Senate Standing Committee on Government Operations

Welcome to the Premier First Edition for the 2026 session of the Hawaii Senate Committee on Government Operations. This is an informational briefing this day Tuesday, December 16, 2025. 3:00pm Room 229. My name is Angus McKelvey, Chair of the Committee.

Other Members Committee will be joining us, but I do have my Members Senator Sharon Moriwaki who was the former Chair of this Committee before. So very glad to have you Senator. The meeting this info briefing is to receive updates from the Department of Accounting and General Services, Office of the Comptroller and State Procurement Office.

This briefing is being streamed live on YouTube. You can find links to the viewing options for all Senate hearings and meetings on the live on demand video webpage on the Legislature's website capital.hawaii.gov in the unlikely event we have to must abruptly end the briefing due to major technical difficulties.

If a future date can be arranged with the presenters, the Committee will reconvene and a public notice will be posted on the Legislature's website. Since this is an informational briefing, only invited speakers will provide testimony to the Committee. But I think that's it.

There will be not be any public testimony, though members of the public are always welcome to contact my office with their comments and concerns and questions. Briefing materials from today's presenters are linked from the briefing notice and will also be posted online at the Senate's GBO Committee webpage on the Legislature's website.

And with that we are going to start this off with the State Procurement Office. Let me get my notepad here.

Good afternoon Chair Members of the Committee. Bonnie Kahukui with the State Procurement Office. I'd like to introduce Carrie Anchabuya who is our Small Business Coordinator who will do the presentation. Great afternoon.

Good afternoon. Chair McKelvey and Senator Moriwaki. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. We're here today to provide an overview of the Small Business Procurement Program.

This program will support support the growth of the local economy by empowering small businesses within our state, Promoting economic growth and supplier diversity by providing essential resources and opportunities for small businesses.

The Small Business Procurement Program out of the State Procurement Office aims to create a robust ecosystem where Hawaii small businesses can thrive and contribute to our state's economy.

Chapter 103d, Part 9, Assistance to Small Businesses directs the SPO to establish a Small Business Initiative program to ensure that small businesses, including those owned by veterans, Native Hawaiians and women, are able to effectively participate in small business contracting opportunities in the state.

With the term of the Initiative Ending on June 27, 2027 we are proposing a permanent small business procurement program to ensure the success of the initiative and provide a sustainable increase in the state's buy of goods, services and construction from small and veteran Native Hawaiian and women owned small businesses.

Our mission is to expand access to state procurement opportunities for small businesses through outreach, advocacy, education, certification and compliance and my mission as the Small Business Procurement Coordinator is to educate and empower small businesses to confidently engage in state contracting and equip procurement professionals with the tools and expertise needed to effectively implement small business focused initiatives.

Our vision is a more inclusive, competitive and resilient procurement ecosystem where small businesses are an integral part of state contracting. These are some highlights from the past year. We attended 14 outreach events to connect with the small business community.

We developed relationships and collaborated with other small business agencies including the sba, dbet, Apex Accelerator and the City and County of Honolulu's Oahu Business Connector through the Office of Economic Revitalization.

We connected with other state small business programs including those from California and Washington State and we produced a monthly newsletter and created a dedicated website for the Small Business Office at hawaiismallbusinessoffice.org where you'll find resources, training events and the latest updates about the program.

In June, in partnership with the Small Business Office operating out of Solutions Pacific, we conducted two statewide surveys, one for small businesses and one for procurement professionals, to gauge the current knowledge base and needs of small businesses and agencies we aim to serve. We developed draft administrative rules to support Chapter 103d, Part 9, Assistance to Small Businesses.

After getting input from the small business community and from the Members of the Procurement Policy Board, we also strengthened small business vendor Registration in the Hand Small Business database with a 38% increase in registrations in 2025. These were our key outreach events for 2025.

A highlight for me was attending the Maui Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce's Holomua Business Fest in Wailea. This event focused heavily on providing learning opportunities for small and impacted businesses and their families post fires and we facilitated a business workshop where attendees shared that they each took away something valuable for their small or future small businesses.

Another highlight was doing the Career Exploration Series at Ilima Intermediate where We taught an 8th grade math class about starting and running a small business and opportunities to become a state contractor. These are some key recommendations that emerged from the small business surveys compiled by Solutions Pacific.

These were also consistent to a similar survey conducted by SPO in 2016.

We found a strong desire from both vendors and government agencies for increased education and training as most have limited experience with state small business contracting programs and most are unaware of Chapter 103d part 9 a strong need for centralized Database for a centralized database of pre qualified small businesses in the state and a strong desire for small business set asides which is also directed by Chapter 103d906.

Part of the initiative is to establish a statewide small business database. Our focus is on small businesses interested in contracting with state or local government agencies. This database will be the foundational tool for outreach efforts, help us track participation and percentage goals and most importantly will be used to connect government agencies with small businesses for relevant opportunities.

Currently, we are encouraging small businesses to register in the small business database. In hands, agencies and other businesses are able to search the database for small businesses in different service categories. Looking ahead the current five year initiative will end in June 2027.

We want to get interim administrative rules for small business assistance approved by the end of this term and during this time we will also be growing the small business database which will eventually be used as the list of certified Hawaii small businesses once the interim rules are rolled out.

After that we will move into the implementation phase where we will not only introduce the new rules to state agencies but also provide the needed training on how to implement them. Our future goals are to continue to help small businesses, government and the community thrive.

We will continue to build strong partnerships within the small business community with vendors and with other state agencies. We will help small businesses navigate the state procurement process effectively and we'll strive to keep taxpayer dollars in Hawaii by giving local small businesses a fair chance to compete for state contracts.

We are asking to transition the five year Small Business Assistance Initiative into a permanent small business procurement program to ensure the continuity and long term support for small business participation in state contracting. Hawaii needs the Small Business Procurement Program to serve as the bridge between small businesses and state government opportunities.

We will identify and target areas where support is needed most, make opportunities more accessible and simplify what can often feel like a complex process.

In becoming a contractor for the state, we will be the resource that educates and empowers Hawaii's small businesses to confidently engage in state contracting while simultaneously equipping procurement professionals with the expertise needed to effectively implement small business focused initiatives. Mahalo for your time today.

We're here to answer any questions and please feel free to contact us should you have any questions in the future.

Okay, thank you very much. Thank you. Yep, that's it. Anything from presentations from you at all? No? Okay, so those questions then because we're going to go into the Questions now? Yeah, sure.

Yeah, Fire away. Says to start off, what is your definition of small business? Because I know that the small business, you're looking at Native Hawaiians and veterans and women. But what is your definition when you're saying you're going to increase the number of small businesses?

So right now, according to Chapter 103d, it's. The definition shall be approved by the Policy Board. We're thinking of having levels that include number of employees and average revenue over the past three years and having the principals and managers reside in Hawaii and the majority of employees reside in Hawaii.

So are you using the definition of 50 or fewer or are you, are you saying the policy board is going to set that?

Yeah, we don't have a set number of employees and revenues.

But how are they registering them?

They're registering as a small business. Currently. They are using the SBA standards to register enhance.

Which is, which is very high. It's a large amount. You have to make about 5 million. Excuse me, about $5 million is the lowest threshold. And we found through the surveys that those numbers are way too high.

I mean, you can have up to 500 people and still be considered small business, depending on the industry. So we're looking to reduce that number to fit, a better fit for the state of Hawaii. And so some of the survey questions asked the question, where do you think that small business number should be?

So we need to analyze that and present that to the Procurement Policy Board to see if they agree with that, to make it more palatable to Hawaii residents.

