State of Hawaii - City and County of Honolulu ROBERTA MAYOR, CHAIR 925 DILLINGHAM BLVD SUITE 160, HONOLULU, HI 96817 June 25, 2019 Dear Chair Mayor, At the Thursday, May 28, 2019 Hawai?i Kai Neighborhood Board meeting, we both had the opportunity to hear community concerns pertaining to Koko Crater Stables. Since then, we have been working in collaboration to help clarify some questions that have emerged throughout the Request for Bidding (RFB) process for the stables. This culminated in a June 10 meeting that our of?ces held with Wendy Imamura and Manuel T. Valbuena, the Purchasing Administrator and Deputy Director (respectively) for the City Department of Budget and Fiscal Services. From that meeting, we were told the following by the City: The January 7, 2019 addenda to amend the mandatory minimum requirements for the RFB were based around a request from a potential bidder to lower said requirements. The Department of Enterprise Services, in an effort to have two bids on the RFB, agreed to lower the requirements to induce better competition. While there was correspondence between the City and Aloha Riding Lessons LLC (ARL) on January 16, 2019 and January 25, 2019 asking for pr oof to meet the minimum quali?cations, ARL was eventually able to provide proof that allowed the City to determine that ARL had met the minimum quali?cations. On March 5, 2019, the City began the award process for the solicitation. The highest bidder was not compliant with Hawaii Compliance Express (HCE) and did not meet the requirements outlined in Section 13 of the General Instruction to Offerors. On March 5, 2019, the Purchasing Of?ce contacted ARL to inform them that they were not HCE compliant and were thus going to be rejected. ARL asked for time to submit its payment to the Tax Department and was given 30 minutes by the Purchasing Of?ce staffer at the time but was unable to meet that timeframe. According to the City, ARL later contacted the Purchasing Administrator to ask for reconsideration and (ARL) recognized that HCE was a requirement for the award but did not want to tie up funds unnecessarily. Because ARL was not HCE compliant, the City offered a formal award to Horse Haven LLC. 1 State of Hawaii - City and County of Honolulu 0 The City decided to cancel the current solicitation for Koko Crater Stables in a letter dated May 9, 2019 due to faulty speci?cations and requirements including, but not limited to, not identifying structures and buildings in the list of City Pr0perty, and not stating a clear description of the City?s vision and objectives for the property as well as community concerns related to the RFB process. 0 On May 9, 2019, the City began drafting a revocable permit to be issued to Horse Haven while the City re-evaluates the speci?cations. Horse Haven LLC is currently operating under a revocable permit which has since expired. A new revocable permit will be issued shortly. For context, we are also enclosing the inquiry letter that Councilmember Waters sent to Purchasing Administrator Wendy Imamura dated June 3, 2019 and the response that Councilmember Waters received on June 7, 2019. We were also deeply concerned when were informed by the City that this reevaluation of the speci?cations for Koko Crater Stables includes the possibility that an assessment may result in the stables? future being called into question. In writing this letter to you, your fellow neighborhood board members, and the community?at-large, we want to af?rm our commitment in working together to protect the future of Koko Crater Stables. Please contact Davin Aoyagi of Councilmember Waters? staff (768-5044) if you have additional questions. Sincerely, Tommy Waters Gene Ward Honolulu City Council District 4 Hawaii State House District 17 CC: Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board Mayor Kirk Caldwell Encls: Correspondence from June 3 and June 7