The following policy and forms have been updated:

• Policy 2.208 Small Business Subcontracting Plan – Section III.A.1. has been updated to remove a reference to Department of Defense fund limits.
• Consent, Waiver, Release and Indemnity Agreement – Updated to remove the Medical Consent Form, and include a general medical consent provision.
• Parent/Legal Guardian – Consent, Waiver, Release and Indemnity Agreement – Updated to remove the Medical Consent Form, and include a general medical consent provision.

Should you have any questions, please contact Erin Yoda at [email protected].

The RCUH Financial Portal will be down for system maintenance from Saturday, December 21, 2024, 7:00 a.m. to Sunday, December 22, 2024, 5:00 a.m. (HST).

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding.

The following attachments in the RCUH Document Library have been updated:

• Attachment 08a Agreement for Services (UH) v.12/12/2024
• Attachment 08b Agreement for Services (Direct Projects; Non-UH) v.12/12/2024
• Agreement for Services Amendment Template v.12/18/2024

The templates have been updated to clarify wording and terms, and add additional dropdown options.  As a reminder, please do not attempt to unlock the templates, or make revisions outside the fillable boxes.  If you need assistance in using the templates, or have special circumstances that require additional revisions to the templates, please contact your assigned RCUH Procurement Specialist.  Should you have any questions, please contact Erin Yoda via email at [email protected].

RCUH is pleased to welcome Tracey Heinrich as RCUH’s incoming Director of Finance, effective December 2. She will be taking over the helm from current Finance Director Glenn Yee, who will be retiring.

Tracey comes to RCUH from Novartis Biomedical Research, based in San Diego, California. As the Associate Director of Finance and Administration for the company’s West Coast operations, she managed over $60 million in external funding from multiple grantors and was responsible for budgeting, forecasting, treasury management, month-end processes, financial analysis, and reporting. Tracey also worked at the University of California, Irvine for four years as a Senior Financial Analyst and held various roles over the course of 17 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Please join us in welcoming Tracey to the RCUH ‘ohana!

More than 120 individuals gathered at the UH Mānoa Campus Center Ballroom on November 1, 2024, to honor 21 outstanding RCUH employees. Attendees celebrated the achievements and dedication of all nominees, some of whom flew in that morning from Kaua‘i and Hawai‘i Island. RCUH wants to offer a special thanks to Hawaii News Now weather anchor Guy Hagi for emceeing the event, as well as the Selection Committee for taking the time to review 12 nominations across three categories. The Selection Committee was comprised of:

• Ken Kawahara, RCUH Board of Director
• Howard Lao, First Hawaiian Bank
• Jody Shiroma, PBS Hawai‘i

These judges evaluated the written nominations and selected awardees based on their:

• Initiative taken to develop the achievement or to advance the project.
• Leadership and resourcefulness in implementing the achievement or to advance the project.
• Impact of achievement on the project, professional field, and/or larger community.
• Other information on the importance, significance, and/or quality of the achievement.

Without further ado, we are pleased to announce this year’s awardees:

RESEARCHER/PROJECT MANAGER CATEGORY

• First Place: Kristen Harmon, Hawaii Wildlife Ecology Lab, UH Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture & Human Resources
• Second Place: Ray Kahaunaele, Kaua ‘i Invasive Species Committee, UH Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit
• Honorable Mentions:
  • Stanford J. Fichtman, Grants Office, Kapi‘olani Community College
  • Christine Tallamy Glazer, Soil Health, Environment, and Ecosystem Resilience Lab, UH Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture & Human Resources

PROJECT SUPPORT STAFF CATEGORY

• First Place: Miku Lenentine, Center for Resilient Neighborhoods, Kapi‘olani Community College
• Second Place: Kealakekua Meyer, GEAR UP and Kūlia ma Kapiʻolani, Kapiʻolani Community College
• Honorable Mentions:
  • Sydney Carey, Curriculum Research & Development Group, UH Mānoa College of Education
  • Russell Sumitomo, Center for Excellence in Learning, Teaching and Technology, Kapi‘olani Community College

