PSC, WAPA Spar Over Fuel Procurement

Leadership from the V.I. Water and Power Authority Tuesday bristled at questions from the V.I. Public Services Commission after providing an update on the authority’s ongoing solicitation for a long-term supplier of liquefied petroleum gas.

The authority came under scrutiny last summer when its board approved a two-year fuel supply contract with the Puerto Rico-based Empire Gas outside of the normal solicitation process. The board voted to rescind the contract in August and a second request for proposals was issued in September. On Tuesday, WAPA contract administration manager Nicole Aubain said the authority received proposals from five companies and that an evaluation committee’s recommendation will be submitted for board approval in December.

The meeting came one month after PSC Vice Chair David Hughes, who was absent from Tuesday’s meeting, grilled WAPA leadership over the reissued RFP, citing concerns from a rejected vendor who reportedly thought some provisions in the original solicitation “indicated a substantial misunderstanding — by WAPA — on how fuel moves.” Responding to questions from PSC Chair Pedro Williams about that vendor, WAPA general counsel Dionne Sinclair said that “the vendor that’s been advocated for has submitted a proposal.”

Williams disputed the use of the word “advocated.” He later asked the utility to confidentially share the names of its evaluation committee members, prompting several minutes of back-and-forth before WAPA Chief Executive Karl Knight cut in.