State of Hawaii, Department of Accounting and General Services

DAGS is excited to collaborate with our sister department, State of Hawaii, Department of Education, on building a new classroom for a Hawaiʻi Island school~ Bridging the future: Kealakehe Elementary breaks ground on $16M classroom building KEALAKEHE — Kealakehe Elementary School has begun work on a $16 million classroom building that will expand learning space, better serve a growing student population, and physically connect the school’s upper and lower campuses. The new two story, 13,000 square foot building will add four classrooms, special education spaces, an outdoor classroom, covered learning lanai, faculty workroom, offices and storage. Two pedestrian bridges will link the structure to existing buildings, allowing students and staff to move safely and seamlessly across the sloped campus. The project was recently marked with a blessing ceremony. The building was designed by Urban Works, Inc., with construction management provided by the West Hawaiʻi District Office under the state Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS). Nan Inc. has begun construction, with completion anticipated in Sept. 2027. “This building has been a bridge, literally and figuratively, connecting the school, partners and our students’ education,” Superintendent Keith Hayashi said. “From the support of the new DAGS district office to the designers who offered a solution that met school needs within site constraints, we are looking forward to this new building connecting the upper and lower campus and elevating the learning environments for students, teachers and staff.” "We are grateful to the legislature and Governor Green for supporting the effort of creating a second district office on Hawaiʻi Island. Given the long travel times from Hilo to Kona, it was evident a second office was needed to properly service our schools and DAGS-managed facilities in West Hawaiʻi," Keith Regan, comptroller and DAGS director, said. "It's thanks to this support that we now have a highly skilled and motivated district engineer in place in West Hawaiʻi who has positively impacted our support of the DOE and our other operations." DAGS West Hawaiʻi District Office program manager Ramsi Mansour said the new office is prepared to support school construction and maintenance projects across West Hawaiʻi, beginning with Kealakehe Elementary. “Our school community has been waiting in anticipation for our new building,” Kealakehe Elementary Principal Wendy Daniel. “We are excited for this new building to support our increasing student population and lay the foundation for future generations of Warriors to learn and grow.” To create a welcoming environment for young learners, the design blends neutral tones with the natural landscape, accented by the copper roofing and pops of color in building outcroppings. The intentional use of Hardie clapboard siding on the exterior is reminiscent of residential material and gives the structure a homey look and feel.

The Department of Accounting and General Services, (DAGS) Hawaiʻi State Archives division, has finished digitizing 64 volumes of indexes and uploaded them to its website for the public to use for free. You can view them at https://lnkd.in/gjv845fS. • Do you want to see who got married on Niʻihau between the years of 1849 to 1856? • Do you want to know who was buried at Makiki Cemetery between 1896 and 1954? • Do you want to research land holdings from over a century ago? That's just a fraction of what you might find at the Archives. These indexes cover topics like genealogy, land, court records and more. It’s similar to an old-fashioned card catalogue, a traditional library tool in which one card represented one book or item. To be clear, this is just a menu to a fraction of what the Archives has; finding the information online is the first step in a research project. The next step would be to ask an archivist where they can find the actual information (like a newspaper article or a court document) in the Hawaiʻi State Archives’ collection. “This is an important step forward as the public can now, from the comfort of their home and at any time of day, start their search and see whether or not we even have the information they want. If we do, then they can have the proper citations ready for faster service when an archivist is able to help them,” explains Hawaiʻi State Archivist Adam Jansen, who holds a doctorate in archival studies.

CYBERSECURITY ALERT: Phishing Threat Masquerading as Hawai’i Departments. The State of Hawaiʻi is warning the public of a potential phishing campaign using the domain codify.inc to impersonate official government websites. What to Watch For: Cybercriminals are creating deceptive web addresses (subdomains) to trick users into providing sensitive personal information or login credentials. Examples include: dlir.hi.usa.codify[.]inc (Impersonating the Dept. of Labor and Industrial Relations) Here are similar links targeting other state agencies: https://lnkd.in/gfPzHsb2 https://lnkd.in/g3MrbcPv https://lnkd.in/gHjhPeQk https://lnkd.in/gFsmryQd https://lnkd.in/gxBRZidx https://lnkd.in/gZZqP3EA https://lnkd.in/gAXgrvRM https://lnkd.in/gxE_aAV6 https://lnkd.in/gafNg8ny https://lnkd.in/gZgv2WqR https://lnkd.in/g37CTTUf https://lnkd.in/gjQuiMWe These sites may appear legitimate and often use "AI-native services" as a lure to encourage users to enter their data. How to Protect Yourself: Check the URL: Official State of Hawai’i websites will always end in .gov. If the address ends in .inc, .co, or any other extension, it is not an official government portal. Verify the Source: Do not click on links provided in unsolicited emails or text messages. Type official addresses directly into your browser. Report Suspicious Activity: If you encounter a site you believe is fraudulent, please report it to the soc@hawaii.gov

DAGS ANNOUNCES NEW LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION OFFICE Accounting Division Manager Roxanne Watanabe to Head Next Phase of EFS   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Dec. 12, 2025 HONOLULU — The Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS) is announcing new leadership in its Business Transformation Office (BTO). Roxanne Watanabe will be taking on the role as BTO Director effective immediately. Watanabe previously served as a branch manager in DAGS’ Accounting Division.   The BTO was created to shepherd the new Enterprise Financial System (EFS), which will affect all state agencies. It’s a $66-million effort to upgrade the current financial system, which is 55-years-old and handles more than 900,000 transactions per year totaling in excess of $72 billion in revenues and expenses for the state of Hawaiʻi.   Watanabe has worked in the Accounting Division for over five years and previously worked at the state departments of Transportation and Education, as well as the Department of the Attorney General. “Roxanne’s career in public service has spanned 27 years and all of it in fiscal management. She is the perfect fit to continue the next phase of the EFS project. She has deep archival knowledge of not only accounting at DAGS, but has worked with many of the key stakeholders,” says Keith Regan, DAGS director and comptroller.   “We are excited about the vision and direction Roxanne will be leading us in as we move forward. She brings new energy and a different philosophy to how she approaches this work,” added Susan Abe, DAGS BTO deputy director.   “This is a project meant to be driven by the people who will be using it. It’s going to be a functionally led team. I’ve spent most of my career in a paper-driven process and understand the importance, as well as the opportunity, that EFS will bring,” enthuses Watanabe. “EFS will help us be more transparent across the state and to share data with other agencies. I am incredibly excited to be part of this program and help the state modernize.”   Watanabe succeeds Yovo Stefanov, whose skill set was invaluable in launching the project through its first phase.

On Wednesday, DAGS’ new Business Transformation Office celebrated its new space with a blessing. DAGS created BTO earlier this year to guide the formation of the new Enterprise Financial System, a massive, multi-year undertaking that will affect the way our state government handles its financial business.

Aloha! If you love a good deal and like the thought of giving items a second life rather than going to the landfill, you'll want to know more about us. We are the Surplus Property Office (https://lnkd.in/gRJUSCzQ), part of the State Procurement Office, administratively attached to the State Department of Accounting and General Services.  We partner with government agencies to collect excess federal government property for resale. We have two programs. One is the Federal Surplus Property program, which offers a wide range of products — like gloves, office furniture, motor vehicles, and heavy equipment! Check out our website to see what you might need from our Current Federal Surplus Inventory (https://lnkd.in/gGxzaDXg). Qualified donees can buy the items a fraction of their market value! This program is NOT open to the public. It's open to state and local governments, eligible nonprofit organizations providing health, educational, or homeless services, and some small businesses working with the Small Business Administration — but please check your eligibility at this link: https://lnkd.in/gxf5KxJX. The other program is called the State Surplus Property program, which also sells property no longer needed by State of Hawaii agencies. Qualified donees (https://lnkd.in/gxf5KxJX) have first dibs on it for 30 business days, and then it becomes available to the general public. We auction them here: https://lnkd.in/ggNH4YGf. The items are similar to what you'd find in the federal surplus program.  This differs from the federal program in that this is also where we auction off items surrendered at the airport to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint officers. You'll see a lot of knives, tools, kitchen gadgets, and so much more here.  Please check out our video tour to get a better idea of what we have. We look forward to helping you save money!