So we passed Act 168 in 2022. So it's now 2025. So I'm looking at what you've done and most of the activities are like, from last year. I mean, this year, this year, still 2025. But. So have you developed the database? And what, what do you have if we're going to say this is a permanent program? What.

What have you developed in terms of certification or some of the other requirements to this year?

Currently, the database. Thank you for the question. So it's. Currently the database has been active for a number of years with the, with the funding. We did have to stop that and then we brought that back.

And only this year we're able to hire Carrie Ann to start that implementation over again or to start these small business rules and to do the outreach programs. So it took a little while to establish the position and to actually get someone on board.

Yeah, so once I was hired in February of 2025, that's when the majority of the work on this initiative started, we did have a small business office consultant hired. But, yeah, until this position was filled, we weren't able to get the full initiative going.

And because it does end in 2027, that cuts it down to like two and a half years rather than a full five years.

Instead of making it permanent, are we looking at maybe extending it to see how effective the program is? Are you actually, I mean, I looked at some of the data, and there were a hundred. I see 164 registered with SBO as, I guess, a small business. And of that, only 22 businesses were actually awarded any contract.

So if I look at performance, I'm thinking your program should be training people how you get awards. And so I'm just wondering, what is your pathway forward so that it's an effective program other than just doing outreach?

Yeah, so the hands data is a very small subset of the actual data. And that's one problem or challenge that we've had is being able to track it.

So in reality, I do believe there's a much larger percentage of small business business is being awarded, but we're just not tracking that because we don't have an approved definition and we don't have the database where the awards are being logged.

So my goal is to have that database up and running so that when these companies do get awards, it is tracking in the system and we do have an accurate percentage.

So that's my concern, is that we passed this program so that it would encourage Native Hawaiians and women and veterans. And we don't see that in the data, Even the data collected. It's small businesses, but it's not, you know, it doesn't show who's getting the awards.

And I think in terms of what I'd like to see is some performance, some performance data on who are you attracting and how are you going out and doing outreach, going to the schools or going wherever you're going? Are you really getting more people or are you helping them register? Are you streamlining your certification process?

What kinds of things are you doing that you actually are helping these different groups that are really the focus, you know, of. Of the bill or the act now. But so, I mean. I think making it permanent without knowing how effective it is is. Is problematic in these times of, you know, limited funds.

And we did give you $366,000, so, you know, for a database of 115,000. And I'd like to see what that database looks like. What are the variables that'll be in there and it should be the kinds of target groups that we wanted to see come into the system and get awards.

Not just come into the system, but actually get awards.

That is a goal of mine as well. I think there's a two prong approach to that. Without the administrative rules on the government side, the buyers don't know to reach out or to target their procurements to small businesses. I think that's one approach.

And then of course on the other side, where Carrie Ann is actually pursuing is reaching out to the small business to say go to Hans, go to Hypro, go to our new e procurement system to look for opportunities that may fit your particular industry or what, whatever service goods or services you have to offer.

So it needs to come from both. Passing the rules will be challenging. That does take a while. We'll have a lot of input. Hopefully the community will engage with us to make sure that we are, you know, on the right path and we're going forward.

Well, you so, so you can pilot the program. You can do a lot of pre. Pre rules kind of work so that you can see how effective you are. So are you going out to veterans groups? Are you going out to women's groups?

Are you going out to native Hawaiian groups so that you can say this is what kinds of projects the state has and be able to generate interest enough to say, yeah, it's a program we should continue forever versus, you know, let's see what you have.

But right now I don't see enough tangible evidence that this is really getting to the groups that we want to get into the system. Not just get into the system, but get awards, you know, to actually have contracts with the state. And I don't see many of them.

A couple that I've seen is like.contracts and they're big, like 17 million and 16 million.

You know, that's not small business. Yeah. I think part of that is because the agencies aren't required or directed to meet any small business goals. Right now it's a May and zero, we might be. And they.

They have the option to. But I think it's kind of hard. I mean if I'm just listening, it's an ultimate chicken and the egg thing. It's kind of hard if they don't know what makes a small business. I don't know if I'm 17 million too big.

Not to an SBA small business, but it is sounds like in your research for Hawaii small businesses, that's just too big of a nut and you're going to have the big companies bidding on it to do the work. So I guess to your point, and then 38 with increasing it. Right.

But to the senator's point, how many new contracts are being given and does this tie into. I think there's confusion in the public between this and preferences and the set asides because people are like, oh, small business, meaning you're going to get a benefit a plus if you bid as a small business.

This program is to give you a plus. Not that this is a program for small businesses to simply be able to put more bids regardless of any preference. Right. So you got. So people thinking, oh, I joined this.

I'm going to get a preference, which means I'm going to get a state contract or a better chance to get one. But in describing it now, there's two buckets here. There's the. Trying to increase the number of. Let them know that this exists. And hey, if you're looking for new business opportunities, don't forget to hunt here.

Kind of what deer tries to do, right. By putting stuff out that they think is going to be targeted to certain groups, certain businesses. These are the projects we see that are going to probably fit into your wheelhouse, really get it out there for them to, you know, to bid them. There's a preference side of it.

There's a government entity, another government entity that's coming in with a bill this year for preferences for Native Hawaiian veteran Small Bone. And I told him, I said, I think we've got something going on already on this. And they're like, really? So this is a major government entity in Hawaii is putting this bill forward.

So right now we're not doing any. They want to see procurement vote. You know, like, for instance, if you're a Native Hawaiian, you get a 10%. Right? You get that preference.

But you guys are really here to set aside instead of preferences, correct? There is a 20. 20%. The statute says there should be a 20% goal or target goal for small businesses. And so that's what we're aiming to. To do.

Like the Federal Government, they have or the agencies that have federal funds are aiming to do, you know, targeted goals. So that's what we're aiming to do. But we need to get these rules in place. There's no preference for it, though, right? It's not.

I don't believe the Federal Government has preference. No, no, no. But there's no. Right now, there's no. Doesn't.

There's not a preference because the bill coming in is about, I think in the past, with my back in the House days, we put some bills forward to try to create a bid preference to make it a little bit easier. Right. Made a Hawaiian business. I'm registered.

I get a 10% bid preference when I put my bid in. Right. Because I'm. That's one of these. So I'm more likely to actually win that contract because of the 10%.

Obviously, everything else has to pencil across the board. Right? Yeah. And we're also talking about two different procurement methods. So set asides are typically for RFP and preferences are typically for IFB. And so I'm kind of envisioning utilization of both preferences and set asides, depending on the type of. For everybody listening, what is a acronym suit?

Oh, sorry. RFP is request for proposals, which means that the vendor writes a proposal and submits a proposal, and it's evaluated by a Committee. Who? Government. Question. Right. Yes, yes, yes. And IFB means it's just the best offer. So like the lowest, the lowest bid.

So in that case, a preference would be beneficial to a local small business because you get that percentage.

Okay, so your plan would be then to try to work in this preference idea into this, into the IFB. Okay. Okay.

Because I think that in day, it's like we want to try to see not only more businesses in the system, and to Senator's point, we want to make it super easy for them because they've got a million other things to do and plus take care of life. Right.

And so we want to make it, I think the number one thing I hear from businesses. It's like, this is just way over my head. I don't have people for this, so I'm out. You know, they, they need a living.

They want it to be like, you know, sit down and they can get anybody in their office to be able to do a, pick up a phone or call somebody, email or have an AI agent perhaps to guide them through these questions. And then it's like, okay, we can do this. My office person can handle it.

They can get on the system. It's easy. Now I'm more likely to try to enter the system and compete for bids. But right now I think there's this preference out there with many of these businesses that it's just way too over the top. I need special people. I need special training.

