A botched contract for laundry services that threatened to saddle the state’s Department of Defense with “exorbitant” costs was awarded to a Waianae roofing company, procurement records show.

The records show the 1-year laundry contract went to Leeward Roofing, which submitted what appeared to be the low bid of $18,751.32.

Leeward Roofing & General Contracting is a trade name registered by sole proprietor Clayton A. “Rocky” Rivera. State records show Rivera holds licenses for general building, roofing, and waterproofing.

Rivera said he bid on the laundry contract after seeing it listed online in the Hawaii Electronic Procurement System (HePS), maintained by the State Procurement Office. Records show the solicitation was posted on January 28, 2010, with bids due by February 11.

Rivera declined to discuss the contract until cleared by the Department of Defense.

“I want to make sure the department is okay,” Rivera said. “I got to finish up with them.”

Chuck Anthony, public affairs spokesman for the DOD, said the department is in negotiations with the company.

“There hasn’t been anything paid out,” Anthony said. “We are in the process of negotiating a reasonable price.”

The DOD expects to put the contract out for bid again soon in order to correct the ambiguity in the original solicitation, although Anthony could not say when this would be done.

The contract called for picking up soiled laundry every Tuesday morning at the Hawaii National Guard’s Youth Challenge Academy in Kapolei and returning it before 5 p.m. the same afternoon after washing.

Each pickup would include 98 pairs of twin sheets, along with 98 queen size blankets and pillow cases. Pillows and plastic mattress covers would be cleaned “as needed”. The contract was to run from February 16, 2010 through February 15, 2011.

However, the DOD subsequently said the company interpreted the bid amount as a weekly charge rather than an annual cost. A stop work order was issued to prevent unreasonable costs being incurred by the state, according to a request to exempt a new contract from regular procurement procedures.

The procurement records were provided by the state DOD in response to a request from blogger Larry Geller (www.disappearednews.com), and made available to iLind.net.

The documents did not include invoices submitted by Leeward Roofing before being told to stop work. A notation on the cover sheet indicates the attorney general has been asked to determine whether the invoices can be disclosed.

“As with any contract, at least three bids are required, and on something like laundry services, in general, you would accept the lowest bid,” Anthony said.

The procurement records list two other bidders.

Dust-Tex Honolulu, Inc., whose regular business includes laundry of dust mops, mats, linens, and uniforms, submitted a bid of $25,589.76. Also bidding was Steiner Corporation of Honolulu, which bid $15,514,438.80.

Anthony was unable to say whether the Steiner amount was an error.

The department certified that the contract was awarded to Leeward Roofing based on “adequate price competition.”

Anthony responded cautiously when asked whether the bid from a roofing contractor to perform laundry services prompted any concerns at the DOD.

“Let me phrase my response carefully,” Anthony said. “There were some additional questions that were asked of the vendor.”

He did not elaborate.

Anthony played down the problems with this contract.

“For what it’s worth, at least as I’ve been briefed by our finance folks, there’s probably less here than it appears,” he said.

However, Anthony said his briefing had not included identification of Leeward Roofing as the company awarded the contract.

“I don’t know the name of the company, so I can’t confirm that,” Anthony said.