TALOFAPass platform contract awarded to a Hawaii based company

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA —The ASG COVID Task Force is making progress on getting the “American Samoa Government Safe Travel System” — or TALOFAPass platform up and running for those people who want to travel to American Samoa. It has accepted a Request for Proposals (RFP) from a Hawaii based company to create the website and a commercial flight from Honolulu is scheduled for Sept. 13, 2021. Currently, a more or less ‘manual’ system is still in place for the scheduled flight, for tracking vaccinations and testing results before an OK board is issued for a passenger.

The Award for the RFP was issued this past Thursday, August 19th to DataHouse Consulting, Inc. in the amount of $6,350,000, which covers a period of 3 years. This came after the Source Evaluation Board submitted their recommendation to the Chief Procurement Officer, Ti’alemasunu Dr. Mikaele Etuale, which he approved.

In the press release issued to the media yesterday, the task force gave some background on Data House, saying “it is the largest and longest standing IT company in Hawaii providing cutting edge technology solutions for over 40 years. The firm is a growing group of innovators, technologists, and entrepreneurs who are committed to leading the way within their industries. They were also named Hawaii’s TOP IT company for the past 3 years.

 “We are pleased to hear of the awarding of a contract that will allow us to launch an electronic Safe Travels system and resume commercial flights on a limited, monitored basis. The safety of our Territory remains a top priority of our Administration as we confront the challenges posed by the pandemic and look toward building resilience in the event of future disasters,” stated Acting Governor Talauega Ale.

Ms Hong Phan, president of DataHouse the Hawaii-based consulting firm stated:

 “We, here, at DataHouse are honored to help American Samoa provide an integrated IT solution to enable safe travels as much as possible. With the new TALOFAPass platform, American Samoa can guide travelers through the travel process and track COVID-19 vaccinations and testing results. The platform includes user-friendly web and mobile applications that make it easy for travelers and ASG officials to exchange information and manage safe travels in this COVID environment.”

According to the release, many lessons were learned following repatriation efforts this year — some of which include the need to improve the efficiency of existing government processes, promote better inter-agency collaboration, and enhance the quality of public services to include accommodating off-island medical referrals and other essential travel needs.

The seven companies that submitted proposals were:

Carahsoft Technology Corp, Dansis Solutions, DataHouse Consulting, Inc. (the chosen proposal), Kava Up LLC, Klaod Solutions LLC, Ledge Light Technologies, Medical Web Experts.

COMMERCIAL FLIGHTS INTO PAGO FROM HNL

Two September Hawaiian Air flights — Monday September 13 and Monday September 27 — are still scheduled for the territory, and are said to be fully booked.

They will be the first commercial flights from Honolulu since American Samoa closed its borders last year. However Hawaii is currently experiencing a surge in COVID cases of the delta-variance type (highly transmittable), and restrictions are now in place on Oahu.

Whether this will effect the scheduled HA flights is unknown. However, it should be noted that the ASG Covid Task Force has acknowledged that the flights dates are fluid due to several possible issues, i.e. local vaccination goal is not met and the covid surge off-island becomes extremely high. Samoa News notes that the delta-variant is said to be highly contagious, with a 30-second contact being enough to catch or spread it.

As of yesterday, Aug. 23, large gatherings on Oahu are suspended for four weeks beginning Wednesday, Mayor Rick Blangiardi said, according to the Star Advertiser.

It says the mayor made the announcement in response to high levels of COVID-19 infection circulating in the community. Honolulu currently has over 9,000 active cases of COVID-19, an all time high.

“We feel that, that’s really the major source of communal spread,” Blangiardi said. “At the same time, we’re obviously urging everyone to be vaccinated.”

The restrictions are scheduled to last four weeks, but could be extended if hospital capacity is still limited and infection levels on Oahu remain high.