I barely have enough money to make payroll. How the heck am I going to do this?

This? I'm just going to pass all over the place. So would you say you would support More of a across the board preference rather than for different service categories.

Like just across the board. Like if you're a Hawaiian. Yeah, yeah. And, and, and to, to on the chair's point, I think it's also the procedure and you know, just applying. And what do you do once you get, if you were awarded?

How do you make sure that you keep that award and you do all the kinds of requirements but make it easier? Not so much. I know we have a lot of paperwork at state government, but, you know, how do you streamline that process? Because these people aren't in the system, they're learning it for the first time.

It's almost like hand holding, I suppose until, you know, people are really aware and can actually do this on their own, you're going to have to do that. Yeah, they don't, they don't, they don't even deal with government because it's too complicated. It's too much red tape and so on, so forth.

So what are you doing in that area? So the preference is one thing, but you know, you still need to fill out the forms and do all of the kinds of stuff that, to get an award. That, that's where I think a big problem is.

Even applying to state government. Yeah. That was the number one recommendation from the survey results too, was everyone wants increased education and training both on government side and small business side.

Guys, thinking in terms of how you're going to do that, because if you're really trying to attract these different groups into state government getting awards, how are you making that easier?

What is your plan for doing that?

Well, well, we've had vendor, vendor briefings, vendor informational sessions in the past and especially if we go into new rules, we will have to hold these informational briefings for them or training sessions for them to tell them, okay, this is what the new rules are and how they can best navigate, you know, the rules.

In addition to some of the procurement types of questions or procurement methodology that's being used by the various state agencies, we probably won't be as successful in the federal arena for those federal funds because those have very specific guidelines.

But certainly on the state side we can look at that and see where we can assist the agencies and the vendors in navigating procurement.

Yeah, I'm just focusing on state projects. Yeah, yeah. And we have discussed with solutions specific, our small business office creating a schedule for next year even before the rules get passed. What are some things you can do to get access to state opportunities? What are things that procurement professionals in the state what are they?

What options do they have? Do they have to do a lowest bid? Can they do an RFP if they want and put in a requirement or like a points for small business. We also are collaborating with other agencies like DBETs doing their small business fair in February.

So we're going to participate in that and just making sure we get out there with any other agency that's doing a small business event. Because our focus is not on just like anyone who wants to create a small business. Like I own a small business, but it's a swimwear brand.

So it's like we don't want, we don't want. So we're, we are focused like we're targeting those businesses who specifically typically are like okay, I can see my business potentially getting a state contract. So we're participating in these small business events to target those people and those people are seeking resources from us for that.

So how many people have you attracted and can just hold their hand and say this is how you get an award or you know, this is what you have to do at least to get to the point of getting close to an award?

Yeah, well, for those outreach events that I listed, I do have a list of contacts that I've made from those events.

I don't know the number off the top of my head, but I keep track of every event. We can get some kind of information on what you have done and what kind of responses you have had.

I think that would be very helpful to see where you're going to this. Yeah, sure, definitely. Senator Moriwaki is right. I mean we're under a lot of crunches, obviously not of our own doing by the way. Right.

So this is super important that it be focused with these kinds of results in mind, especially hopefully helping us to guide the policy changes needed for a set aside slash preference. I think that's going to.

I just hope when you make rules and this is nothing on you guys, maybe it's just an indication on government, but please don't make the rules so that it makes it harder on these guy people. Like I would hope that the rules would focus on the ability to use other types of.

Make it easier that normally through procurement you as a major corporation got to go through all of this. But if you're a small business then on these things you can use these channels. See what I'm saying? Because then you are differentiating what they can possibly do insofar as government so far.

So big companies, all this resources and monies that all they do is go after Government jobs all the time. Right. I think that's the issues. They've gotten so good and they made a lot of calla off of it that they've got people lined up everywhere. They're.

So as soon as a notice drops, bam, here's a bid ready to go. I'm an age, I'm a direct, an HC. I've dealt with you 100 times. I know I got a set aside, but I can't, I gotta go with you guys.

So that's really, I think the, really your office can help is to try to create that level playing field and lack of resources and people to do the monstrous process of what a procurement thing can be right with these projects. Big companies bid on them because they're complicated and big and they're bidding on everything.

They've got a well oiled machine to do that. Small businesses normally don't do that.

So it's much harder for them to get in and they don't have the resources for that. So yeah, you have to look at it from the perspective a small business person and or company, very small and they don't have the luxury of having one of these people who write up a contract.

The definition small business making a tiny. Business.

Good friends in the house.

We did even consider micro, micro businesses. And the survey says people laugh and. That's not a bad conversation to have because clearly in Hawaii we have the tiny business colloquially that's the bulk of our small business.

The Fed see small business differently because you go to the mainland, it's like you can have a $10 million small business, you know what I'm saying? So if there is a way, obviously that group of businesses will be most likely your biggest entrance.

But if we could try to create pathways for micro businesses to be able to get some of these smaller jobs or perhaps to teach them how that together they can put together a proposal working with other businesses. So things like that, right.

You know, you got four or five businesses who together can put in a really nice bid for the state. This is the entry level. You have a small business and you teach them how to do that, then they can grow and they can compete, you know, with, with other businesses. Right.

But if they don't even know and they've got five people in their office, how do they actually. And they may have a good product.

But it becomes an incubator. Yeah, yeah, like an incubator, I would think.

So business grows, it provides more than ever and it starts to grow, hires more employees and they just grow and expand into other opportunities. So if you teach them how to do it, you know, and then, and then they can do it on their own and they can grow.

But I don't think you're looking at the 17 million dollar contracts type of thing, right?

One million is great. And you're looking at how do you help them grow? Is that that's the kind of people you're going to. You want to try to attract.

And I think they're going to be way more responsive to these small jobs, to the state, too. Right. Instead of calling some guy in East Coast.

Yeah. I think we do want to start small, too, with the smaller company.

And then, of course, that gets added to the bill. Right?

Yeah.

Got to pay for that W. Hotel room. Right.

That's.

I think that's another reason why, though. We'Ve got to be. We're very dogged on ensuring that this exceeds and expands because small business, the micro businesses are the backbone of. The more we can utilize them and get them involved and grow them, then we're creating that circular economy that we keep talking about. Right. So cool.

And I like the fact you got that background. Why don't you put that small business hat on first?

Yeah. You grow people like that.

Yeah. Keep that government hot. I know it feels good. Keep the small business hat on, because that perspective will produce rules in a program that people will actually engage in. You see what I'm saying?

Going back to the chair's thing about the rules, don't make it so complicated and so dense that, you know, people get turned off already. So make it simple, straightforward.

Yeah. I think that's part of the reason why the previous interim rules failed is because of that reason there is just too complicated.

Well, appreciate what you guys are doing. Look forward to the additional information and then working with you guys on continuing to push forward this session.

Okay, thank you, Senators.

Thank you. All right. Okay. Next on the agenda, we have.

I got plenty questions, many questions.

Come on the corners, all the way over here. But I'm just a conductor of this train. No desire to see where it goes. Okay? So, ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, we will bring on our comptroller Director Regan. Thank you for being here. Absolutely.

We know you're doing a briefing in front of Ways and Means, and we appreciate that. But since they focus on money and budgets, we wanted to do one.

Not only to talk to SBO about the initiative and Part 9 and how it's going, but also talk about policy things of your Department and the different agencies that we, the Committee, may discuss this year generally, but we're cognizant of the fact that main budget discussions will happen later on during that. With that. Go ahead, sir.

We appreciate it. First and foremost, Chair McKelvey, Member Morawaki, thank you very much for the opportunity to be before you this afternoon. My name is Keith Regan, Comptroller and Director of the Department of Accounting and General Services.

