The state continues to seek applications for services and award contracts. But the level of trust any vendor might have in the State to “pay its bills on time” is increasingly strained, especially after revelations like this one, where once again, a contractor had to secure a loan just to keep operations going due to delayed payments.
The key question emerging from the shutdown of SMS is whether Hawaiʻi’s government and private entities are helping or harming local firms through their procurement rules and procedures when hiring local firms for consulting and other work. Additionally, it raises the issue of whether the “buy local” philosophy is genuinely supported by these rules.