Dann Carlson, assistant superintendent, Office of School Facilities and Support Services, said, “Cooling classrooms is much more than just installing an AC unit; it requires professional contractors who can complete a job the right way. This includes ensuring electrical capabilities, properly sealing rooms and more.”

HONOLULU – The Hawaii State Department of Education announced that a number of qualified contractors have answered the call to apply for heat abatement work in an effort to cool more classrooms.

Since March, the number of prequalified contractors has increased from 18 to 36 as HIDOE prepares to put projects back out to bid.

“We appreciate the attention and effort by our local contractors who have come forward to work on our sustainable cooling projects,” said Dann Carlson, assistant superintendent, Office of School Facilities and Support Services.

The department prequalified contractors in the spring with a goal of implementing cooling measures in 1,000 classrooms by the end of the year.

Of the more than 3,000 contractors that were sent the notices multiple times, 18 qualified.

In May, the department restarted the prequalifying process and sent notices to more than 3,000 contractors. That resulted in 25 contractor applicants and 18 qualified applicants. The total of 36 contractors are able to bid on projects to cool classrooms.

Projects have been identified at 33 schools using a variety of air conditioning products, including photovoltaic air conditioning (PVAC) with both PV and electrical power, PVAC with battery power, and standard split system AC with full electrical power.

The department is required by law to minimize the amount of electrical usage increase as much as possible and add passive cooling. This is one reason HIDOE is looking at various energy efficiency measures.

HIDOE will be meeting with the qualified contractors to review project specifications and the timeline for bidding. These round one qualifying contractors include Able Electric Inc., All Maintenance and Repair LLC, Allied Pacific Builders Inc., Arisumi Brothers Inc., CC Engineering & Construction Inc., Contech Engineering Inc., Economy Plumbing & Sheet Metal Inc., Greenpath Technologies Inc., Honolulu Roofing Company Inc., Island Wide A/C Service LLC, MJ Construction Inc., Pacific Blue Construction LLC, Rambaud Electric LLC, S&M Sakamoto Inc., Starcom Builders Inc., Tory’s Roofing & Waterproofing Inc., Banks Pacific Construction Inc. and A’s Mechanical.

Round two qualifying contractors include Arita-Poulson General Contracting LLC, BCP Construction of HI Inc., Brian’s Contracting Inc., Central Construction Inc., Commercial Roofing & Waterproofing Hawaii Inc., Elite Pacific Construction Inc., F&H Construction, HBM Acquisitions LLC dba Hawaiian Building Maintenance, HSI Mechanical Inc., Index Builders Inc., Isemoto Contracting Co. Ltd., LTM Corporation dba Civil-Mechanical Contractor, Nan Inc., Performance Systems Inc., Ralph S. Inouye Co. Ltd., RevoluSun LLC, Su-Mo Builders Inc., and Shioi Construction Inc.