I'd like to just wish you all a very happy holiday season to you and your ohana, as well as your office staff and your friends and family. So happy holidays. It's an honor to be here this morning. This afternoon. This morning. It's all blurring together for me.

I just wanted to touch base really quick on something that was just discussed about State Procurement Office. As a member of the Procurement Policy Board, I do sit on those discussions that would be taking place as it relates to rule making.

And we've got some really great members that are very out of the box thinkers that are part of that group.

And so I just want you to rest assured that there's a good group of people that sit on that board that are going to be looking at ways to be able to support this initiative and to make it make sense. They ask a lot of great questions. They're all small business.

I know of two of them are small business owners. And you know, having been a small business owner myself, I also bring that perspective to the discussion and also represent the state policy. We do. We're one member short, so we're still. There's still one seat that needs to be filled.

But anyways, a lot of good work and I just wanted to share that with you.

It's really good to hear. Yeah, you know, but you got to get to that small business definition.

So, you know, yeah, we're small. We're working. We're working on it. You know, Chair. I just wanted to just share again about our Department, just briefly. As you know, we've got about 800 positions that are scattered throughout the entire state of Hawaii.

We've got offices on all the major islands that provide services that support the various missions of DAGS. DAGS has eight divisions. People think of DAGS as being primarily accounting, but we're probably more general services than we are accounting and auditing. 75% of what we do is actually other things other than accounting and auditing.

And that's what we're going to talk a little bit about here today. And I've got some of our administrators here and our team here with us to provide a little more insight into some of the great work that's going on within our Department. I'd like to first bring up James Kurata. He's our central Services Division administrator.

He's instrumental in a lot of the transformational work that's going on within DAGS as it relates to deferred maintenance, as it relates to our custodial operations, our groundskeeping operations, you name it, he's involved in it. And I'm very excited about some of the transformational work that he's been moving forward.

And I wanted him to talk about a couple of things that seems to keep coming up during session in the past. One of them being the automated automated external defibrillators AEDs. That has been a topic that's come up time and time and time again for state facilities.

And I wanted Jimmy to just give a quick update on where we are because we've got some really exciting movement on AEDs in our public facilities, if that's okay with you.

Yeah, please.

So we realized when we surveyed buildings, the AEDs were not always in public spaces, you know, or flying fire extinguishers and other safety devices for the building. We found them inside private offices because they were privately, you know, purchased by program and stuck in offices. And when somebody's got to go find them. Right.

That's probably the last place you're going to do is running a run into one of the offices. We had a slug of money show up and we used that to purchase, worked with Phillips, a vendor on price list, to bring purchase ads for all of DAG's buildings, including neighbor Islands.

We took our supply, I believe neighbor Islands took supply late, earlier this month. And we're going to depend on our trades crews to mount them in locations that Philips recommended. Okay. So we're beginning deployment. We're doing it in between our work order tasks and all our other tasks that are going on. So we hope to complete deployment.

My guess is Probably September of 26 if we keep at it and just keep on Neighbor Islands to get their crews to, you know, do a building. I think we just got to do one. And until, you know, it creates some pressure for everybody to keep up, keep up with us.

How many total?

100. Little over 110, I think, are purchased for statewide deployment. So it's signage, cabinets, all of this right into public spaces. So every floor should have the proper number per. For. For the size of the floor.

Yeah. Is it only for the DAGS facilities or is it other agencies too? Just got curious.

I'm thinking about dealing because we hold other agencies. We like to think we're sharing with everyone, but yeah, it's just the guys.

Facilities sharing is scary. So sharing is good? Well, no, because I could see like, for instance, in some of the harbors. Right. You know, but One of the things that came up when we had this Bill was the concern about misuse and liability.

Thanks.

And, you know, there was a concern that to simply grabbing it and hitting somebody, they don't know what they're doing. They could make a bad situation worse. Right. Or there could be liability on the state. So is there going to be any kind of a.

There is a training.

There's a training component to this as well. Okay. A training and maintenance component is involved. They're automatic. So if you shouldn't be zapped, it won't. It won't zap you. Zero, wow. Okay. Yeah. So you hook them up and it'll tell you what to do. Yeah. So the training.

We're going to conduct training, annual training, refreshers, and on Phillips is our maintenance.

Huge. Because that was really. I think a lot of the bedevil. Re started showing up was on that. You know, the actual, like the airport incident. Everybody's just staring at each other, looking at the state worker, you know, the four persons on the ground.

Right. So. So it's both batteries and the batteries, cables and the, the, the pads. The pads have to be maintained. It has on the shelf life. It shouldn't be changed out. So we're in partnership with Philips to continue.

So you're saying Philips is going to train or Philips is going to do?

Philips is providing the, the material and the training for us and the maintenance.

We're doing the installation. So who's the designated defibrillator? You know, like the contract is with Phillips or the.

Do it if somebody needs it. Well, if you needed it, I would grab it and I would do it on somebody.

Jimmy. No, no, no. So it's. So these are mounted in cabinets. Right. Some sort of like a fire extinguisher.

Add on. See that, that was the thing that came up is everybody's assuming that the state person is going to do it and everybody's just standing there, like, not grabbing the thing.

And so we hope the training will help people realize that it's their responsibility to who's being trained and all employees in the building.

Yeah, all the, all the employees in the. Yep. Right.

So anybody will know. State employee at least.

You know, so somebody's going to be standing around, hopefully an employee.

I hope they don't run away from it. I think that's. That's kind of going against the whole.

Well, and, and the goal at home.

Yeah. And no. And the goal is to get people comfortable with it. Right. To get people comfortable with it.

To be able to use the device when the time comes to help save lives.

Absolutely. Yeah.

That's the best part of the training.

Somebody's gonna get. I'll.

If I'm here, I'll. I'll do it. I can't guarantee it, but we can assure you that we're going to have the training.

You do it. Yeah.

I think there's something else you wanted to. We do. Yeah. So I also wanted to talk a little bit about the feminine hygiene product dispensers. Right. We've talked about that, you know, in previous sessions.

And so I asked Jimmy to give a quick update on where we are with that because I know we've had some great movement there as well.

So Jimmy. So we. We deployed last year right about when session started within state capital where we've purchased for all of our state facilities. And again, it's similar to the AED rollout. Our trade crews are going to be installing this as time allows. We're going to. We have an.

We have a computerized inventory management system for custodial products now and this is added to it. We're not sure on consumption rate, but right now based on current consumption where we don't anticipate it impacting budget tremendously. So we're going to keep it and it'll reflect in future budgets if we need to add for it.

So similarly, we're going to roll them out as soon as we can get our crews to mount them. That includes neighbor islands.

The aed, though in the building are being paid for by the House and the Senate.

Right. We. So we weren't sure exactly how those were being maintained and operated, but those are now going to be part of our.

So we will take care of it. So it'll be replaced if it's not a Phillips.

Yeah, got it. Okay. So it's not a Phillips. That's out.

We got to put a Phillips one in there. Right. We'll try to find the owner to return it. I mean, that's.

We'll try our best to return it. Well, the fact that you're a high automated system is a good one.

And, and you know, so the maintenance is going to be taken care of too. So we feel confident that if it's in our facility, we know that it's being properly maintained and it can and it will function when it's needed versus if it was somebody else's.

We're not 100% sure. Well, I'm actually glad you have a vendor involved in all of this because there's going to be some underpinning because you know how it is, things happen, schedules get and stuff doesn't get inspected. Right. Yeah. So that's good. You're working with with Phillips both on plus this new technology comes out.

