Contract analysis

I. Purpose This memorandum outlines the document-preservation obligations of Dunmore Energy Holdings Ltd. ("DEH") and its wholly owned subsidiary, Dunmore Fuel Supply, Inc. ("DFS"), arising from the Civil Investigative Demand ("CID") issued by the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Meridian, Antitrust Division, on August 22, 2025 (CID Reference No. AG-ANT-2025-04172). The CID was issued pursuant to the au

II. Preservation Obligation Upon receipt of the CID on August 22, 2025, DEH and DFS assumed an affirmative legal duty to preserve all documents and electronically stored information ("ESI") that are or may be relevant to the subject matter of the Attorney General's investigation. This preservation obligation is triggered by the receipt of the CID itself and attaches immediately upon such receipt. It is not contingent

III. Scope of the Hold The litigation hold encompasses a defined temporal scope, subject-matter scope, set of key custodians, and set of non-custodial data sources, each of which is described in detail below. A. Temporal Scope All documents and ESI created, sent, received, modified, or stored during the period from January 1, 2020 through the present must be preserved. This preservation obligation is continuing in na

1. Fuel-Supply Bids and Proposals Submitted to Meridian DOT. This category encompasses all documents relating to fuel-supply bids or proposals submitted to Meridian DOT, including but not limited to RFP documents received from Meridian DOT, internal analyses of RFP requirements, draft and final bid submissions, award notifications, contract execution documents, contract performance records, delivery schedules, compli

2. Communications with or about Co-Respondents. All communications with or concerning Galloway Petroleum Corp. ("GPC") or any of its employees, officers, directors, agents, or representatives, including but not limited to Richard "Rick" Ellerbee, CEO of GPC, and Constance Barlow, Vice President of Sales at GPC. Similarly, all communications with or concerning Ridgeline Energy Partners LLC ("REP") or any of its employ

3. Pricing Strategies and Competitive intelligence. All documents relating to pricing strategies, margin analyses, competitive-intelligence reports, cost models, or pricing models for bulk fuel supply in the State of Meridian. This includes, without limitation, any analyses, reports, models, or data exports prepared using or derived from the DFS proprietary pricing database known as "FuelPricer," as well as any bench

4. Industry Meetings and Competitor Interactions. All documents relating to any industry meetings, trade-association events, conferences, seminars, social gatherings, or informal meetings at which competitors discussed pricing, customers, bid strategy, market allocation, territories, capacity, or any other competitively sensitive topic. This includes agendas, attendance lists, presentation materials, expense reports,

5. Meridian DOT Correspondence and Procurement Records. All Meridian DOT RFP documents, bid solicitations, addenda, award notifications, contract performance records, audit reports, and any correspondence with Meridian DOT procurement officials, contract administrators, or other state personnel involved in the fuel-supply procurement process.

6. Internal Bid-Pricing Approvals. All documents reflecting internal approvals of bid pricing for any Meridian state contract, including emails, memoranda, approval workflows, sign-off sheets, management review materials, and any other records reflecting the process by which proposed bid prices were developed, reviewed, modified, and ultimately approved for submission.

7. Lot Allocation, Bid Rotation, and Cover Bidding. All documents relating to the allocation of contract lots among competitors, rotation of winning bids among market participants, or the submission of complementary bids (also known as "cover" bids, "courtesy" bids, or "phantom" bids). This category is of particular significance to the Attorney General's investigation and encompasses any communications, agreements, u

8. Financial Records Relating to Meridian DOT Contracts. All financial records relating to revenue, costs, margins, profitability, and financial performance on Meridian DOT contracts, including income statements, cost-accounting records, job-cost reports, margin analyses, variance analyses, and any related financial data. It should be noted that DEH's independent auditors, Alderton & Knox, CPAs, LLP ("A&K"), located

1. DFS Shared Network Drives. The shared network drive located at \\\\DFS-FILE01\\GovContracts\\ contains government contracts files, bid submissions, RFP materials, internal correspondence, and related documentation maintained by the DFS Government Contracts department. This drive is accessible to multiple users within the department and contains files that may not be duplicated within the custodial data of the five

