Hawaii Defense Economy

The State of Hawai‘i Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) has been awarded a $3.2 million dollar grant from the Department of Defense, Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation. Through the grant funding, DBEDT will establish a Military and Community Affairs Office which will focus on effective collaboration and transparency between the State of Hawai‘i, county governments, the community and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

Defense-related expenditures bring in approximately $2.5 billion to Hawai‘i’s economy. This spending is expected to increase during the upcoming years, highlighted by the recent award of a $2.8 billion Navy contract for work at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard.

It is anticipated that the Department of Defense will spend over $2 billion on work in Hawaii in 2023-2024. To meet the requirements of federal regulations and team with small businesses, large prime and sub-prime contractors are anxious to work with local small businesses. This conference is designed for those local small businesses to hear ...
Read More MEET THE PRIMES Conference – A Forum on Subcontracting, Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Increased enforcement of federal and DoD cybersecurity regulations is putting many Hawaii contractors and their future eligibility for DoD contracts at risk. To help Hawaii’s defense community adapt to the challenges presented by these regulations, DBEDT and the Hawaii-based national cybersecurity firm eResilience present the Hawaii Defense Economy Cyber Compliance Education Program. This online program ...
Read More Hawaii Defense Economy Cyber Compliance Education Program

The State of Hawai‘i’s Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) is pleased to announce three new projects that will focus on strengthening and growing Hawai‘i’s second largest economic driver – the defense sector. DBEDT has initiated contracts with the Military Affairs Council (MAC) of the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii and local tech company Referentia, through a grant by the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation for Phase III of its Hawaii Defense Economy (HDE) project. DBEDT also contracted CyberHawaii to support local companies with cybersecurity resilience.

While Hawaii's tourism industry was hit hard during the pandemic, the state's second largest sector of the economy is going strong. Now some want even more effort to draw in defense spending

The State of Hawai‘i’s Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) has released its Hawaii Defense Economy (HDE) Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) Analysis Report and Action Plan, which identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to Hawai‘i’s defense sector, as well as proposes strategic initiatives to expand opportunities for more local businesses and contractors to engage in, and benefit from military contract spending.

The Defense Pricing and Contracting Office has issued several memorandums and class deviations in response to COVID-19. The CARES act Section 3610 specifically addresses issues related to Department of Defense contracting and the flexibility of Contracting Officers during the response to the pandemic. You may view the applicability of Section 3610 here: https://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/policy/policyvault/Class_Deviation_2020-O0013.pdf. You may ...
Read More COVID-19 Guidance for DoD contractors