CJ Innovation bonding lapse delays Hopwood rebuild

The CNMI Board of Education’s Capital Improvement Projects and PSS Property Committee last Jan. 14 signaled it will move to terminate the construction portion of its contract with CJ Innovation after the contractor failed to secure required U.S. Treasury bonding for the long-delayed Admiral Herbert G. Hopwood Middle School project.

Education Commissioner Dr. Lawrence F. Camacho told the committee that the Federal Emergency Management Agency-funded project was structured as a design-build contract divided into phases and that CJ Innovation had completed the design and demolition portions but could not proceed further.

“This is a design-build contract,” Camacho said. “Phase one is the design piece. Phase two-alpha is the demolition, and phase two-bravo is the construction piece.”

Camacho said the design work is now complete, pending engineering stamps and certifications.

“We are just now waiting for a stamp and certification from the engineers,” he said. “From there, we will take that design and use that design to build.”

He said demolition—phase two-alpha—has already been completed, but PSS has issued a letter terminating the construction phase of the contract.

“We have written a letter to the contractor to terminate the construction piece,” Camacho said. “The reason for termination has been the absence of a security bond. Without that, we are not going to be able to proceed with the construction.”

Camacho said CJ Innovation has been directed to submit all stamped and certified plans by January so the project can be rebid.

“We are asking for them to finish the design and submit all the certified stamped designs by January, so that we can then put this out for bid,” he said. “The design is 100% from the current contractor, and we foresee this being a good design for us to actually build.”

He stressed that FEMA funding for the project remains intact.

“We have not lost the funding,” Camacho said. “We have continued to maintain the funding for this project, so I anticipate the completion of the project.”

Committee vice chair Andrew M. Orsini criticized how the issue unfolded, saying the board was not adequately informed about the bonding failure and instead learned of the situation through media inquiries.

He said he was blindsided by questions from reporters and faulted Public School System leadership for not briefing the full board sooner.

“I get texts, I get calls from reporters asking me about this issue, and I have no clue what I’m going to tell them,” Orsini said. “It would have been thoughtful for you to have at least let us know.”

Orsini said it was troubling that media appeared to have information before board members.

“It surprises me that the media were the first to have firsthand information about what’s going on within your office,” he said, adding that the breakdown raised concerns about board liability and governance.

He called for an immediate CIP meeting to clarify the situation and ensure all board members are fully informed.

Orsini also questioned how CJ Innovation was originally awarded the Hopwood project and why the company was granted multiple extensions despite not meeting bonding requirements.

“How on earth was this company granted when yet the company in question right now is an illegitimate, not even known back in South Korea? How was this company awarded this project to begin with? There I'm telling—and then on the news it comes out that the individual or the head of this company gets arrested, gets deported because of an expired visa,” Orsini said, adding that the troubling information about CJ Innovation only surfaced after the contract was awarded.

He further questioned why key procurement and project officials were not present to answer detailed questions, and said repeated extensions had delayed an emergency project declared under a presidential disaster declaration.

“We cannot afford to delay,” Orsini said. “The only ones here that are suffering are the students of Hopwood and the good staff and workers there.”

Orsini noted that 2026 is his final year on the board and urged PSS to move quickly to rebid and complete the project.

“This thing’s got to stop,” he said. “We’ve got to put this in full force.”

Committee members also raised concerns about major construction being conducted during the school year, citing classroom disruptions, teacher relocations, and impacts on student learning.

They said FEMA-funded projects are document-intensive and progress-based, and that delays can put reimbursement at risk if work stalls. They maintained that rebidding the Hopwood project using the completed design would allow construction to move forward more efficiently.