June, the last month of the state\u2019s fiscal year, is probably the busiest month of the year for contracting as state agencies rush to encumber funds rather than face the prospect of seeing them lapse back into the general fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the no-bid contracts that the Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity posted in June on the state\u2019s HANDS (Hawai\u02bbi Awards and Notices Data System) website, maintained by the state Procurement Office, was one for $300,000. As described by the department\u2019s Plant Industry Division, the contract was for \u201ca one-time green-waste treatment and removal operation at the Keahole Agricultural Park in Kona \u2026 intended to eradicate coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB) from the agricultural park.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sharon Hurd, DAB director, had praised this contract at the May 26 meeting of the Board of Agriculture and Biosecurity. Following a mild chastisement from board member Jason Moniz, frustrated by the slow progress in implementing a CRB rule for Kona, Hurd said, \u201cWe have reached out. Right now we\u2019re focusing on green waste because the Big Island has huge piles of green waste everywhere. And we do have an agreement we\u2019ve reached with a third party to fumigate. We did start with an emergency RFP (request for proposal) for a contractor to do fumigation for green waste and we\u2019re doing really well with that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Franny Brewer, program manager of the Big Island Invasive Species Committee, was encouraged to hear about the contract, saying that this was something BIISC had been looking forward to for most of the past year. \u201cThat green waste in the Keahole Ag Park is ground zero for CRB, and we know there are breeding sites in there.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the contract was not approved by the Procurement Office, with the notation: \u201cThis request is disapproved as there is insufficient justification for an exemption from the procurement requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As for the $300,000 that was to have been used to treat CRB larvae in Kona, DAB seems to have found another use for it \u2013 on O\u02bbahu. It awarded a $1.15 million contract to HTM Contractors to \u201ctrim, remove, haul and dispose of dead palm trees, branches, flowers, fruit and leaves on trees on public lands. \u2026 At the time of solicitation, approximately $850,000 was allocated to the project. An additional $300,000 became available because another CRB-related project did not come to fruition,\u201d the award notice stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Big Island did get two DAB contracts, each for $200,000, awarded to the County of Hawai\u02bbi government. The county says its proposal is intended \u201cto combat the CRB by implementing an island-wide outreach education campaign, bolstered monitoring efforts utilizing a detector dog(s), and enhancing green waste and mulch management practices across various stages including receiving, processing, storage, and distribution.\u201d It is expected that much of the work will be done under contract to the county by BIISC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since March 31, DAB has been without a public information officer, a lack that was mentioned by testifiers and several board members as hindering public awareness of the CRB rule, among other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the Plant Quarantine Branch has contracted with Mana Means Incorporated to carry out a \u201cBiosecurity Project Public Awareness Media Campaign (PUBLICAWARE2026).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the contract proposal, \u201cPriority will be given to eligible entities that have experience creating content to be distributed via radio, television, print and digital channels and target the various demographics that include, but are not limited to \u2018The Silent Generation,\u2019 \u2018Baby Boomers,\u2019 \u2018Generation X,\u2019 \u2018Millennials\/Generation Y,\u2019 \u2018Zoomers\/Generation Z\u2019 and \u2018Generation Alpha.\u2019 Proposals must include at least one clear objective and one measurable outcome that supports achieving the objective, and a process\/method of data collection to show the measurable outcome was met.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For its labors, Mana Means will be paid $250,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The largest consulting contract, however, is that for $1 million, awarded to Shizen Consulting Management, LLC, to carry out a project that DAB has labeled \u201cRISKASSESSMENT2026.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bid proposal says priority was to be given to \u201celigible companies or institutions that have experience with risk assessment projects; are familiar with the existing commodities and pathways in which pests enter and move throughout the state \u2026 and experience with conducting biological surveys or other verifiable methods to determine if pests are established or not in the state. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRISKASSESSMENT2026 project proposals must include at least one objective and one measurable outcome that identifies a major commodity or pathway for pests entering or further moving throughout the state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On its website, Shizen describes itself as \u201ca consulting firm that provides Program, Project, and Construction Management services for various public and private sector clients throughout Hawai\u02bbi and California.\u201d The services it lists on its website would not seem to have much, if anything, to do with assessing biosecurity risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Hawai\u02bbi, the sole named member of the company is Chandra Nanumnart. Nanumnart also is president\/treasurer\/director of EKNA Services, Inc., formerly known as Edward K. Noda and Associates, Inc., an engineering firm with a long history in Hawai\u02bbi. Vice president\/secretary\/director of EKNA Services is Brian Ishii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both EKNA and Shizen share the same address in Honolulu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2011, Carol Okada (for years the head of the department\u2019s Plant Industry Division, of which the Plant Quarantine Branch is a part) and Ishii, of EKNA Services, worked on a project of the Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species (CGAPS) to develop a rule to protect \u02bbohi\u02bba trees against \u02bbohi\u02bba rust. EKNA was also consulted on a project to develop an e-manifest system for air cargo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
EKNA was a contractor to the state Department of Transportation when the DOT was working to expand the Kahului airport. In connection with that contract, EKNA subcontracted an assessment of arthropod fauna around the airport to Bishop Museum. The museum\u2019s final report was prepared by expert museum staff: Frank Howarth, David Preston, and Robert Pyle, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The contact person for both the risk assessment and public outreach contracts was Jonathan Ho.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 Patricia Tummons<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" June, the last month of the state’s fiscal year, is probably the busiest month of the year for contracting as state agencies rush to encumber funds rather than face the prospect of seeing them lapse back into the general fund. … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,25,552],"tags":[7],"class_list":["post-17257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-invasives","category-july-2026","tag-patricia-tummons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17257"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17258,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17257\/revisions\/17258"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}