In an interview yesterday, he said the CNMI government would lose the federal grant if it missed the deadline to implement the improvement project.
The $650,000 Real ID Grant was supposed to start in 2009, Variety learned.
It aimed to enhance the driver’s license system to make it compatible with federal standards.
The Jural Group of former DPS Commissioner Clyde K. Norita was supposed to handle the project’s management and implementation and will receive $65,000 or 10 percent of the grant.
According to Tudela, the grant was supposed to expire in February but it was extended.
Tudela, who left DPS last month, said the money has been “sitting” since 2009. He didn’t understand why the Office of Homeland Security didn’t implement the grant. It was only when DPS learned of such funding in October 2010 that they made an effort to transfer the grant to DPS.
When the Jural Group finally submitted a proposal Tudela said he remembered signing it in February just a few months before he stepped down as DPS commissioner.
“But it was rejected by the Division of Procurement and Supply,” he said.
The division wants DPS to solicit bids for the project.
Tudela said he signed the Jural Group’s contract because “we were approaching the deadline and if we didn’t act on it we might lose the federal grant.”
He said it should be awarded to Jural Group because it was the only one willing to implement the program.
Tudela noted that Jural Group consists of former police officers “so they know what is good for the department.”
To help improve the DPS record system, Norita’s firm was supposed to conduct an assessment and make recommendations. The grant would enable DPS to use funds to upgrade the local driver’s license program.
The grant will fund the issuance of ID’s that are like credit cards in which all information about the holders are contained.
The current licenses are laminated ID’s.
Under the project, everything that DPS needs to know about the license holder will be fed into its system.
“If you are a sex-offender or an ex-convict, it is going to show when we put it in the computer,” Tudela said, adding that the project is very important, especially in protecting the commonwealth from possible terrorism.
“We are trying to improve the record system,” he said.
Now that Procurement and Supply has rejected Jural’s contract, Tudela said DPS will have to follow its recommendation.
“If DPS has to bid it out then, it will bid it out,” he added.
Except for the Jural Group, Tudela said he has yet to hear anyone interested to carry out the project.
Tudela said the DPS record management system was examined before he left the department because of some rumors that it had “crashed.”
He said they were using the system when he was told by some staff that it had “went down.” Other DPS staffers, however, said it was doing fine.
To make sure there was really no problem, Tudela said he had it closely examined before he left DPS.
“We were fixing the problem when I left DPS,” he said.
