state or county website. |
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RELATING TO CONTRACTS. Shortens the time by which subcontractors are to receive progress and final payments from contractors on government and private construction projects. Provides interest penalties for late payments.
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ERB, CPC/JUD |
In an earlier blog post noted the City's public statement that it intended to find ways to exempt itself from the procurement code. More recently, and as part of its plan to inject capital into the Hawaii construction market, the legislature said it wanted to streamline the procurement process. These legislative offerings look like an attempt to do that, by exempting certain types of disputes from bid protests (bidder responsibility issues), shortening time for review, putting a threshhold requirement on bid protests, etc. We'll talk more about these efforts as they work their way through the system.