Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Guam Port Web Portal Launches After 16 Month Delay

After more than a 16-month delay, the Port Authority of Guam last week launched a web portal to allow identified users to share information critical to the work being done as part of the island's commercial seaport modernization program.

The portal, access to which is available only to certain groups such as employees, consultants, federal officials and some representatives in local agencies, has been mired in controversy since a Guam Attorney Generals' Office report that found that the contract covering the web portal development was an illegal procurement by the Guam governor's Chief of Staff George Bamba and Guam government Chief Procurement Officer Claudia Acfalle. The web portal contract was part of a larger port outreach project. The report found that the outreach contract, funded through a $350,000 sole-source purchase order, was not put out to bid and instead illegally awarded to port contractor Parsons Brinkerhoff.

The web portal component of the contract was to be delivered by October 2008, but delays continued month after month for which the contractor was paid $35,000 per month.

The Attorney General's Office, in issuing the report last month, said it planned to take legal action against the contractor, seeking either $100,000 in repayment or the completed project.

After the contract was turned over to another division of Parsons Brinkerhoff, the port subsequently announced the completion of the web portal project.