Elevators in high-rise, state-owned public housing projects, including the two 16-story towers at Kuhio Park Terrace, are now being repaired under an emergency, nonbid contract because passengers were at risk of "serious injuries or fatalities," according to paperwork justifying the contract award.

A consultant who studied the elevators found "that maintenance work is not satisfactory and that significant systems relating to passenger safety have been ignored or 'pieced together,'" according to the Housing and Community Development Corp. of Hawaii, the state's public housing agency.

HCDCH executive director Stephanie Aveiro said she is "confident" that the elevators are now safe, noting that her agency canceled its maintenance contract with Thyssenkrupp Elevator Corp. "because we were unsatisfied with the quality of service."

She declined to be more specific about the nature of the repair and maintenance problems. Aveiro's deputy, Pamela Dodson, said the agency was unaware of any serious injuries resulting from the maintenance problems.

Local Thyssenkrupp official Andrew Liposky referred questions about the contract cancellation to company official Eric Scudders in Florida. He said yesterday, "I'm not up to speed on this and don't have any comment at the moment."

More than 1,800 residents live at Kuhio Park Terrace.

Aveiro said the new maintenance and repair contract covers some 18 elevators at various high-rise public housing projects, including Kuhio Park Terrace, Kalakaua Housing on Kalakaua Avenue and the Kalanihuia and Pumehana elderly housing projects in Honolulu.

Michael Tomihara, chief operating officer of Hawai'i Vertical Transportation Inc., the company now handling elevator maintenance and repairs under the emergency contract, said some of the elevators "were not in good shape, that's about as much as I want to say."

Elevators "are in decent shape now, but there's still some work to be done," Tomihara said.

Tomihara and Aveiro declined to state how much the emergency work will cost. The contract is expected to last no more than six months while a competitively-bid, long-term contract is prepared.

The canceled Thyssenkrupp contract was valued at approximately $100,000 per year, Aveiro said.

According to paperwork submitted by HCDCH to the state Office of Procurement, the state also awarded a nonbid contract last month worth $104,000 to HB Elevator Consulting to oversee the repair work and to help prepare a new competitively bid repair and maintenance contract.

Horst Bartmann, principal of HB Consulting, could not be reached for comment.

State law says that nonbid contracts can be awarded with the prior approval of the state procurement office when "procurement by competitive means is either not practicable or not advantageous to the state." There is no limit on the value of the contracts that can be awarded under such circumstances.

According to HCDCH documents submitted to the Office of Procurement, the elevator consultant and repair contracts had to be awarded on a nonbid basis because of time constraints and because "the state Office of the Attorney General has advised us to keep the proceedings confidential."

"We are not able to publicly bid this work, due to potential legal action, and are requesting an exemption of bidding for this consultant and for a contractor to provide the repairs and interim maintenance for the elevators affected until the next maintenance contract can be bid," HCDCH said.

The exemptions were granted the first week of this month by acting chief procurement officer Ruth Yamaguchi and another official in her office, Justin Fo, according to official records.

Aveiro said that progress is being made on another pressing safety issue at Kuhio Park Terrace — improvements to fire alarms and other fire-safety equipment at the 41-year-old housing development.

Two years ago, federal officials issued a stinging report about broken, missing and malfunctioning fire alarms and fire hoses at the public housing project, and HCDCH hired a consultant to develop plans for improvements.

Aveiro said the consultant, working in partnership with the Honolulu Fire Department, developed an interim "fire watch" program at Kuhio Park Terrace. Next month, bids will be opened for a large fire-safety improvements contract for the housing project that will include installation of "fire alarm pulls" inside each residential unit, Aveiro said.

Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.