More local biz bidding on DOD contracts; King-Hinds’ call to economic action

04/25/2025—Pacific Air Forces Deputy Commander Lt. General Laura Lenderman said more and more CNMI businesses are bidding for U.S. Department of Defense contracts as the military’s expansion continues in the islands.

Speaking at the 2025 Economic Forum held at Kensington Hotel last April 23, the three-star general’s presentation was among nearly 20 presentations in the Saipan Chamber of Commerce event’s agenda that spanned the morning until late afternoon, one of the highlights of which was Delegate Kimberly King-Hinds’ call to action for the administration of Gov. Arnold I. Palacios to do something to save the sputtering local economy.

Lenderman said in the past year, PACAF, with the help of Headquarters Pacific Air Force at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii contractor Glenna Palacios, in partnership with CNMI Small Business Development Center network, helped over 200 small businesses prepare themselves to finally deal with the federal government.  

In partnership with the SBDC, she added that local vendors’ footprint in the contracting space has been growing in the past year and PACAF is seeing higher participation of CNMI businesses bidding on contract opportunities. 

“We are very supportive of SBDC’s focus on increasing efforts in getting more businesses online to do business with the federal government. PACAF recognizes the vision, commitment, and courage of the business community…The courage to craft a business, meet a need, lead teams, and take employees’ well-being in your hand. We appreciate your leadership in this space, especially, as we work together and look beyond these ongoing projects to posture for more opportunities,” she said.

In fact, Lenderman said the Expeditionary Civil Engineering Group, headed by Col. Pete Joo, has also been contracting with local businesses. Currently, PACAF is leasing a warehouse on Saipan to store and maintain critical equipment for the entire Micronesia region.  

“That is happening now, you can see the equipment in your ports and this warehouse today…and this signals our resolve to continue to build on our partnership. There is opportunity for more storage and even some maintenance activities that we are working with Northern Marianas Technical Institute and Northern Marianas College to make sure the curriculum will give your people a shot at helping the industrial base.”

She also mentioned Marianas Pacific Management, Hong Ye, Ambyth Shipping, Triple J, and other small businesses as companies that have come online “to be able to provide support resources and services for our airmen during our many exercises.” 

PACAF, Lenderman said, has also advocated to the Pentagon to support CNMI Governor Arnold Palacios and Northern Marianas College president Dr. Galvin DeLeon Guerrero’s initiative to place a full-time APEX Accelerator in the CNMI. 

She said the DoD program is designed to help businesses determine if they're ready for federal contracting, register in the proper places, see if they're eligible for small business certifications, and also research past contract opportunities.

Lenderman was also asked during the Q&A portion whether the CNMI should expect a permanent troop deployment in the Marianas and this was her answer:

“While there have been no indications from our administration to increase the permanent military presence in the CNMI, the region will experience a rise in military exercises and large-scale rehearsals, such as REFORPAC, taking place this summer. Additionally, ongoing runway projects, along with storage and sustainment plans for prepositioned equipment, will likely lead to an increase in contractors and contract opportunities to support these expanded activities across the CNMI.”

King-Hinds, for her part, posed this question for all attendees of the Economic Forum—"what are we doing?”

“I think we all have a picture in our heads of where we want to go. A vision of what recovery looks like. But if we’re going to talk about recovery, then we also have to be willing to admit—we’re not on the path anymore. We’ve fallen into a hole. And when you’re in a hole, the destination doesn’t matter until you get out. You can’t keep walking forward if you’re stuck underground.”

The first-time congresswoman said if you ask the business sector, their ready answer is “they’re in survival mode.” However, if you ask the government, their answer is “Things are fine. There’s no emergency. Tourism will come back. We just have to wait. We don’t even need tourism—new industries are coming. We just have to wait. Actually, we don’t even need new industries because the federal government will cover everything we need to run operations. We just have to wait.”

And that’s where the rub is, according to King-Hinds and she presented the numbers to back it up—in February 2025, arrivals were 31.9% lower than they were in February 2024; year-to-date, tourism arrivals are 21% below where we were last fiscal year; business gross revenue in Q1 of this year is 14% lower than Q1 of last year; and last year, excise taxes and other fees dropped by 44%.

“But forget the percentages for a second. Just look around. How many longtime members of the Chamber aren’t here today? How many managers—people who’ve been in leadership positions for years—are now just trying to find any job? How many of your best people have already left? We’ve lost legacy businesses. Businesses that helped build this place. And I know some of you sitting in this room—you’re already making quiet plans in case you’re next. We’re a small community. We all hear the same rumors. We’re part of the same conversations. And I know I’m saying the quiet part out loud right now—but we all know it’s true: there are more closures coming,” she said.