TEAMS CATEGORY

• First Place: UH Sea Level Center (Jon Avery, Jerard “Ziggy” Jardin, Jason Klem, Nikolai Turetsky), UH Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology
• Second Place: Mauna Kea Watershed Alliance (Marco Castro, Dylan Moniz), UH Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit
• Honorable Mentions:
  • Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research (Emily Contreras, Nan Himmelsbach, Andrea Lee Schmidt), UH School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology
  • Maunakea Shared Services (Douglas Astrande, Tracy Miyashiro, Travis Perez, Aaron Zimmer), UH Institute for Astronomy

In an effort to increase awareness of updates to RCUH’s policies and procedures, Policies 2.206 Administration of UH ORS Subawards and 2.304 FFATA Reporting have been updated. This action was taken to align RCUH policies with updated UH Office of Research Services requirements. The updated policies are posted on the RCUH website and are available for immediate download.

Should you have any questions, please contact Erin H. Yoda via email at [email protected].

RCUH received multiple questions about RCUH RFP No. CS2024-1, “Design and Development of RCUH Website.” Below are RCUH’s responses.

Q: In Section 2.5-1, is RCUH referring to a commercial CMS product, a custom CMS, or an open-source CMS? Should we include a scope for CMS training in this proposal?

A: In terms of a CMS, RCUH is not restricting it to a certain type of CMS, however it should be user-friendly for staff to update and maintain. In terms of CMS training, a scope would be helpful, but not mandatory for the proposal. Pricing for CMS training should be included in the base proposal, per 3.1.5 (pg. 11 – see second bullet under Base Proposal).

Q: What specific SEO goals does RCUH want to achieve? For instance, improved rankings, increased traffic, higher conversion rates, etc.

A: In terms of SEO goals mentioned in Section 2.6, RCUH would like to:

• Improve page loading speed
• Increase organic traffic, engagement
• Lower bounce rate
  
  

Q: Could the choice of CMS be a factor in reducing administrative overhead during the modernization process?

A: Yes, that could be a factor in your proposal.

Q: What specific requirements or guidelines does RCUH have in mind for ensuring that all images on the new site have appropriate alternative text to meet WCAG compliance?

A: Per Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, websites should provide text alternatives for any non-text content, such as images, and if non-text content is pure decoration, is used only for visual formatting, or is not presented to users, then it is implemented in a way that it can be ignored by assistive technology. RCUH would like to ensure all images have alternative text to be compliant with these guidelines and will discuss this process with the selected Offerer. RCUH will provide a collection of images with descriptions that the selected Offeror may choose from for the updated webpage.

Q: In the Document Library, permalinks should remain the same even when documents are updated or replaced. If we move forward with modernization, we should structure slugs and breadcrumbs on the page for improved navigation. Will these changes be acceptable for modification?

A: Yes.  We encourage other suggestions Offerers may have to improve navigation on the RCUH website.

Q: RCUH having defined routes at https://www.rcuh.com/news/ does not effectively represent information to the end user compared to https://www.rcuh.com/about. Should we address this issue?

Yes.

Date: Friday, November 1, 2024
Time: 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Venue: UH Mānoa Campus Center Ballroom
Cost: $40 per ticket or $240 for a table of six

Join us on Friday, November 1 as we recognize the accomplishments and hard work of 21 outstanding RCUH employees! Attendees will be inspired by their stories of perseverance, successes, and efforts to better our society and strengthen our local community. This annual celebration is not to be missed, so secure your seat today!

Seats are limited so be sure to RSVP by Friday, October 11, 2024, by filling out the form below. If you have any questions, please contact RCUH Corporate Services at [email protected] or (808) 956-0504. We hope to see you there!

Download

Policy 2.101 Source Selection Methods, has been updated to clarify the requirements under Section III.C.1., which discusses small, minority and women’s businesses, and labor surplus area firms.

Questions may be directed to RCUH Procurement at [email protected].