Industry forums have appeal, bring business to hotels

BY MAUREEN N. MARATITA
Journal Staff

There’s no doubt that the business community loves to gather, as well as recognizing a “Fear of Missing Out” by not attending events. As tourism recovers at a snail’s pace in the islands, industry forums have added value to the hospitality industry.

For Guam’s hotels such events related to the buildup in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the Micronesia region draw hundreds of attendees, with many companies fielding a team of executives, drawn by the billions of dollars of potential military construction revenue. Some contractors have set up offices in Guam, filling spots in buildings left vacant after the pandemic.

The amount of defense dollars currently in play for the region includes a $15 billion Pacific Deterrence Initiative Multiple Award Construction Contract, “which covers projects in the Philippines, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, Micronesia, the Northern Mariana Islands, Midway, Wake Island” and other areas under NAVFAC Pacific.

The $15 billion Design Build Multiple Award Construction Contract is for design and construction projects primarily in Guam, “but may include other areas” under NAVFAC Pacific.

Those amounts do not include various contracts for post-Typhoon Mawar reconstruction, or Japanese mamizu contracts, from Japan’s billions in funding for Guam military construction, or various Government of Guam and Government of the NMI contracts proceeding at the same time.

About half of the attendees at the Society of American Military Engineers Guam Post’s Industry Forum are expected to be from off-island. The two-day event at the Dusit Thani Guam Resort on Nov. 14 and 15 should draw an excellent networking crowd, especially if past forums are anything to go by.

The Guam Industry Forum in 2007 saw hundreds of attendees spread out at the Sheraton Laguna Guam Resort and the Hilton Guam Resort & Spa, according to Journal files, with live presentations shown in real time on projection screens at both venues.

The forum was “designed to develop open communication between the federal government and businesses regarding the proposed military buildup and construction program,” according to a release a month before the forum. “The objectives include sharing preliminary information and current actions receiving and considering industry comments and suggestions and integrating findings into the buildup strategy for efficient delivery of the required infrastructure,” the release said.

The move of U.S. forces from Japan to Guam was due to be completed by 2014, federal officials said confidently. 

The U.S. military was already eyeing Tinian, according to Journal files.

The 2007 forum – sponsored by The Joint Guam Program Office and Naval Facilities Engineering Command – saw Guam’s Delegate to Congress, Madeleine Z. Bordallo also attending, with Ike Skelton, then chairman of the House Armed Services Committee in tow.

“This will be the tip of the national security spear for our country,” Skelton said. “It’s way out here in the Pacific; it’s close to potential problems that we can’t even see.”

Aside from a number of U.S. military and their civilian officials, participants came from the U.S. mainland, Guam, Japan, the Philippines and Hong Kong.

Approximately 1,300 company representatives attended the 2008 forum – and something under 700 of those came from outside of Guam to seek information. 

By that year, companies large and small from the U.S., Hawaii, the Micronesia region, and Guam had begun to appraise each other as potential partners for upcoming contracts.

The U.S. Department of the Interior also hosted Island Business Opportunities conferences in Guam and Hawaii during the same timeframe. 

The Journal reported early on about the munitions highway the military would build – and now there’s also talk of a divert access road to ensure munitions and other delivery to military properties, aside from the Defense Access Road from Marine Corps Drive to Marine Corps Camp Blaz.

The paper reported the return of the Marines to Guam to the tune of 8,000 (now reduced to 5,000 rotational forces, with 1,000 and their families permanently stationed on-island), and that a carrier would not be stationed on the island (to the dismay of the Guam Chamber of Commerce), reported on submarines that would come to Guam and several other stories as information came to light.

MBJ also ran several breaking news stories on needed developments in Guam’s infrastructure and progress towards that end.

The 2009 Forum was a three-day event and also saw the debut of the Marianas chapter of AFCEA – the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, with its own exhibition at the Sheraton. The Guam Contractors Association also hosted a Trade Fair on the same day at the Hyatt Regency Guam.

Delay to the whole buildup process caused a lull in forums in Guam for years, but by 2018 the excitement was coming back.

As Requests for Proposals again began to appear in significant numbers, the Guam Chapter of the American Society of Military Engineers hosted the Guam Industry Forum in 2018. That event drew 500-plus attendees.

SAME also hosted a forum in 2019 at the Hyatt Regency Guam, which – aside from promoting dialogue between the U.S. military and the construction community – featured updates on various infrastructure projects such as the arrivals corridor at the A.B. Won Pat International Airport, Guam and plans for the Port of Guam modernization.

In 2021, the Northern Mariana Islands hosted its own Industry Day – a two-day event.

Some famous contracting names were represented, and many of them on the second day presented attendees with an overview of their companies and joint ventures and then took time to network one-on-one with interested small businesses.