Hopefully that provides us a way to swap out machines. Right. They all have a shelf life.

So yeah, hopefully when that time comes. So those are just some quick reports on AEDs and sure.

As you mentioned automation. So have you automated your inventory and what, what is automated so that you can keep track? Because you know, sometimes not sometimes. A lot of times, you know, we go into disrepair. We don't know if we have the supplies. We don't know whether we need to repair a building and there's huge deferred maintenance.

What is automated so that you can keep track?

Well can I just add something really quick is just that part of the discussion that I wanted Jimmy to talk about was our facility asset management project which I think speaks to some of that.

So we've got inventory automation and management and then we've also got the facilities which I think is really the big ticket item for us now.

Sure. So inventory, inventory. I think we've been over buying. So. Yes, we're spending it wisely. Go ahead. Yes, inventory management is I guess over buying things that we don't really need.

So if we have way too much paper towel in our warehouse and we continue to buy because we saw it in the previous purchase and we buy it again, that's not helping anything. We got together with our systems and procedures office to put an application together for custodial staff to order as they need for their storeroom.

And what it does is put this information into a database. And now we're buying at a level that we should have. We can keep up with the the request versus looking at a previous order or the past five year order amount of orders. And so moving forward we hope to buy the right amount as needed.

And that's for all state building statewide. That are managed by DAGS. So while we're doing it on Oahu right now and we're, we're trying to catch our neighbor island counterparts up with this. So are you going to train the non DAGS buildings? Well, we're, we're challenged.

We'll be training our custodial staff to utilize the app we arbors.

We only have control over the facilities that are under our, our jurisdiction. Caveat.

Sorry, are you training other departments of.

Their what, What I'll say is that if other departments who manage their own facilities, if they're interested in learning about what we're doing, we would definitely share with them and make ourselves available, you know, so that we can let them know. Yep. Contact you.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. All those things are tags. All those things for inventory management. You're right. Looking at the paper, what we did historically and automating is potential waste time. You guys also take care of the tables, right? The keiki changing tables in the bathrooms in the state facilities. Is that under your fits? In our building.

It's in your building, correct. We would. We've been attending some of the disability rights forms that have been going on and the disabled community is very interested in getting support for adult changing tables. It's something that's desperately needed. It serves both the Keiki and the adults.

Is there something that can DAGS look at what it would cost or take to replace existing Keiki tables with tables that could also be used for adult changing? Yeah, sure. We can always look at that. Can you do that for us? Sure, that'd be great. I think that the advocates would love that. To see some.

If we need some kind of movement like we did with the other things that we've done would be great.

So. Yeah, I appreciate that. Definitely. Thank you for the recommendation, the suggestion.

Appreciate that. Great.

That's all I had on that one. Great. No, thank you. So now I'd like him to like Jimmy to talk a little bit about our. Our project on facility asset management.

Some of the great things that are happening there, if you would. Really quick.

Did you want to tell them about the sensor? Zero, I was going to ask you if you could turn around and look at the wall really quick. You'll see that sensor that's right there above you. That. Yeah, that sensor we've deployed into various rooms throughout this facility and other DAGS facilities so we can collect data, environmental data.

MK Think is the company that we've hired to help us collect this information primarily is to better understand the health of our facilities and what's actually going on Right. Within our facilities so that we can.

Air quality, as an example, temperature, humidity, those kind of things that we cannot better sort of understand the environment in which we're working because that impacts directly the systems. Right. And we can also tell very quickly if we're having problems with the air conditioning systems. Right.

And so it gives us a heads up and a leg up on being able to attack those kind of issues before they become real big problems. And so it also allows Jimmy's team to be able to regulate temperature better. And so as we modernize Our facility.

As we talk, we've talked about eventually having to do a huge renovation, rehabilitation on this facility. And as we install newer, more modern systems that give us the ability to really adjust that kind of sensor.

And that technology is going to be extremely important because it will directly drive it probably in an automated way to be able to adjust these systems. Right. But for now, we're using it. And Jimmy and his team are inputting that data and using it to sort of manage and prepare.

This is part of the asset management talking about right here, the center. Correct. Part of the assessment phase to gather information on the building. So we're in that assessment phase right now where we're, we're finding that data just on square footage of buildings are scattered between sources. And we're trying to get to ground truth on that to.

No, no, you know, work with one standard. That's the whole idea. And I'm visible to spin out the plans and we eventually, you know, we're collecting occupancy data. We're collecting all of these things that are again scattered during spreadsheets right now. And we want to consolidate it into a system that almost anybody can look into.

Zero, you're going to dashboard this? Yes. That would be huge. You're going to bring in all of this disparate data and then you're baselining right now with the sensors too.

Right. The sensor part, we know it plays huge into deferred maintenance because what's happening in the environmental environment, you know, with this, this data is we can, we can track what a machine is doing. We already have it with machine automation control.

The air conditioning is all computerized and we can see into the machine itself whether a motor is running, what the humidity, temperature is, what the chill waters are.

Chill water values on the H Vac systems yourselves.

And. Right. You don't have a vendor on the H Vac. We have a systems vendor that maintains the automated data collection. We, we set schedule and temperature, chilled water temperatures. Okay. So what we're trying to dovetail this information with is the, the life cycle of air conditioning equipment or any piece of equipment that's considered a state asset.

Then lights, doors, windows, so forth, whatever components go into a building, have a certain life cycle and they're sticking it into. We're in procurement right now for computer, computerized maintenance management system that takes this information, puts it in there and tracks its life cycle.

Collecting all the data now. Right.

Including the historical spreadsheet data. And then. Well, we're in assessment of the facility portion once we get the CMMs on board the maintenance management system. We can start the collection of making model numbers of all the assets within the facility. So we have air conditioning maintenance contractors that can we have that data.

We want to QR code it. So when maintenance personnel come up to it, you scan the QR code and you have complete work order history, age and so forth on the machine. And this ties into life cycle work.

So as there's statistics on as work orders increase on something like a chiller and the type of work that's done on a chiller, we know it's about five years away from end of life. So we can insert that into more accurately inserted into a maintenance management budget.

So you can see big spends out 30306090 years.

And we can present the failure is going to come. Exactly. And we could present schedul to you as decision makers so that you know what's sort of coming down the pike.

Right. In terms of a budgetary request. But you are going to, I mean to me, this, the sensor data, the collection because of the localized variables Right. In our environmental humidity and everything else. Where the industry standard is five years. But in Hawaii, given our readings, we're hitting humidity levels regularly at this.

The vendor says now it's three years. Right. So you can get a better lifetime estimate because you're reading the local variables that may adjust that.

Correct.

So you're having this all buildings, all rooms in all buildings.

DAGS buildings again, Dad's building. Yes. Sorry, my apologies.

We don't control all facilities.

But it's going to be in every. Room, in the decks, every piece of every, every asset within a DAGS building. Our work order system will be tied into each piece of equipment. So again, everything has to be cataloged serial, serial numbered so people know exactly what piece of equipment you're working on.

So you can analyze it to see, okay, these, the air conditioning from this company is really junk because it's like only problems. Right.

You can start looking at how you actually procure. Yeah, that's why this is. I decided this data is important to the public. Exactly. It's like you know, you know, procure.

I know that this is coming up and hey, we may have a product that could address some of these issues. Absolutely. And the other thing we want to do is move away from deferred maintenance to get into preventative maintenance so that we're not chasing things, we're actually being more forward thinking and addressing the needs of the challenges.

It affects everything what's going on.

I mean for maintenance means higher insurance. Yeah.

And it's cheaper to be prevented than to have deferred maintenance. Absolutely. Well, we can get to that point where we're having a preventive maintenance instead of a deferred maintenance. That will be hallelujah for you guys.

