Senators told Hawaii
firms are getting more
Army and Navy jobs

By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

The Army and the Navy today said local construction companies are increasingly getting a larger share of military construction business, despite the perception that federal projects here are being awarded to large mainland firms.

And both services added that when subcontractors are figured into the picture, the numbers are even larger.

Lt. Cmdr. Drew Rowlands, a Navy spokesman, said that in fiscal year 1996, 57.3 percent of the Navy's military new construction projects, totaling $172.7 million, went to local companies.

In fiscal year 1997, 68.8 percent of the Navy's $204.9 million for new construction went to local firms, and in the last fiscal year, the figure was 81.8 percent of $99.8 million.

Rowlands, speaking at a Senate symposium at the State Capitol, said he didn't have an explanation for the upward trend. "Maybe a great deal of Hawaii firms are developing better and more competitive proposals," he said.

Lt. Col. Wally Waters, Army spokesman, noted a similar trend.

In fiscal year 1996, 74 percent of the $118 million spent for new housing construction projects went to local firms.

Last fiscal year, 81 percent of $105.9 million went to island companies.

Waters also noted that in several instances, even when a mainland firm won a major contract to build new Army housing, more than 70 percent of the subcontracting work was awarded to Hawaii companies.

The Senate symposium was convened today because of the plight of Hawaii's construction industries.

More than 12,000 workers lost their jobs over the past few years, and there was concern that the military was not following a 1986 federal law drafted by Hawaii's Sen. Daniel Inouye and Alaska's Sen. Ted Stevens.

That law requires the military to use local contractors when the employment rate in Hawaii and Alaska climbs above the national average.

However, Jennifer Goto, a spokeswoman for Inouye, said there were problems with the law and companion federal regulations, such as the lack of an enforcement agency and no clear definition of what constitutes an island resident.

Rowlands acknowledged that a resident could be someone with a post office box here or a locally incorporated business.

Stan Sasaki, an official with the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Pacific Division, said the Navy identifies an island resident or company "as someone who is firmly entrenched in the state of Hawaii."