Ken Tagawa not brought back to the Port

by Nick Delgado

Guam - With a letter from the General Services Agency in hand clearing any appearance of procurement impropriety, the Port board during their meeting last night recognized that contractor Parsons Brinkerhoff International completed their work for the agency satisfactorily.  This past March the Attorney General's Office found that the Port's procurement of a community outreach program violated Guam law because it should have gone out on a separate RFP because it was not within the scope of the original Port Master Plan.

The outreach program was being pushed through the Governor's Chief of Staff, George Bamba.  The AG's Office had recommended that Bamba be admonished, to which the Governor scoffed at. The AG's Office further recommended that Parsons pay back the money it was paid to create a website. Weeks after the AG's letter, Parsons eventually launched the online feature.

Port Board Chairperson Monte Mesa said, "We've finalized the ratification of the outreach program. It's been completed, all deliverables to date have been completed and satisfied and the board approved the ratification as such that it was done for the best of the island and for the Port." 

As for whether the agency's board brought back on Ken Tagawa, that didn't happen; instead Vivian Leon remains deputy director. Yet Mesa said the issue could be come up another time. The board also discussed their intentions to apply for the next TIGER grant to modernize the facility.