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Governor appoints CIP administrator to ensure compliance with Fed policies

Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga has designated Tuimavave Tauapa’i Laupola as the Capital Improvement Project (CIP) Administrator. In a general memorandum issued last week, Lolo said one of his administration's governance goals is to improve the relationship with the federal government "by demonstrating our administrative and management competence" relating to compliance with all attached federal policies and procedures connected with the use of approved grant funds.

 

“Since taking over the leadership reigns of our government, we have adopted an aggressive posture to remove our high risk designation. While we have made tremendous strides, we have a long way to go before attaining our goal of being fiscally prudent with our unwavering commitment to comply with all grant terms and conditions.”

 

Lolo said regrettably they have not been very successful in complying with or properly and promptly articulating CIP needs to the Department of Interior, adding, "It contradicts our declared commitment to become administratively and managerially competent over the utilization and reporting on the uses of these funds.

 

“We cannot afford nor should we continue to tolerate sub-par performance, given the need for federal funding support to finance numerous social and economic development projects," he wrote.

 

Tuimavave also serves as the Special Projects Coordinator.

 

According to the memorandum, Tuimavave’s additional responsibilities are to: "Coordinate all the CIP submissions from government agencies; Collaborate with TOFR and respective agencies on the development of CIP; Ensure that submitted CIP from all government agencies comply with the project format required by the DOI; Synthesize all CIP submission to be formally presented to the CIP committee for review and determination of recommendations to be presented to the governor for his approval in the order of priority, predicated on the priorities of the Administration; Prepare the final CIP package to be submitted to DOI; Respond to any questions and requests for more information from DOI on the transmitted CIP package; Communicate with respective agencies on the status of the DOI review. 

 

Additionally, he will "Upon approval of the CIP collaborate with the respective agencies relating to the development of projects implementation plans; Ensure that required reports by DOI are prepared and transmitted on time; Prepare periodic briefings for Governor and Lt Governor on the progress of each CIP; Intervene when projects are stalled which might preclude meeting the time schedules for the completion of the projects; and Continue revising the process to ensure that projects are implemented within the stated time and not beyond five years.”

 

Lolo made it clear — to avoid any confusion, the CIP Administrator in collaboration with TOFR — will clearly delineate the CIP process to be considered and approved by the CIP Committee after briefing the governor and soliciting his perspective on the process.

 

“It is expected that this CIP process will be finalized and approved for activation in the beginning of the coming year,” said Governor Lolo.