Backlog of school repairs draws scrutiny
By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawai'i's sorry record of repairing crumbling public schools is drawing scrutiny to an often maligned agency that handles a mammoth amount of the state's workload but is not known for innovation and efficiency.
The Department of Accounting and General Services has long been criticized for a sluggish response to school upkeep, embarrassing gaffes on construction projects, questionable awarding of contracts, and an obstinate approach to some routine chores. The department has also had six different leaders in the past eight years.
The Legislature has debated several ways to speed up school repairs by stripping DAGS of those duties and transferring them directly to the Department of Education. Republican gubernatorial candidates backed such an approach, while Democrats called for reforms within the existing system.
Gov. Ben Cayetano favored the Republicans' method before he was elected in 1994, but said he later backed off after taking a closer look.
"Once I got into office I understood the system better. There are economies of scale, there are efficiencies of having everything centralized," Cayetano said. "I think the current system can be improved, can be streamlined, can be made more efficient, but I would not want to throw it out right now and say the Department of Education should have its own DAGS. I don't know that they'll be able to do a better job."
The state's public schools have a repair backlog that exceeds $600 million after years of tight budgets. But amid crippling staff shortages and bureaucratic inertia, DAGS has sometimes been unable to quickly put to work what money is available.
Cayetano said procurement rules are part of the problem because work can sometimes grind to a halt when a contractor challenges the award of a job to a competitor.
"This procedure where they file a complaint and everything comes to a stop has caused a great deal of delays," Cayetano said. "I think the process can be better streamlined if some of those things were either eliminated or changed, with the idea that we want to move faster."
On the bright side, the construction of new schools is moving much quicker than before, he said.
"We build schools today in half the time it used to take," Cayetano said. "When I took office it used to take us more than three years to build a school. Today it takes 18 months."
Mary Alice Evans, acting state comptroller and DAGS director, said the department has worked hard to improve its school repair record, and that shifting the chore to another department wouldn't guarantee better results. A continued commitment to pay for needed repairs is the key, she said.
"Moving boxes around on the organizational chart will not result in an increase in funding," Evans said. "In fact, in some cases it could result in a worse situation."
DAGS handles much more than school repair, though. The department's eight divisions oversee the bulk of the state's procurement, design and construction, accounting and auditing, maintenance of state buildings and many other duties.
Though the department includes many hardworking and knowledgeable employees, it has also suffered from a lack of innovative hustle, say many people who have observed the department for years.
It's hard to miss symbols of such sentiment around the Capitol, one of the many buildings DAGS is in charge of.
Every weekday, workers plod around in the large reflecting pools that surround the axis of state government, using noisy pumps to suck up algae and muck that grows back almost immediately.
No one at DAGS tracks the exact cost to taxpayers of the perpetual pool cleaning, though it is widely viewed as an absurdly inefficient boondoggle.
"It's terribly hard to understand why they allow these daily expenses to go on and on, rather than seek a permanent solution to the problem," said Jim Williams, a pool designer and builder who has watched DAGS struggle with the job for three decades. "This is an embarrassment that the seat of our state government should be surrounded by a swamp. Or is it indicative of what we've got?"
The Legislature agreed to appropriate $360,000 this year to repair leaks in the pools and install a new circulation system, and DAGS is studying how best to try to prevent the algae problem.
Across Punchbowl Street at the Kalanimoku Building, where DAGS has its headquarters, a five-month waterproofing and sidewalk repair job is taking a year longer because a new seal material leaked, threatening a major state database in a basement.
It's unclear whether the problems could have been foreseen, but some department officials say engineers and inspectors are often swamped with work because of staff shortages, making it nearly impossible to scrutinize every job as it progresses.
Leadership continuity has been a problem, too. Cayetano has appointed six different comptrollers to head DAGS during his terms as governor. He said he believes they were well-qualified and did a good job.
The position pays less than $90,000 per year, and Cayetano said that is low considering the heavy work load and responsibilities that go with the position. Whoever is elected governor in November will be entitled to select a new comptroller when the new administration's cabinet is named.
Evans has worked at DAGS for about two years and was named comptroller last month, when former comptroller Glenn Okimoto left to oversee the state's harbors for the Department of Transportation.
In July, a state hearings officer found that DAGS officials illegally awarded three large school roofing contracts through a new computerized purchasing system that has been under fire for allegedly steering a disproportionate number of jobs to a small group of contractors, and for sometimes inflating costs.
The Performance Information Procurement System is meant to ensure the state gets the best value in contracting, by considering factors other than bid amounts. But some contractors say data that's entered into the system can be manipulated to affect results. An advisory committee has been created to study the PIPS system and submit a report to lawmakers next year.
Reach Johnny Brannon at 525-8070 or jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com.