Love it. So Jimmy and his team have been doing an amazing job, and I just want to thank Central Services with and especially him for his leadership in pushing these things forward.

Keep us update on the data that's coming out, too.

Let us know what you.

Find be very.

Absolutely.

So when did you start the assessment MK?

Here?

We started in February of 25. We've built out. We've built out the statewide web page. We know where all the facilities are. All of that is mapped. All the current data with. With Public Works Evolve FM space management system is inputted in there. We have the space data that they use on their calculations in there.

So we're still in that assessment phase. To be sure the data is good. Our next phase of rollout is to put occupancy sensors within offices. Brought a sample of what the sensor looks like if you here to take a look at it. An ARM chip. Yeah, it's a little.

It's a little sensor chip that has a little sticky thing on the underneath. You're supposed to stick it underneath desk near a computer.

It's going to give us a better idea of how the facility.

Right. So. So actually a temperature sensor make sure. People know that it doesn't track.

It doesn't track people, it just tracks.

No, no, no, no.

So even in a conference room like this, a micro, a micro change in temperature. zero, sorry. No good, good throw. Micro change in temperature indicates about how many people are in the room. Yeah. Right.

So we can tell utilization of space.

And then because it's being collected whatever period we tell it to collect, like every 15 minutes you actually have density, you know animated density charts and what kind of occupancy you're having within your conference room in the building.

Well theoretically you're taking this baseline, you know when there's Committee hearings and you get room comes cram the temperature. Theoretically in the future you could tie it into the system whereby you hit that certain than the machine brings the air down. Right.

This is, this is theoretical but sometime y. It. It actually works that way right now with the automated controls it sees a rise in temperature and it increases fan speed and chill water. Chill water amounts to try to keep up with the room's occupancy.

Yeah, very good.

So he's been doing a fantastic job.

Thank you. Keep. Please keep us appraising. Keep going or this is the way we can get ahead.

So is it public works or is. It Jim

Central services.

Yeah, no, for the space utilization to bring people back. Yeah. So and when you see that nobody's in the room.

That's where we tie it in. Right. Is you know, so with that kind of information we can, we can sit down with the planning branch within public works division and say hey, we've noticed this particular area is not being utilized the way that it probably should be. Is there an opportunity to. Right.

Size that space and use it for something else? Right. You know, whatever we can do. Yeah. But I mean it opens up space because we definitely need more space. And if we can bring people in from leased space into, into state facilities, that is exactly what we want to do.

So this technology allows us to move in that direction with data, not just sort of anecdotal, but Right. Information.

Fortunately, with Public Works.

Very, very closely with public information.

So is there a slat, like a vision, like in a year there will be a report to the legisl. Two years we've collected all this data and we've identified 100 rooms in leases we can get. Will we get that kind of.

I would bet that in two to three years we'll have that report for you that will be able to say that based on our analysis and working with Public Works and the data that we have that we feel that we can. Right. Size certain spaces. But that is going to require funding. Right.

Because we're going to need to, you know, renovate and, and be able to bring people in and have that plan for you. So I would estimate in at least two to three years we'll have more definitive data be able to make those kind of calls.

I think that's what they're going to probably want to see more of that more project management type of.

And we got the data to show it. Right. It's not just, we're not just saying, well, it's critical.

Right. I mean we're giving our poor friends from the procurement guys a hard time. But you're right, his data is everything. Yeah. So. Yeah.

Yeah. So very data driven. Right. Great. Thanks, Jimmy. Okay, so I'm not sure how we are on time.

Oh, we're, we're about half an hour left. So next up we'll just keep cranking them along.

Sure. All right, well let's, let's give a quick. I'm going to actually bring up Eric Nishimoto. He's our branch, branch manager from Project Management branch within the Public Works division. And you know, we're going to talk a little bit about a couple of projects that we have that you may be interested in.

The State Capital Pool project is one that we'd like to talk to you a little bit about and give you a quick update on it.

We've run into a few challenges on the phase three portion of the project which involves implementing the glass tiles that will be in the pools at, you know, once the pool is completed and we'd like to kind of give you a quick update on that.

But also in terms of the phase two work that's ongoing, you can see that some of the barriers have come down in the Rotunda entry areas. We're very excited about having a lot of that work wrapped up before the start of the session in that Rotunda area.

So it'll be once again reopened, you know, for the public to be able to come in and out. And I'm not sure if you had a chance to look at the, the work that's already been done in that space, but it looks really nice.

I mean the entry concrete looks very nice and it's not, they're not completely done yet with that. So there's still some touch up work that needs to happen from the vendor. But I think it looks night and day better as compared to what it was, you know, prior to the work beginning over there.

So tape still on there? The stair?

No. So actually we're working on finalizing what that's going to look like because there does need to be some sort of visual transition. So it's not going to be yellow and black tape. It'll be something a little more presentable. Presentable, Tenable, you know. Yeah.

So, but that was just a temporary thing because we found there were actually people that had been tripping over that because the transition. So like low. But just wanted to let you know that the phase two work is moving along.

We anticipate getting that wrapped up and the barriers coming down prior to the start of the session, of course, pending. You know, the weather, the weather is very unpredictable, but hopefully we can get that done. Phase three has been a little bit more of a challenge.

And again, as I mentioned, phase three involves putting the tiles down and putting the lighting and kind of wrapping that up and reopening those spaces to the public. We did have a bid that went out for that back in, I think it was March and that bid was protested.

And we've been in this, what seems like an endless loop of protest and appeal where process since March.

I can't, I don't, I can't really get into a lot of the details, but all I can tell you is that it's gone through the DCCA, it's gone through the circuit court, it's now sort of at its last phase in terms of whether or not the vendor, the offeror, I should say, wants to appeal that decision once again.

And every time that it's gone through one of those gates, the state has been found it's been, the decision has been in favor of the state, so we'll see what happens on the appeal.

But that has really pushed us back significantly on this project and it is going to result in additional costs for the project just because with now the tariffs and you know, just everything else, there is going to be additional costs. We hope that we have enough funds to be able to cover it.

We think we have enough funds. We just won't know until we bid it out and get those results back.

Well, hopefully once the appeal process is over, which we believe is, I think December 29th, we should know whether or not there is a final appeal and if not, then, you know, we'll start moving forward and wrapping up and putting out the bid documents.

Just so you know, we've been asked to stay work the, the ags and, and the courts have opined that we should stay any work on redoing the RFP until this process has been completed. So we're not able to do prep work to get ready to just put it out there yet.

So you said not on the actual doing.

So the RFP that we're going to release after we're through with this appeal process still needs to be completed. It's, it's probably, I mean it's not that far away from being being done. But it's close some because we had. Some starts and stops. We had some, you know, ability to.

Move forward and then covered and I thought it was all.

It's the phase three. So it's the phase three work and as we've described it, it'll be the glass, it'll be the lighting, it'll be removing the tiles from the volcanoes and rebuilding the metalwork that's on there and then replacing the tiles there.

There'll be some painting that's going to occur on the columns that are out there and then maybe some other. Oh, they're going to redo. So if you, if you know, like around the pool. Right. They're going to rebuild that. I don't know what you call that. Like, like a terrace. Terrace.

They're going to rebuild the terrace around there because it's going to allow for sort of like step down access in.

Certain areas where the glasses.

Where people can walk on it then. Correct. And then there also be accessible ramps to allow, you know, people to be able to, to enter.

I. The glass was already paid for.

That's glass, Right. It's coming from I think Germany or.

I can't remember or something from Europe.