She then dropped the proverbial hammer on the Palacios administration, who she didn’t actually mention by name, by saying “the government can afford to wait. DFS couldn’t; the government can keep the lights on. The hundreds of workers who just dropped to 30 hours or less a week cannot; the government can take on more debt and pass the bill to some future generation to pay for it. Small businesses don’t have that option.”

For her part, King-Hinds said she’s working to protect essential federal programs—while fending off calls for even larger operating subsidies that don’t come with long-term solutions.

“In the meetings I have had since coming into office it is clear there is a need not being met. So, I am going to take a lesson from your playbook—see a need, fill it.  For the first time in the delegate’s office, we will be using our resources to promote investment in the CNMI.”

In the coming weeks, she said her office will work in coordination with Commonwealth Economic Development Authority to raise awareness of the CNMI among U.S. investors; engage in trade discussions; connect U.S. capital to local opportunity; and make sure the message of the CNMI—its value, potential, and people—is known across the country and around the world.

In the presentation of newly minted Marianas Visitor Authority managing director Jamika Taijeron, she said a confluence of bad events conspired to drown the CNMI tourism industry.

In Korea, Taijeron said airline mergers, a Jeju air crash, and leadership changes at T’Way have resulted in suspended or reduced flights. Due to the worldwide aircraft shortage, she added securing flights is now ultra-competitive. 

In Japan, outbound travel is still 40% lower than pre-COVID levels and Japanese travelers are choosing closer, more affordable destinations. For China, the CNMI has gone from five direct flights in 2018 to zero and travelers now transit through Hong Kong, Korea, or Japan, adding cost and complexity. The EVS-TAP visa-free program still exists but has been disrupted by a recent executive order, she added.

“These are factors beyond our control. But what is within our control and what are the opportunities? Global travel is changing. People want experiences, they want healing, connection, culture, and meaning.”

She then enumerated five major global travel trends that the Northern Marianas is in a great position to deliver on: Wellness and Healing, because travelers are looking to unplug holistic nature-based activities are great opportunities the CNMI can build on; Sustainable Travel as travelers are looking for destinations that support the environment and local communities and Palau is a great example of that niche; Educational Travel, as families want trips that offer learning for kids by partnering with schools or offering history and cultural workshops; Remote Work as more and more professionals want to work from paradise and cater to their needs; and Experience-driven Travel, from marine eco-tours to Chamorro and Carolinian workshops, these are the immersive moments that today's travelers are seeking.

David Tydingco, chairman of the Tourism Policy Committee of the Guam Travel and Tourism Association, shared that the challenge Guam’s tourism industry is now facing is tourism somehow has become secondary and sometimes irrelevant due to defense industry in the U.S. territory.

“And that has masked the pain and suffering of those in the tourism industry that drove Guam's economy for 50 years. So, we had to make ourselves relevant and we had these forums. The last one we held was December of 2024 to be able to, again, bring into the forefront the newly elected leadership of the Guam Legislature.”

Tydingco said there's also been a paradigm shift on how tourists come to the Marianas—Guam and the CNMI. 

“Before, there were travel agents with them. Today, they are a lot of FITs (fully independent travelers) and we need to figure out how to communicate to the next FITs. In Guam, there are a number of strategic initiatives to drive the short-term recovery. It's a tactical plan to save airline seats and clean up and improve the Guam experience. The speaker of Guam has actually organized the Guam Experience Commission to assist in this activity. We're conducting research in our source markets to be able to determine what they're saying about our region, not just about Guam. But equally important, we've got to figure out what our local people want.”

Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association president and CEO Mufi Hannemann, meanwhile, said there has to be a balance between destination marketing and destination management.

“You can't have destination management without visitors coming there. So that balance has to be done. That balance also has to recognize that at the end of the day, it has to present a good quality of life, not only for visitors that visit you, but also for residents that inhabit your island home, who are marketing visitors, and so forth. It's important because they are respectful, they are high-value travelers, who also align with our values. We say we'd like for visitors to leave the place better than they found it, and how we do that is we have them embrace our culture.”

He said a selling point Hawaii can take advantage of is it’s the only state in the country that has a monarchical past. 

“We can build upon it. That still has great appeal today as they learn about our culture, our values, and what the Hawaiian people, together with the Polynesian values, together being part of Oceania, is able to offer.” 

The former mayor of Honolulu also suggested that MVA start marketing the CNMI as an ideal training or vacation spot for athletes set to compete in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

“What we're in Hawaii going to try to do is to see how we can make a strong marketing appeal to Asian athletes that are getting to Los Angeles to stop in Hawaii before they go to Los Angeles for additional training, for rest and respite, or upon their return. I think that CNMI and Guam might have the same type of appeal for some of those athletes that are coming from the Asian part of the hemisphere to travel to Los Angeles.”

