Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — If you’re wondering about the new Fono building completion date, the deadline has been extended to July 30, 2025 after a February 2025 request by Paramount Builders, Inc. for a 30-day extension of the completion date, in lieu of not shutting down work on the new Fono building for non-payment.

According to a copy of the letter obtained by Samoa News, dated Feb. 14, 2025, “it has been more than Forty Calendar Days since the submission of the pay application No. 46.” It points out that failure of payment after 7 days of notice allows the contractor to shut down the work under the contract’s Article 9, Section 9 Failure of Payment.

Paramount, according to the letter is offering not to shutdown the job, if the completion date is extended to July 30, 2025, thereby saving the government “any monetary claim for a startup if the shutdown happens.”

The letter is addressed to Mark Lively, who is the Project Architect, and manages the project. His representative on-island is John Goeke.

Notably, the extension request is only for the main building, with office wings slated for completion supposedly in September of this year.

The second 39th Regular Legislative session begins on July 14th, and Samoa News understands, the latest plan of the Fono leaders is to have a soft opening of the session on Friday, July 11th inside the new building. It would of course have to be cleared by Public Works for such an activity for safety reasons.

However, due to this request for an extension of completion time from Paramount Builders the July 11th date is now in doubt for the soft opening.

To date, the new Fono building is now in its 8th year of build, which includes maybe 2 years due to a COVID pause and for project re-start time. We could then say it’s now in its 6th year of build. Keep in mind, any extensions also benefit the project architect, who also continues to be paid.

Samoa News has also been told that there is a request in right now for ARPA funding to complete the building, including the office wings, as the project has run out of allocated funds. It’s unknown if the Fono’s request has been granted or will be granted. It’s also unknown how much is being requested.

In the meantime, the total amount expended on the project by September 2024 was reported as $26.6 million, with $26.4 million already being spent, according to the director of Public Works at the time, Faleosina Voigt. And this seemed to be only for the main building itself, and does not include the cost of the office wings or parking lot areas.

An update of the current amount expended has not been publicized, and during the Senate confirmation hearing for the new Public Works director, Taeaotui Tilei, he was asked by Senator Olo Uluao Letuli how much to date the Fono building costs. The director replied that he would get back to the him/ Senate with that information.

Rumors have its completion cost up at around $40 million with the office wings included. This does not take into account the cost of furnishings or interior decoration for both the main building and the wings either.

BACKGROUND

The Fono building project costs have been rumored to explode due mainly to change orders, which are a result of not only changes the Fono leadership initiated — the new offices for lawmakers — but also includes removing the first foundation of the building pursuant to an order from the FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), which found it was being built in a flood (tsunami) zone.

In 2021, the contract was up at $16 million due to these changes, from its original contract price of a little over $10 million.

Two years later, the price tag was $26.6 million, that’s an increase of over $10 million that has not been detailed to the public.