Foreign. It's Germany, right? Yeah. So it is Germany. So we've identified the, the. The manufacturer of the glass. This is what they do, and they are the experts, you know.

No, no, it has not been paid for.

But we were painting it. No, that was in preparation. So we did have an artist, Solomon Enos, who was selected through a process through Sfca. And Solomon, through the community's support, created essentially the, the artwork. Right. That is embedded in the glass that you'll see. And so that was funded. That part was funded. But the glass portion.

No, that, that has not been. I think. I don't know if we paid anything for the samples that came over. Probably for the samples we paid something. But in terms of the actual, like, you know, contract for all the glass, that has not been. That was not executed. So we continue to move forward.

That's really all that I can provide to you in terms of an update. We want to get this done as quickly as possible. We want to return this capital to the. So that they can utilize that space.

And, and I will tell you that looking at the mockups and having been part of this project, it is going to be completely transformational for this capital in a way that is going to. Is it going to flood? Be generational?

No, there flooding out in front of the.

The other day. Yes. So. So part of that is because the drainage system has not been installed yet. Yeah. So. But the good news is the waterproofing is holding up. So none of the water, I don't believe, is leaked into the Senate or the House.

But definitely look at the drainage system now before you get the glass and everything, because.

Oh, no, it's part of the phase three. So, so what's going to happen is they're going to install the drains and. And then there's going to be another layer of waterproofing, and then on top of that will be the glass.

So. Yeah.

Yeah.

Otherwise you're going to have another pool with glass in the bottom.

No, no, we're not going to do that. That's so. And, and actually just a garage. No. And that. So the waterproofing is actually holding up really well. So the contractor did a really good job in the pools with the, with that sort of initial waterproofing layer.

So good job to the contractor there. And then in terms of the water, you see now we've asked the contractor to bring in the sump. They have some pumps that they typically Deploy.

We're not 100% sure why they weren't deployed during this last weather event, but we've asked them to come in and start draining the pools because number one, we just don't, there shouldn't be water in there. And secondly, we don't want mosquitoes to start breeding in there. So we just, we're taking care of that.

I just want you folks to know. So, but, but then there will be a drainage system.

Yes, there will be. Yes. Yep. Absolutely.

So that's pretty much it, you know, in terms of that update. Well, it sucks to hear that that came up. I mean obviously we were all hopefully to get it open, but I think the main point, to senator's point, if we can make sure the drainage system work, phase three goes out.

Good. Yeah. And, and whatever we can do to expite, expedite this project, we are going to do within our powers. It's just really unfortunate that this, this protest has really kind of thrown a wrench in things.

Well, that's been an ongoing thing that we continue to work with.

So appreciate you working through it. Yep. Oh, and then I just wanted to mention very quickly is that you know, we did, you guys, the Legislature did fund I think about $2 million for the long range planning for the renovation work for this facility. And we did actually make a selection of a consultant for that.

I don't remember who was. Anyways, there was a consultant selected and we're in the process of working out the scope and services as well as fees. So we'll have more updates for you probably by session. You know, a little more detail on where we are with that. Okay. Okay.

The last project for public works that we want to talk about, which is a very exciting project, it's moving along really, really well, got a good team on it, is the Wahiawa Civic Center. Okay, good. If you haven't been out there, I if you want a tour, would love to give you a tour.

Hopefully when you build a civic center, which is awesome, there'll be also a civil defense shelter because you can't have, I mean they had a lot of fires.

Yeah. So in support, in conjunction with Chair Dela Cruz. This project is just an amazing project. His vision is clear when you go out there and you see it. We're very excited about. We're about 75 done with the total project itself.

It includes a 35,000sq judiciary building which has multiple courtrooms, holding cells, judges chambers, administrative staff rooms, offices, et cetera. It will also have PV on it as well. So we're very excited about that particular facility. There's two buildings on the site.

The second building is a 20, about a 22,000 square foot state office building which is going to house multiple different departments. It's multi level, has an elevator in it and it's also going to be. There's also a piece of that that is dedicated to the city.

So the city and county is going to be a tenant there on the bottom floor. So they're going to have their DMV and I think maybe a couple other functions that are related. So yeah, it's going to really be a great partnership that we've created with multiple different agencies and including our, our friends at the city.

So we're very excited about that. The project again is just coming along extremely well.

There's. Well, I'm really happy about the partnership with the seeing accounting. I mean my personal soapbox thing is we've got to be partnering with the counties on all sorts of CIP and infrastructure projects. Not only cost wise, but when it comes to permitting we can make. We know we're going to get it done. Right.

But I appreciate you giving them in as a partner.

Yeah, no, and, and what's great about it is when our citizens come to this facility. Absolutely, absolutely. Yep, that's exactly right. So again, hats off to Chair Dela Cruz for bringing this project forward and to all the state Legislature for supporting it. It's a.

It's a really good project. It's gonna be a great project.

I'm glad it's rolling out. You can assess it so that you can see what a bit is good as a model to other places.

Exactly. Well, I've kind of taken his model. Kind of push it on Mount.

Yes.

Because it's the way to get.

Well think of. So definitely like the Kahalui Civic center is a project that we also have my list here today to talk about, but it's one that I've been involved in. I think Public Works is deeply involved in that. We've been working on the plans and the designs. Right.

For that particular facility. It's gone through a couple of changes because there's been some, you know, there is an affordable housing component that is sort of on the front and you know, because of that we've had to sort of make a couple of modifications, you know, to our plans.

And then also just the use usage of the facility has somewhat changed because Library system wants to keep their existing facility in Kahului. You know where that is right along Kane. I think it's Kane street in that back road over there. They want to maintain that.

But yet they also have an Interest in having some space in the new facility to be able to do some creative, you know, programs. Right. That are sort of could benefit from a space like that. So you know, we're looking at, okay, how do we better utilize that space?

Can we bring in more maybe state operations that is in, in privately leased space. Right, let's, let's kind of pull them into this because we know that there's a huge benefit to having more services and we're having conversations.

They had that whole issue. Remember when you were, when you were One street, one Main Plaza.

Right, that's right. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. One Main Plaza. Don't remind me about that. That was, you know, the county had an opportunity to buy that $14 million.

They could have bought that facility. I was supporting on that one.

But you know, anyways, look at now.

What happens now is what it is. But the main thing. I'm so happy to hear that the Kahlo projects, I know Senator Hashimoto's really been working on that.

So thank you for. Yeah, we're excited about that. I think it's going to be, it'll be transformational for the town and it just really will be extremely beneficial in multiple, multiple ways. Definitely. So we're excited when that thing can actually kick off with the funding. Okay. Anyways, thank you Eric for all that you.

All your input and support. Thank you. Absolutely. Yeah. Our administrator Gord and would would be. Would have been here today but unfortunately he was on a pre scheduled vacation so hopefully he's enjoying himself. He works hard so he deserved a good. Okay. Anyways, thank you, Eric.

Last thing we wanted to just touch base on is just fleet and that relates to automotive management division. And I can just go into a couple of quick things on that. I think you'll, you'll be excited to hear some of the things that we're doing there. It also relates to data. We've implemented a vehicle telematics program.

We're putting in telematics into our state vehicles so that we can better understand how they're being utilized and also better manage the fleet and, and provide better servicing of the fleet. So it's not to track employees, but it is to track.

Most vehicles have that. You see it on the thing. You know, there's drive console monitor for speed to make sure they're not running around.

That's right.

Yes, that's right. What it would be in the mileage. So we're looking at mileage, we're looking at odometer readings oftentimes that's transmitted electronically as well. We're looking at maintenance. How do we, how can we better maintain a vehicle? Are codes being thrown out by the, by the system? Because now all the cars have these codes. Right.