Trade Council of Marianas president Vin Armani then shared about the genesis of their organization, saying that it wasn’t formed to compete with the Saipan Chamber of Commerce.

“We are a non-profit, we're a chamber of commerce, specifically focused on external businesses coming in. So not overlap with, there's also often talk about we shouldn't have overlap, which just as a side note, we shouldn't have overlap in economic development. I keep hearing this over and over and over, but I would urge us to please stop thinking that way. With MVA, we say tourism is everybody's business, right? We don't talk about there shouldn't be overlap, we say the reverse. Tourism is everybody's business. Economic development is everybody's business. We have to hit it from as many angles as we possibly can and cover each other's backs, okay? So, if you have one agency, two agencies, three agencies, have as many agencies as you can.”

While Northern Marianas College president Dr. Galvin DeLeon Guerrero and Education Commissioner Dr. Lawrence Camacho touted the achievements of their respective bailiwicks, they were asked how can the CNMI retain or get back their best and brightest graduates. 

“I remember after one of the typhoons, I was doing my morning run and I noticed all these trees had fallen by the wayside, but some of them did not fall and, you know, because the storm, the typhoon had kind of washed away some of the soil, I was able to see a little bit of the roots and then I realized that, you know, during a storm, only the trees with the deepest roots remain standing. And that's one of the reasons why I continue to choose to stay here in the Northern Marianas, because I want to stay rooted in my home and that's something we as educators can cultivate, like what PSS is doing with cultural values, cultural competencies, but I think it's also just a message we need to be sending that, hey, stay grounded here, stay rooted here, stay here,” said DeLeon Guerrero.

Mariano R. Iglecias, senior civil engineer, and K-Andrea Evarose Suda Limol, solid waste technical analyst, under the Office of Planning & Development then talked about the Garapan Revitalization Project and Oleai Sports Complex and Cultural Events Center—two projects that total in excess of $32 million—and other OPD initiatives.

Glen Hunter, special assistant to the governor for the Broadband Policy & Development Program, said since the agency’s inception it was able to secure over $200 million worth of investments that are critical to building the “robust foundation” that's needed for a digital economy, which the CNMI is aspiring to become.

“With the governor's support, we were able to enter into a partnership with them where they will be developing or landing four trans-Pacific cables here within the next three years. What's really important that Chamber members should know, is this vision really requires a lot of support and one of the easiest ways to support it is to have a positive mentality, a positive outlook when it comes to these things. I know, you know, just a few years ago, I remember when people would tell me, like, well, why would Google ever invest in the CNMI? That's ludicrous. You're crazy to even think that. The truth is, it is possible, and, like Tony Pellegrino used to tell me, we really are a beautiful set of islands. We have everything going for us.”

Commonwealth Utilities Corp. director Simon Sanchez, meanwhile, offered that geography has given the CNMI the advantage of tapping into one of the cheapest sources of electricity—solar energy.

“The CNMI is perfectly poised for solar energy to come in and participate with conventional energy to bring you more reliable power at the lowest possible cost. “

He said CUC’s Integrated Resource Plan needs to figure out how CUC can bring in the energy resources necessary to provide reliable power at the lowest possible cost.

“How do we transmit that energy across the modern grid with smart grids, smart meters. And that's the direction we're taking and [CUC executive director Kevin Watson] is taking and the team is taking at the CUC. And by 2030, we're going to be in a much better position,” said Sanchez.

Other speakers and panelist of the 2025 Economic Forum were Chamber board member Ron Smith, Hotel Association of the NMI member Ivan Quichocho, Deana Reyes, Nauru Airlines commercial head James Blake, Senate President Dennis C. Mendiola, House Committee on Commerce chair Rep. Thomas John Manglona, Registrar of Corporations, John David A. Reyes, CEDA loan manager Marie N. Coleman, Bank of Guam VP CNMI regional manager Dave B. Guerrero, Employment Services director Eugene Tebuteb, Department of Finance Financial Services manager Ryan Camacho, CUC executive director Kevin O. Watson, Commonwealth Bureau of Military Affairs special assistant to the governor Edward C. Camacho, and CNMI Small Business Development Center Network director Nadine Deleon. Moderators for the panels were Chamber directors Alex Sablan and Brad Ruszala, Chamber members Thomas Manglona II, John Arroyo, and Jim Arenovski, and Chamber president Joe C. Guerrero.

By Mark Rabago