Confusion reigns in the US at present, as a fund created in 2006 to help support companies working to produce hydrogen fuel from renewable resources, such as wind and water, in Hawaii is still being held up by a dispute over who should manage the project, it has been reported.
Hawaii’s Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) selected H2 Energy to run the programme back in August, but this decision proved controversial as H2 Energy had earlier been ranked by a DBEDT evaluation committee as the least attractive option on a three-strong shortlist.
As a result, the state Procurement Office was forced to rule in September that the contract should have been awarded to Kolohala Holdings, which had been ranked first by the DBEDT evaluation committee in the first place. Despite this however, the department is now arguing that Kolohala should not have been the preferred choice, and has subsequently entered into negotiations with a third party.
The ongoing issue is set to be clarified later in the week as the state Procurement Office administrator Aaron Fujioka has set a deadline for the DBEDT to either award a contract, or explain why further progress has yet to be made.
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