Then Gov. Ralph DLG. Torres said at a press conference, “I’m very pleased we had interest from Japan, Australia, the U.S. and all of our neighboring regions.”

The 2022 SAME forum in Guam drew about 350 participants from the contracting community, and federal and local officials.

At the forum Ayumi Sakaguchi, technical and estimate team leader for the Guam Relocation Project Office, USFJ Cooperation Division, Bureau of Policies for Regional Society, Ministry of Defense, Japan; spoke of the Government of Japan’s expectations for the military realignment to relocate U.S. Marine Corps forces from Okinawa to Guam. 

“The Government of Japan has great expectations for a steady progress of the project as a means of strengthening the deterrence of the U.S. forces in the Indo-Pacific region and alleviating the impact on the local communities in Okinawa,” she said.

Sakaguchi also addressed the pace of construction and potential delays.

“In preparation for the planned start of military relocation in 2024, facilities development activities on Guam, including the construction work to be funded by Japan, will accelerate in the coming years,” she said. Recognizing delays caused by geopolitical factors, supply chain challenges and inflation, she said, “In order to cope with those changes, there is a growing need for well-coordinated cooperation not only between the governments of Japan and the United States, but among all parties concerned including the Government of Guam, contractors, suppliers and businesses.”

Gov. Lourdes A. Leon Guerrero recognized the benefit to Guam of the coming surge in military construction, but also recognized challenges and sounded a note of caution.

“I … think the increase in construction activity will increase revenue for our island,” she said. U.S. military and contracting community residents are moving into a limited inventory of dwellings. “Housing is a big issue we’ve started to address,” she said. In addition, she said, “I ask you to respect our culture, … our people, our land and our waters. I have no reason to believe that’s not going to be done.”

By 2022, the SAME-sponsored forum at the Dusit showed the potential for a 3D printing industry in Guam as the focus of the Applied Science and Technology Research Organization of America. 

The Guam Economic Development Authority commissioned the business to provide a comprehensive analysis of the technology’s application in Guam.

In October, ASTRO America “hosted an on-island working meeting to further hone its proposed approach to a so-called Guam Additive Materials & Manufacturing Accelerator,” according to a release. “This public-private partnership of key academic institutions, the Guam government, and U.S. Navy will create a new advanced manufacturing education and technology center and new high-skill job opportunities on-island,” the release said.

Five residents of Guam are among the Island's first student cohort currently enrolled in the U.S. Navy’s 16-week advanced manufacturing program at the Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing facility in Virginia, but no timeline for manufacturing implementation has been shared.

Forums continue to attract attendees, and Guam is not alone in hosting them, with similar attendance costs. Other businesses offer advice on how to secure some of the lucrative MilCon contracts typically available in any given year.

SAME also hosted a Pacific Industry Forum in September in Honolulu. The society has an ongoing program of lunches and events in Guam.

Attendance costs at this year’s SAME Guam forum run from $970 to $1,045 (which includes a guided tour of relevant site visits). An Early Bird Special was available for $740 and $815 (including the tour), with a $200 charge for uniformed personnel/active-duty military.

The event has sponsorships at various tiers and for various parts of the program, which start with First Hawaiian Bank’s sponsorship of the welcome reception on Nov. 13. Glimpses Media is sponsoring the event through the Marianas Business Journal and its sister radio station, the Wave 105.1 FM.

Other sponsors include Hensel Phelps, Amentum (which does business as DZSP 21 in Guam), Austability, the Dusit, United Airlines, LMS, GTA, Matson Navigation Co., Planate Management Group, Full Circle LLC Guam/PPG, BNB, ECC, ACME, AEPAC, APL, EA Engineering, the Guam Chamber of Commerce, the Guam Power Authority, HDR Engineering Inc., Jacobs Government Services Co., Marianas Information Technology Services, Micronesian Air Cargo Services, National Shielding Pacific, Pacific Federal Management, Red River Technology, Seabridge Inc. Search – Search20, Stanley Consultants, and more.

James C. Moylan, Guam’s delegate to Congress is due to speak this year.

This year’s forum currently has more than 400 attendees, with a surge in registrations anticipated today/Nov. 13 and tomorrow/Nov. 14 with online/on-site registration available, according to organizers.

Savvy attendees from outside the region may have arrived early to deal with jet lag and perhaps squeeze in some meetings locally.

Those leaving arrival to the last minute may be affected by the passage of Tropical Storm Man-yi close to Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, which as of this story was due to delay United’s Nov. 13 flight from Honolulu by hours.

United flights from Saipan, Palau and Japan have also been affected, though island businesses and institutions that closed are expected to re-open in Guam the afternoon of Nov. 13. mbj