COVID pandemic cited for delays on CBDG funded projects

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Delays in construction projects and the additional costs are among the challenges that American Samoa and other remote US territories are facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report released last week by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General (HUD-OIG).

According to the report, HUD-OIG conducted the survey of grantees between Mar. 23 and Sept. 30, 2020 on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on HUD’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) grantees.

The objective of the survey, the report says, was to determine the challenges that HUD and its CDBG-DR grantees are experiencing related to the pandemic and to help inform the Office of Community Planning and Development and Congress on the issues faced in responding to the pandemic.

The survey, conducted last year telephonically and virtually, with HUD officials and CDBG-DR grantees across the country, included grantees in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Marianas, and American Samoa.

The American Samoa Government is the local grantee that was surveyed for the CDBG-DR, from which American Samoa was awarded $23 million for Tropical Storm Gita in 2018 to assist local people and infrastructure.

(Samoa News notes that CDBG grants are overseen by the ASG-Commerce Department.)

According to HUD-OIG, its interviews with the grantees focused on five key questions regarding the COVID-19 challenges and experiences. One question asked - “What, if any, challenges have you experienced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic?”

The report notes that the most significant challenges faced during the pandemic and reported by grantees were systems-technology and communications.

The grantees also reported substantial challenges with project construction delays and incurring additional costs during the pandemic. During interviews with 11 of the 13 grantees, project construction delays and incurring additional costs were cited 52 times as challenges faced during the pandemic.

Grantees provided varying reasons why projects would be delayed or would have additional costs due to the pandemic.

One example cited in the report states that, “American Samoa officials stated that project costs increased due to the scarcity of materials during the pandemic. The grantee explained that getting materials during the pandemic was much harder than before the pandemic, which added additional costs to the project.”

Grantees surveyed also cited construction resources and a lack of capacity as operational challenges during the pandemic. The report notes that grantees from the “more remote territories cited the pandemic’s effect on their ability to procure construction materials and resources and obtain the personnel needed to administer increased program funding and operations.”

For example, officials from Hawaii, American Samoa, and the Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI) stated that the pandemic “had crippled the importation of building materials needed for their housing rehabilitation programs,” the report states.

In the case of American Samoa and the Northern Marianas, “the ability to bring workers, especially from foreign countries, to their islands to work on the construction sites was impossible due to the pandemic,” the report points out.

Additionally, “grantees from the territories stated that the pandemic travel restrictions made it difficult to import goods and services.”

HUD-OIG concluded that CDBG-DR grantees across the country reported facing similar challenges and experiences related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And it’s anticipated that many of the challenges highlighted by these grantees across the country, may persist due to the lingering pandemic, according to HUD-OIG.

Specific details of the report are on the HUD-OIG website [www.hudoig.gov].