Guam Power Authority (GPA) is seeking legislative support for Senator Will Parkinson's bill that approves a one-time, automatic lift of stay should there be a protest of the specific temporary power generation project.

GPA Assistant General Manager for Administration Tricee Limtiaco said, “If we do have a protest and if that protest becomes an appeal, we will not make the 100 day timeline, if we cannot have an automatic lift of stay.”

GPA is rushing to get the project approved and completed before May, when the weather gets hotter, and customers crank up their air conditioners, greatly increasing demand.

They're seeking the automatic lift of stay, said Limtiaco, so that the contract also is not stalled at the AG's office where they've experienced similar issues before.

“With our last appeal before the opa for the Yigo PMC services we had asked the Attorney General, our attorney had followed up numerous times to please opine, would you please opine on whether or not you agree, and we just got zero response. So anticipating any roadblocks for something as important as temporary power is exactly what GPA should be doing,” said Limtiaco.

Senators also had concerns about a one-time amendment to procurement law, but got this reassurance from GPA Legal Counsel Marianne Woloschuk.

She said, “The protesters have other remedies that they can look to, so all is not lost if the procurement goes forward, because this is a special circumstance, it's not something that comes up very often.”

The contract also still awaits final approval by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC).