Mayor Mufi Hannemann is seeking to dissuade a federal agency from looking into allegations that the city mishandled a mass-transit consulting contract.

Hannemann, in a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation, called Councilman Charles Djou's request for an investigation groundless and politically motivated.

The timeline for the city's mass-transit project is a tight one, Hannemann said, and Djou "either wants to create delay in order to kill the mass-transit project or rally public support against the project. ..."

Djou yesterday called the mayor's speculation about his motives "ridiculous." He added, "This has nothing to do with whether or not rail gets derailed or not."

Late last month, Djou asked federal transportation officials to investigate the $9.7 million contract awarded to Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade and Doug-lass Inc. for the Honolulu Mass Transit Alternatives Analysis Study. It began in earnest this week with a series of public meetings, which include discussion of transit options such as light rail, monorail, magnetic levitation and managed bus lanes.

Djou said the contract should have been awarded on the basis of competitive cost bidding. He further wrote to DOT officials that the city administration abused its authority by making adjustments to the work that was to be given to subconsultants in the contract.

Hannemann, in his letter addressed to DOT Inspector General Kenneth Mead dated Tuesday, said the city was required to select a consultant on the basis of an evaluation of qualifications but not price. As for Djou's second point, Hannemann wrote that nothing in state or city procurement laws prohibits the city "from reducing the scope of work of or replacing subcontractors" listed by the contractor in its original proposal.

Hannemann's letter was accompanied by a two-page letter from Frank Goto, an attorney for Parsons Brinckerhoff, which said it was not unusual for government agencies — at the federal, state or city level — to "exercise considerable discretion in matters dealing with subconsultants."

The mayor also said in his letter that after questions of impropriety were first raised, city attorneys "reviewed the matter and determined that all applicable procurement procedures had been followed."

Djou said Hannemann's letter does not change his belief that the matter should be investigated by federal officials. Even if what the city did was legal, the administration has not yet answered why changes were made to the original contract, he said.

"I don't think these questions have been satisfactorily answered," he said. "The rail project is going to be the largest public- works project in the history of this state financed by the largest tax increase in the history of this state."

City officials have passed an increase in the state's general excise tax to help pay for the project, which by some estimates could cost as much as $2.8 billion.

Djou said federal officials have assigned a case number to his request and told him they are still reviewing his request.

"As I understand it, these things take several months," he said. "I would imagine the earliest they could come back with any sort of formal review would be at least two or three months down the line."

He said he does not expect a federal investigation to interfere with or delay ongoing work done by Parsons Brinckerhoff.

In a related matter, state Comptroller Russ Saito told an attorney for consultant Communications-Pacific Inc. that neither he nor the state Procurement Policy Board has the jurisdiction to consider a petition by CommPac to investigate the Parsons Brinckerhoff contract.

The scope of Communications-Pacific's work was drastically reduced from what was initially listed in Parsons Brinckerhoff's original proposal. Kitty Lagareta, CommPac's chief executive officer, was the first to raise questions of impropriety with the city.

Hannemann has accused Djou, a Republican, of attempting to help Lagareta, a key GOP strategist. Djou has denied the charge and noted that Lagareta supported the candidacy of the mayor, who is a Democrat.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.