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COST COMPARISON—Engineering-Support Technician 1-The City&County of Honolulu(CCH) manages and administers approximately 300 bridges during a two year report cycle. FHWA:requires the CCH to inspect and submit a bridge inspection report at least once every 2 years for each bridge.All bridges are inspected by an certified engineering consultant with an average fee of$4000 for each Biennial Bridge Inspection Report(NBI and National Bridge Element Inspection Report) per bridge.CCH pays about$600,000 per,year to private consultants with a CEVII and CEVI administering their bridge program (Note:CCH does notconduct any in-house inspection and report writing;only manages the program). 2-The County of Hawaii,on the other hand,conducts inspection Of all its bridges With in-house staff: CoH manages 128 bridges island-wide and its in-house staff of two FHWA trained and Certified Bridge Inspectors conducts allon-site inspections, prepares and transmits Reports to the HDOT and FHWA. Each Report is 7 pages long(with photos) and each bridge element is numbered and requires proper coding by bridge construction material, bridge structural component,and condition status. Moreover, if any component is defective (deteriorated,damaged,fractured, corroded,etc.),then it is identified by another element number, defect description,condition status(.1 thru 4), and dimensional unit. Each member of our CoH Bridge Inspection team(BIT):must possess.a highly skilled set of experience, knowledge,dependability, intelligence and initiative,including.the.Engineering Support Technician. Because the above knowledge and skills that DPW is seeking of:BIT candidates, which is above and beyond the normal requirements for EST candidates, DPW request approval to:offer rate of pay above the minimum rate offered to normal EST candidates. DPW anticipates a limited pool of candidates as the knowledge and skills sought are not widely available. The CoH Bridge Inspection team performs all the inspection and necessary report writing in-house, it is safe to assume that the County and its:taxpayers are saving at least a quarterof a million dollars($250,000).every year. These projected savings can accrue to the County only if a skilled EST is secured and.serves on the BIT. 3-The CoH is required:to inspect and submit 55 Bridge Inspection Reports between March 17 and December 17,2017 for this calendar year.The inspection staff shortage is compelling and urgent. 4-Alternatively,if the current inspection staff shortagecontinues without abatement,,DPW may be compelled to hire and contract a certified structural engineering consultant firm(s):to conduct the mandatory bridge inspectionand report writing as currently being done by CCH. DPW will need to secure the estimated$250;000 per year funding to contract a consultant to perform the FHWA mandated tasks if this alternative is pursued. 0