Medical school deals secret
By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Work is well under way on the University of Hawai'i's ambitious new medical school complex at Kaka'ako, but many details about how the institution is spending public money are being kept secret.
Ground was broken for the John A. Burns School of Medicine last October and the university has spent more than $10 million so far. But officials have refused to disclose the value of eight construction and consultant contracts, most of which were signed more than a year ago.
The high-profile project is expected to cost at least $163 million and is linked to the planned construction of a cancer research center and other work that is to cost $300 million in total.
State and university officials say the project will boost UH's academic credentials, provide important educational opportunities and invigorate the waterfront area.
The university has chosen the main contractor, a joint venture between Hawaiian Dredging and Kajima Corp., but has yet to nail down a final cost and contract.
University chief of staff Sam Callejo said releasing information about completed contracts with those firms and others could undermine the school's bargaining position for further work.
"We have a target price in mind, but we are not there yet," Callejo said in letter responding to an Advertiser request that completed contracts be made public.
"... We believe premature disclosures of the remaining contracts and their pricing would frustrate our ability to negotiate the best possible terms with HD/K."
State Office of Information Practices attorney Carlotta Dias said that, in general, state contracts can't be kept secret.
"We say usually that once a contract is signed, it should be public," she said.
But RCUH director Harold Masumoto flatly refused last month to allow access to any public records related to the contracts, despite a formal request invoking the state's public records law.
He said that no documents would be released until the final contract is signed and that negotiations are expected to conclude by September.
University officials later overruled that decision and released five contracts for legal and other advisory work related to the project.
UH released eight additional construction and consultant contracts Thursday, but deleted all cost figures from the documents.
The Office of Information Practices is reviewing UH's response but has not validated or advised against it, Dias said.
The university also deleted amounts from four change orders to an "interim agreement" with Hawaiian Dredging/Kajima. Those amendments cover the work the company has done so far.
Documents released by RCUH earlier show that three of the change orders total $10.3 million.
Some companies involved in the project have faced intense scrutiny for making illegal campaign contributions.
One firm, Geolabs, last year paid a $64,000 fine for such activities, the largest the state Campaign Spending Commission has ever issued.
Investigators found that the company funneled a total of more than $124,000 to several politicians, with most of the money going to Mayor Jeremy Harris, who was a gubernatorial candidate; former Gov. Ben Cayetano; and former Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, who ran for governor last year. Several others received smaller illegal amounts, the commission found.
Geolabs is performing geotechnical engineering work for the medical center project, records show, and was awarded the contract seven months after the fine. University officials would not say how much the firm is being paid, and deleted that information from a contract signed last August.
Geolabs is also a defendant in a major lawsuit against the city and another consultant, filed by a contractor who charged that planning work for a city sewage treatment plant expansion project on Sand Island was badly bungled. The city and Geolabs say in court papers that the suit is baseless.
The medical school project includes numerous subcontractors, who have agreements with other companies rather than directly with the university.
One subcontractor is SSFM International Inc., whose president recently pleaded no contest to a felony money laundering charge and a misdemeanor campaign finance violation for illegally funneling $140,000 to Harris' re-election campaign.
State Campaign Spending Commission director Robert Watada said the company appears to have funneled illegal contributions to Cayetano and several others, and that he will seek a hefty fine.
SSFM is the project's structural engineer and was hired by Architects Hawai'i Ltd., which has a contract with RCUH. The university deleted all cost information from the documents it released, including a change order that detailed payments to subcontractors.
Callejo, who formerly served as Cayetano's chief of staff, said those amounts must be kept secret "to avoid the frustration of a legitimate government function," and that they would not be released when the project is finished.
RCUH director of physical facilities Allan Ah San initially refused to release even the names of the subcontractors, even though many are listed on a sign posted at the project site and on company vehicles parked there.
No one has publicly alleged that any of the medical school contracts or subcontracts were awarded improperly or were linked to campaign contributions.
The Kaka'ako project and related work are being financed with a mix of public money and private contributions that UH President Evan Dobelle has promised to raise. The state has committed $150 million in revenue bonds and $13 million in general obligation bonds.
Dobelle said the nonprofit University of Hawai'i Foundation will raise an additional $150 million, and that the project will be completed "on time and on budget." The medical school is to be completed by September 2005.
Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
