The award of IT&E prompted officials of the Guam Telephone Authority to contest the award and make attempts to discredit IT&E’s subsequent application for funding in the amount of $89 million. GTA’s attempts were solidified by the Guam Legislature’s resolution, which severely hampers IT&E’s application.
The resolution has drawn criticism from CNMI Gov. Benigno R. Fitial.
“The Guam Legislature’s resolution severely places our region’s well being at risk,” he said. “It is disheartening to know that an applicant is being singled out because of their attempts to secure the advancement of our region.
The public presentations for BTOP applications are being held today, allowing the CNMI and Guahan public to hear the merits of their application and proposals. It would have been more appropriate to hear the merits of the applicants prior to sending a resounding message to the federal government that no ARRA money is needed in our region unless it can be equally split among all companies, even those that did not invest the time and resources to pursue this funding. I think the resolution’s untimely passage does nothing more than damage the credibility of any application that comes out of the region, not just Guahan”
Guam Gov. Felix Camacho supported Fitial’s viewpoint and shares in his disappointment at the passage of the Legislature’s resolution.
“I agree that the message sent on behalf of the people of Guahan by this resolution is damaging. Governor Fitial’s position to let the public hear the merit of the proposals by those who applied and be able to comment and ask questions is the best course of action. In a joint effort to ensure equity and fairness, as well as secure what is in the best interest of our region, the applicants for round two of the BTOP funding will be presenting their proposals to the public. Although the presentations will be hosted in Saipan, the Guahan public will be able to join in and ask questions via video teleconferencing,” said Camacho.
To ensure objectivity when providing support to private sector applicants who have applied for ARRA funding, the CNMI has requested all applicants to make public presentations of their applications. Each application is then subject to questions from a panel of evaluators and the general public. This information is then taken back to the government for consideration on how to rank each of the applications and express the level of support for each applicant. Their recommendations are then forwarded to the federal grantor for review.
During the first round of the BTOP funding, the CNMI held public presentations for IT&E, Docomo Pacific, and Northern Marianas College.
For the second round of funding yesterday, the CNMI required the same presentations which were hosted through video-teleconference to include the Guam public.
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