The City has begun work to reconstruct the landmark Portland Building. Built in 1981, the Portland Building has a long history of water leaks. After reviewing different options, the City chose to reconstruct the building to address the exterior and additional concerns about seismic resiliency, workplace interiors, as well as mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. In October 2015, Council directed the Office of Management and Finance to begin contracting for the design, construction and temporary relocation needed for the project. Over the last year, the City has deployed its resources to secure key contracts and make preparations for the project.
While the City is years away from completing the reconstruction project, we conducted this audit now because of the project’s high-profile nature, complexity, and cost. Early audits like this can contribute to the accountability and oversight environment. Any recommendations for improvements are less costly now than if the City identified issues later.
The City made choices during this planning phase that will make its upcoming design phase decisions particularly significant. For ex- ample, the City is using a new approach to meet the complexities of this project. Given the project’s early status and the City’s approach, aspects of the project remain fluid until formally set later during the design phase. We report our observations for six key project areas, described within two broader categories:
- Project management constraints: Using a project management framework, we report on each of the three interrelated project constraints – scope, budget, schedule. Since Council has already set fixed limits on budget and schedule, any needed adjustments will be made to the project scope. As a result, scope remains a pivotal aspect of the project that has yet to be defined.
- Public accountability challenges: The City has made a variety of commitments about the project and we highlight three areas – equity, compliance, decision-making – that may present particular challenges. Each challenge can impact the overall project, but the decision-making area is the most crucial to the project’s success.
Since the Portland Building reconstruction project is active, we informed City managers as we identified areas for continued attention. In this report, we make specific recommendations for the project as it moves forward through design and construction.
Some changes could not be applied retrospectively and, in those in- stances, we share lessons learned for future City construction projects in the Appendix.