Apples to apples, Gordon mechanical bid is vastly superior

The table on the left compares the key points of both bids.  When you examine it objectively, the bid from Gordon Mechanical (GM) is vastly superior to Castaway / Cooling Hawaii.  Yet, at last week's board meeting, President Stewart Levine and AC committee chairman Larry Rosencratz both harshly criticized it and said Castaway was better without providing any supporting evidence.  You decide for yourself based on the actual facts:

GM wins hands down with a bid that is $10 million less.  That's an enormous difference given the largest previous contract in HKCA history was the painting project at $4M.  This works out to an avg savings of nearly $20,000 per unit!  Wouldn't you rather have that money in your pocket rather than the contractor's?

Again GM wins because they are using Samsung equipment while Castaway uses LG.  While this may not seem like a big difference when shopping for a TV, it makes all the difference with a nearly $30M AC replacement project.  Why?  Because Hokulani and Konea were built using highly proprietary Samsung VRF HVAC equipment.  The rooftop units (ACCU) and indoor units (FCU) will be connected using the existing refrigerant piping and electrical wiring.  Both of these are designed specifically for use with Samsung components, not LG.  This will result in many unforeseen costly compatibility problems.  This is why it's best to stick with Samsung rather than roll the dice on LG which has never been tried before at Honua Kai.  

This is a no-contest with GM / Samsung as the winner.  Samsung has been working with Honua Kai for years and they are so confident that their VP of Engineering provided a letter of assurance stating their equipment will work directly with our existing HVAC infrastructure.  LG has given no such assurances for piping reuse or equipment compatibility.  We use their equipment at our own risk!

This is important due to current EPA regulations which will limit the sale of R410A HVAC components starting next year.  Samsung has already put together our parts list and will guarantee production and delivery to US by end of year if we order by end of July.  LG is requiring the order to be placed by June 27 (next week) and they don't yet have a parts list.  This gives the board an extra month of time to work with in contract negotiations.  

GM by a mile - this is one of the most important criteria for a project as complex and massive as this.  Proven experience completing large commercial HVAC projects is absolutely mandatory.  In its bid proposal, GM lists 19 projects they've completed including 10 involving VRF systems, the type we have.  Castaway did not provide a list and when asked at last week's board meeting, neither the board president or Native Technologies consultant could identify a single comparable project completed by Castaway's HVAC partner Cooling Hawaii.  That is truly disconcerting and should alone be grounds for disqualifying Castaway from consideration.     

Again the nod clearly goes to GM because they are a union shop meaning they exclusively use trade journeymen and apprentices who have passed strict union requirements.  This ensure that all workers they employ have the technical skills required for this project.  Furthermore, if additional labor is necessary at any time during the project, GM has access to more through the union. Castaway, not being a union shop, lacks any such requirement and can hire workers with little to no job training or experience. As we all know, the labor market is very tight on Maui so if Castaway needs more, who do they turn to - day laborers hanging out at the Home Depot parking lot?    

While the board made the assumption that contractors based on Maui would be less expensive, this has not turned out to be the case.  About $3M of the GM bid is for worker travel and lodging expenses.  They have proposed housing their workers in HK units which can't be rented to guests due to lack of AC.  This is a win-win as owners will get rent (at a reduced rate) to offset their costs while their unit is out of service.  This is strictly voluntary but could return over $1.5M back to the pockets of owners making the overall project cost even less.  

While our board president was highly critical of GM for what he characterized as a lack of detail in their initial bid proposal, GM has since substantially revised it to address all concerns and affirm that they will meet all project requirements while maintaining the same $18M cost.  GM's entire bid submission is over 1300 pages long (1300 pages for Samsung parts list, 32 pages for GM RFP bid proposal).  By contrast, Castaway provided just a 4 page RFP bid proposal which among other things lacked any schedule detail, list of previous projects, LG parts list, etc.  While our president claimed this wasn't an "apples to apples" comparison before, now it clearly isn't given the severe lack of details from Castaway despite their far higher cost.