Guam – GSA Advisory, attorney Robert Kono confirms that Far East Equipment has filed a protest over the Port of Guam’s ongoing effort to procure new generators for the seaport.
GSA has not yet responded to the protest which was filed 2 days ago on the 25th of February.
“We are working as quickly as possible on the response.”, said Kono.
Once GSA responds to the protest, Far East has the option to file an appeal with the Office of Public Accountability.
The procurement has been mired in delays.
The Port has been without sufficient backup generating capacity since May of last year. There is only 1 generator, for the Administration building, which was moved to power the Load Center 4 area [LC4] where cold storage containers need to be kept cool to preserve the food inside them.
Without sufficient emergency backup generating capacity, Port General Manager Joane Brown has said a major power outage would knock out power to 80% of the Port.
$860-thousand dollars in Federal funds are available to purchase the generators. The money must be obligated by August of this year.
At the start of this year, Governor Calvo issued an emergency procurement declaration assigning responsibility to the Port to procure the generators, rather than Chief Procurement Office Claudia Acfalle who si the GSA Director.
However, Deputy Attorney General Pat Mason issued an opinion stating that “the chief procurement officer is the only entity authorized to procure generators for the Port through the emergency procurement process.” He concluded that in order “to ensure the legality of the Port’s emergency procurement of backup generators, the Port must enlist the Chief Procurement Officer to make the emergency procurement.”
As a result, earlier this month, Port GM Brown agreed, telling PNC News that Port Management, in consultation with the Governor, agreed to turn the procurement over to GSA’s Claudia Acfalle.
However, complicating the matter further, the Emergency procurement designation expired Thursday February 13th. And Brown told PNC that has delayed the procurement of those generators for another 4 weeks, at least.