And they mean certain things. Right. It could be a catalytic converter problem, it could be low oil problem or could be a coolant issue. Kicks out these codes and we won't catch it until it's brought in. Yeah. But now with the system we can monitor it, it can flag it and we can reach out to the Department.

Hey, you need to bring your vehicle in. We're seeing some issues here. We need to address it. You know, is the mileage like have we gone from 22 miles a gallon to something like, you know, 50? So we know clearly there's a problem there.

Right.

If, if converted to evs? We are. Yeah. So yeah, so that's coming along. In fact, we're, we're, we're trying to transition our fleet into EVs by 2035. We've got about 407 vehicles that we're in the process of transitioning. It's a huge undertaking for us.

And we are bringing these vehicles in slowly only because, well, it's hard to find for one thing. It's hard for charging station challenges. And then we're also doing electrification in a lot of our parking facilities as well. And so AMD has been very aggressive trying to get charging stations, level 2 charging stations into our parking structures.

The big issue is that a lot of these structures are old and so the transformers need to be upgraded. We need to bring in maybe additional power into the facility to be able to accommodate that.

But we're making progress and we, we are making progress towards that goal of 2035 to be able to have these systems in place and the right vehicles in place so that we can have. This would affect the MD or the emergency guys were there. There's an exemption process that's in place for that.

So you know, we want to encourage them. We've seen happens when all the burn charging stations burn down.

Now there's no way for vehicles to get charged. No, absolutely. And so we have to make those certain exemptions or exceptions and that is part of the, the law as well.

And so we do allow for that. But how does that work with your telematics?

But what are you going to get from evs? Because it's not like. Yeah, I mean you can look at how the health of the battery as an example. Yeah. And you could look at, I think they're even capable of transmitting PSI on the tires. Right.

So they know if like the tires are getting low, there's all kinds of data now.

Right. That can be transmitted one central data.

Source through IoT then that's huge because then you can create another baseline. Yes. And the company that we're using is a company called geotab, which there are leaders in that.

So we're very excited about what's going to happen and how we're going to be able to use that to do our jobs better, to be able to support that fleet. So we're very excited. And you know, I'll just say that our team at AMD has just been doing an amazing job.

They've also been looking at things like stall sharing as you know, being allowed to do the stall sharing opportunities through our rules. Yep. And, and so there's, there's a lot of opportunity there. And I just again want to say that they've been doing an incredible job.

And last thing I'll just say is this is that parking is never going to go away. We're going to always have demand for parking.

And I, I throw that out there because we're trying to find ways to maximize the utility, maximize our existing facilities and potentially partner with other facilities to see, you know, if we can use parking that's maybe underutilize a non state parking facilities.

So you may see some things down the road where we're going to come to you and ask for funding and support for innovative things like shuttle services that might involve moving, you know, state employees from, let's just say as an example, and this is not real, but like from Blazedell as an example into the core here, something like that.

So we're always looking for ways to be able to provide that parking opportunity because we keep hearing that employees don't take, or I shouldn't say candidates don't take jobs with the state because they can't find parking.

That's wild. Right. And so because especially here it's not. The bad pay, it's the parking.

Well, because private parking, private parking in downtown it can be 2 to 300 a month for private parking. And you know, that adds up. Right. And so if we can do something to bring that down to a level that's more reasonable by implementing novel ideas that we haven't tried yet, we're going to do.

So the other thing I'll just say is this. I think we've got a great opportunity with heart that's going to be coming through here.

I'm just going to say a really good example and I got to give kudos to my deputy comptroller because we periodically go to the neighbor islands to go visit with our district offices to make sure that they're feeling supported that we're addressing any concerns or issues that they have.

In fact, we'll be on Maui on, on Thursday meeting with our district office and our new engineering program manager there, who I'd love you to meet, by the way. So. But instead of driving into.

She lives out towards like Mililani side, instead of driving into town to the airport, what she did was she went to the nearest station, parked her car there and took the train in to town into the airport so she didn't have to deal with that traffic that ever traffic essentially.

Right. The west side. I mean now it's gone to the airport. Now heart has real juice mind. Neighbor Islanders can now go to the airport, jump on, go west Oahu for lakes West Oahu. When it hits Guana Mall. Then that thing will be really churning because then you've got that. Absolutely.

I think for neighbor islanders there was the heartache of rail, was what's this for us?

But now we're creating a use case for neighbor Islanders to see an advantage of it. And I think once the rail gets to like Hale Kauila, like down, down near this area where that station is going to be, we'll have a great opportunity. Excuse me.

Great opportunity to be able to have a shuttle service for our state employees to move people quickly and efficiently and frequently so that they will take advantage of that rather than bringing their cars into central Oahu.

So we're very excited about that. So there could be the opportunity to even have the West Oahu State guys park at Aloha Stadium, come in and work. Absolutely. Well, appreciate all of this, especially trying to incorporate, you know, art into future amd.

Amp. Sorry, yeah, no, amd. You're right. Yep. And we're just, we're just excited for the opportunity. We thank you for your support.

You've been very supportive of all the things we're trying to do here at dags and, and we look forward to working with you in this upcoming session. My Members, she's done a great job helping us on Ways and Means and but to her point, it's going to be a real tight year this year.

But leveraging technology and creating the use cases, I mean all of this ties into the one that's the way we really need you guys to do to help us stretch the dollars and get things done fast.

Appreciate all the automation, because it really is the lack of data that we're just really inefficient and wasteful.

So that's really good what you're doing. Thank you. Please, please keep us up to date on any information, data sets or other things you guys are doing on that.

We definitely will talk about that. Where is efs? Well, so we're very excited. This is my number one project. So. Well, we. Let me just, I can't. Let me, let me just say we're in active procurement, so there's nothing.

And I got Bonnie behind me, so she's going to slap my head if I see something wrong.

Well, actually, she's over there, but time. No, no, but. Okay. So I, what I can share with you is this. It is moving along as we expected. We are, we are passing through the proper gates. We, we believe that we will, we will be able to contract by March. That's where we are right now at this point.

So that is, and I will tell you, as you know, and we've talked about this, we have completely changed the way that we've approached this project. So the organization, yes, the organization as a whole is extremely bought in, invested in this project. It's not just a DAGS project and it's not even just an accounting project.

It is a transformational project that involves every aspect of the state of Hawaii from a fiscal operations standpoint. So we're very excited about it. I, I, this is my, this, as I've said, this is my number one project. This is what keeps me up at night.

This is what literally keeps me up at night. So, Bonnie, you've been on top of this. So we're not going to have any protests that would, that, not that. Push back the march. Dead, very close contact.

Bonnie and her team have been extremely, they've been extremely supportive of us.

So we, we really appreciate the partnership with spo. March is a great, great month. Yes.

Not just because it's my birthday, but it's a great month.

Okay, we're holding you.

We're gonna hold. Yeah. Yes, you go.

I mean, hold my feet to the fire. That's what I'm here for, so.

And guess who's at the end of the bus Ways.

We appreciate all of you being here today, giving us an update on everything. I think it gives me good heart to know that you guys are using technology and understanding the critical situation we're in because of the bedrooms and tariffs and everything.

So we appreciate you taking the bull by the horns and running with this without the Legislature because this inertia is what we're going to need to come in this year and tackle all of these issues.

So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Any last words, Senator? I just. I just really appreciate your proactive, you know, using not only the. The automation, but. But actually restructuring and. And making yourselves much more proactive than reactive. And, you know, a lot of agencies come before us, and Wham.

And they have no plan. So really appreciate. Done. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Jada will set you free, my brother.

Okay? With that.

Seeing no other business, this hearing is concluded.