PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Office of School Modernization

Steve Simonson 501 North Dixon Street • Portland, OR 97227
Senior Project Manager Office: (503) 916-2222
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 3107 • 97208-3107

January 9th, 2019

Corp Inc.
Attn: Don Annotti
PO Box 12606
Salem, OR 97309

Notice of Termination for Cause – Corp Inc. Construction

Contract C 66271
Dear Mr. Annotti,

Under the terms and conditions of Construction Contract C66271 (“Contract”), General
Conditions Section 16(a), the District hereby provides notice to Corp Inc. (“Contractor”) that the
Portland Public Schools (“District”) is pursuing a Termination for Cause of Construction Contract
C66271. District elects to terminate Contract for Cause without prejudice to any other rights and
remedies by providing this notice to Contractor and Contractor’s Surety. District is pursuing
Termination for Cause because (1) Contractor has persistently disregarded orders of public
authority (District) having jurisdiction over the jobsite location, and (2) Contractor breached
provisions of the Contract Documents by failing to observe safety and other precautions including
the District’s and Contractor’s own policies.

District hereby orders Contractor to CEASE AND DESIST all work onsite immediately and
demobilize from site within seven business days. Pursuant to Sec. 4(g) of the Contract, District
intends immediately to assume assignment and control of Contractor’s sub-contractors to complete
the work.

Termination for Cause under Section 16(a)(4) of the General Conditions: The District finds
that the Contractor has consistently disregarded direct orders and directives of the District in
multiple instances that have put both the district’s staff, students, and contractors staff in danger or
have significantly disrupted the learning environment of the school site during occupancy:

 The most recent and egregious of these instances took place on the evening of
Wednesday, January 2nd. District specifically ordered Contractor in writing not to
perform core drilling for fire risers in rooms 210B, 125, and 008 until asbestos sampling
and abatement could take place at core locations marked. Despite this written directive,
Contractor, through their subcontractor, allowed core drilling to take place in room 125

Portland Public Schools is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer.

 and down through the ceiling of room 008 before the ceiling of room 008 could be fully
abated. This created a significant amount of dust in these two rooms and a public fear of
exposure to lead and asbestos dust. It also resulted in teaching staff filling grievances
with their union. District was forced to respond with emergency mobilization of
District’s hazardous materials consultant, hazardous materials contractor, and cleaning
contractor at great expense to district. This potential exposure was the latest in a series
of similar dust events, including the District needing to clean the entire school prior to
the start of instruction in August and delaying the start of instruction by one day, all of
which resulted in similar public outcry and grievances.

 After occupancy of the school in August, District gave clear orders to Contractor to not
perform work that would be excessively noisy as to disturb the learning environment of
the school. After numerous complaints of loud construction noise from roofing activity
disturbing the learning environment, District gave clear written orders to Contractor to
not perform any work that would transmit impact noises or rotary motor sounds into
the building. To ensure compliance with this order District posted a District staff
member at District’s expense near areas with active construction to monitor for noise.
On September 26th, 2018 District’s monitoring staff member temporarily left the
construction area to attend to another issue. As soon as District’s staff member left the
roof area where work was taking place, Contractor deliberately proceeded with
extremely noisy work (i.e., operating a demolition saw directly above an open skylight
and occupied classroom below). This action directly and negatively disrupted the
learning environment of the school and is another instance of Contractor’s consistent
disregard for District’s orders and policies.

Termination for Cause under Section 16(a)(7) of the General Conditions: The District finds
the Contractor is guilty of substantial breach of provisions of the Contract Documents as a result of
the Contractor’s disregard for maintaining, and failure to maintain, a safe work environment. This
breach has put both the district’s staff and students, as well as Contractor’s staff, in danger and/or
has significantly interrupted the learning environment of the school site during occupancy in the
following instances:

 Under General Conditions Section 3(e)(1), Contractor is required to keep competent

construction superintendent onsite to during construction activities. On numerous
occasions, most recently on the night of January 2nd, neither Contractor’s
superintendent nor any other Contractor staff was not onsite during construction
activities, which contributed to Contractor’s subcontractor performing work that
created a significant amount of dust and potential asbestos and lead exposures to staff.
 Under General Conditions Section 3(i)(6), Contractor is required to keep the Project Site
and surrounding area free from dust, or accumulation of waste materials or rubbish
caused by operations under the Contract. On numerous occasions, Contractor has failed
to meet this requirement. The most egregious failure to meet this requirement took

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 place prior to the start of instruction on August 27th. The District elected to clean the
hazards to staff of construction dust as well as potential exposures to lead and asbestos
through construction activities at great expense to the District.
 Under General Conditions Section 8(a), Contractor is require to initiate, maintain, and
supervise all safety precautions and programs in connection with performance of the
Contract. Contractor failed to meet this requirement as demonstrated in the above
examples. In addition, Contractor failed to submit a site specific safety plan to District
until October 31st, 2018, even though construction began in June of 2018 and District
requested site specific safety plan on numerous occasions. This lack of a safety plan and
focus on safety by Contractor exposed District to unnecessary and significant risk to
District’s staff and students and contributed to an unsafe working environment.

In summary, the District is exercising its right to terminate this contract for cause due to the
Contractor’s persistent disregard of the District’s orders and the Contractor’s substantial breach of
the Contract’s provisions by failing to maintain a clean and safe jobsite, creating a substantial risk to
health and safety of the District’s staff and students. The District has previously issued numerous
warnings to Contractor to change behavior and actions. The District is pursuing this termination as
an option of last resort due to the Contractor’s continued non-performance in the above listed
instances. As provided in Section 16(c) of the General Conditions, the District will withhold further
payment until the District has completed the work. Any outstanding Claims by Contractor must be
made in a timely manner in accordance with Section 14(b).

Please immediately CEASE and DESIST all work onsite and demobilize from the site within
seven business days. Contractor shall coordinate demobilization of site with Owner and only access
site between hours of 6:00AM – 8:00AM and 3:30PM – 10:00PM.

Sincerely,

Steve Simonson
Senior Project Manager
Office of School Modernization
Portland Public Schools
501 N Dixon
Portland, OR 97227