UH selected as managing partner for Pacific Disaster Center on Maui

Posted: Nov 23, 2009

HONOLULU – The University of Hawaiʻi (UH) has been selected by the Department of Defense to negotiate a new cooperative agreement as the managing partner for the Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) on Maui. The PDC provides applied information research and analysis support in disaster management and humanitarian assistance.

 

UH has been managing the PDC since December 2006 under a three-year agreement. Letters of Qualification were solicited nationally this summer for a managing partner for a new five-year agreement. The new cooperative agreement is expected to have a total value over $30 million.

 

UH President M.R.C. Greenwood stated, “The University of Hawaiʻi System is proud of the work our team has done over the past three years and honored to have been selected to continue our stewardship of the PDC. As the world faces increasing damage and harm from natural and man-made disasters, the PDC will be increasingly critical to improving our capacity to minimize suffering.”

 

U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye commented, “The Pacific Disaster Center was established after Hurricane Iniki devastated the island of Kauaʻi because I wanted to be sure that Hawaiʻi had the disaster management and modeling capability to prepare and protect itself from natural and man-made disasters to the greatest extent possible. I am delighted at the success they have achieved in serving Hawaiʻi, the nation and the region.”

 

The PDC employs approximately 40 professional staff. It is headquartered in the Maui Economic Development Board building in the Maui Research & Technology Park in Kihei. PDC supplements its base operating budget of over $6 million per year with millions of dollars in additional competitively earned contracts and grants from governmental and private sources in Hawaiʻi, the U.S. and other countries.

 

PDC is managed within the office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Homeland Defense & Americas’ Security Affairs).