We’re honored to be named an Overall Winner in the 2025 Government Experience Awards by the Center for Digital Government! This recognition celebrates our work to create accessible, equitable, and people-first digital services. See the full list of winners: https://lnkd.in/gBq9yzkq #GovX #GovExperience #GovTech #DigitalGovernment #PublicSectorInnovation

DAGS CREATES NEW DISTRICT OFFICE AND HIRES NEW PROGRAM MANAGER Ramzi Mansour to Lead West Hawaiʻi Office Serving Kailua-Kona A Kailua-Kona civil engineer steps into the role of Program Manager at the recently formed West Hawaiʻi District Office for the Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS). Ramzi Mansour brings over four decades of experience in both the public and private sectors; he was most recently Hawaiʻi County’s Director of the Department of Environmental Management. DAGS Director and Comptroller Keith Regan said, “We are grateful to the Legislature and the Governor for funding this new, stand-alone office. Hawaiʻi Island is so geographically large, it merits having offices on both coasts. This will ensure we can give adequate attention to all the facilities we support — especially the schools — and meet our Work Order requests in a more timely fashion.” On the neighbor islands, DAGS helps maintain public school facilities, state office buildings, courthouses and public libraries. It supports or manages 164 buildings across six neighbor islands. Just over half of those buildings – 83 – are on Hawaiʻi Island alone. The East and West Hawaiʻi Offices manage roughly the same number of buildings. Mansour says he’s excited to be part of the team because “DAGS represents service at the highest level. It’s an opportunity to continue being a public servant and to deliver the kind of support our communities truly deserve. This isn’t just a job — it’s a mission to make a difference where it matters most.” He continues, “My role is to build a mutual relationship based on transparency and clear communication with our partners, lead and manage staff and projects that ensure our facilities and communities receive the infrastructure and services they need, and create efficiencies and savings for the taxpayers.” Mansour, who has received many civil engineering industry awards and certifications, has a diverse background that spans roles from project engineer to director and business owner; in fields that include wastewater, solid waste, landfills, recycling, gas emissions and more. His work has taken him across Hawaiʻi and California. In his inaugural position, Mansour hopes to “establish a strong, lasting foundation of excellence — one the future generation can build upon.” In his spare time, he is a proud family man; he and his wife have three children and one “very charismatic parrot.” The Legislature allocated $278,858 to fund eight new jobs — including Mansour’s —for this office. Mansour will be hiring more positions shortly; job vacancies will be posted to the state of Hawaiʻi’s jobs website at jobs.hawaii.gov/careers/.

Calling all State and County procurement professionals! If you use SPO price and vendor list contracts, you’ll want to attend the State Procurement Office (SPO) 2025 Hōʻike. SPO is an attached agency of DAGS. Hear about the latest SPO updates and meet the newest suppliers. There are two sessions on the latest in procurement – one at 8:30 a.m. and the second at 10 a.m. There’s also a supplier meet-n-greet in a separate area. It’s free for State and County procurement personnel, but you must register at spo.hawaii.gov by Sept. 12 at 4:30 p.m. as it’s space-limited. Remember to bring your work ID. Details: 2025 SPO Hōʻike: Procurement-Related Updates and Portfolio Highlights September 17, 2025, 8:30 am – Noon Hawaii State Capitol Procurement Session 1- 8:30 – 9:30 a.m. Procurement Session 2- 10 – 11 a.m. Capitol Auditorium Supplier Meet & Greet 9 a.m. – noon Fourth Floor Questions? Email donna.tsuruda-kashiwabara@hawaii.gov See you there!