2. DFS Pricing Database ("FuelPricer"). FuelPricer is an internal proprietary application used by the DFS pricing team to model bid prices, analyze competitive positioning, perform margin calculations, and generate pricing recommendations for bulk fuel-supply contracts. The application and its underlying database contain historical pricing data, model inputs, model outputs, audit trails, and user-activity logs that a

3. DEH/DFS Ashgrove Software Tenant. The DEH/DFS Ashgrove Software environment includes Drayton Solutions (email), Aldermere Systems (document repositories and collaboration sites), and Northgate Data Systems (instant messages, channel communications, and shared files). Data from all three services for each of the five identified custodians must be preserved and collected. In addition, any Teams channels or Aldermere

4. DFS CRM System (Pinnacle Health IT). The DFS Pinnacle Health IT instance, accessible at dfs.my.Pinnacle Health IT.com, contains customer records, account histories, opportunity records, activity logs, and potentially logged communications with Meridian DOT personnel and competitor contacts. Pinnacle Health IT records relating to Meridian DOT accounts, Meridian-related opportunities, and any accounts or contacts as

5. Archived Email (Brightwater Solutions). Archived email messages for all five identified custodians covering the preservation period (January 1, 2020 through the present) are stored in DEH/DFS's Brightwater Solutions system. These archived messages must be preserved and made available for collection by the e-discovery vendor. Enterprise Vault retention policies that would result in the deletion of archived messages

6. Mobile Devices. Company-issued and personal mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) assigned to or used by the custodians listed above for company business must be preserved. This includes all data stored on such devices, including text messages (SMS and MMS), Meridian Services Inc. messages, Harborline Technologies messages, and communications transmitted through any other messaging application. Custodians who u

7. Backup Tapes. Quarterly backup tapes maintained by the DEH/DFS IT department must be preserved. This includes, at a minimum, the most recent quarterly backup cycle (Q2 2025, covering April through June 2025). All backup tapes within the preservation period should be identified, inventoried, and secured. Backup tapes must not be overwritten, recycled, or destroyed pending further instructions from Calderwood & Hark

IV. Litigation Hold Notices — Distribution Plan Written litigation-hold notices must be issued to each of the five custodians identified in Section III.C above no later than September 5, 2025. Given that the CID was received on August 22, 2025, and that the preservation obligation attached immediately upon receipt, the prompt issuance of formal hold notices is essential to ensure that all custodians are aware of thei

1. Identification of the Legal Matter. The notice must identify the legal matter giving rise to the hold — specifically, the investigation by the Meridian Attorney General's Antitrust Division, and the CID bearing Reference No. AG-ANT-2025-04172. The notice should provide sufficient context for the custodian to understand the nature of the investigation without disclosing privileged strategy or legal analysis.

2. Categories of Documents and ESI Subject to the Hold. The notice must define the categories of documents and ESI that the custodian is required to preserve, consistent with the subject-matter scope set forth in Section III.B of this memorandum. The categories should be described with sufficient specificity to enable the custodian to identify potentially relevant materials in his or her possession, custody, or contr

3. Instruction to Cease Destruction. The notice must instruct the custodian to immediately cease all destruction, deletion, alteration, or modification of potentially relevant documents and ESI. This includes the cessation of routine document-management practices (such as periodic inbox cleaning, deletion of old files, or disposal of paper records) that might otherwise result in the loss of relevant materials.

4. Extension to Personal Devices and Accounts. The notice must make clear that the hold extends to personal devices and personal accounts (including personal email accounts, personal cloud storage services, and personal messaging applications) that the custodian has used for company business at any time during the preservation period.

5. Acknowledgment Requirement. The notice must require a signed written acknowledgment from each custodian confirming receipt and understanding of the hold, to be returned within 48 hours of receipt of the notice. These acknowledgments should be collected and maintained by the DEH Legal Department as part of the preservation compliance record.

6. Confidentiality Instruction. The notice must emphasize the confidential nature of the hold and the underlying investigation. Custodians must be instructed that they should not discuss the hold, the CID, or the investigation with anyone outside of DEH and DFS, except as directed by the Office of the General Counsel or Calderwood & Harkness LLP. This instruction is essential both to protect the integrity of the inve

V. IT Department Instructions The DEH/DFS IT department must be instructed to take the following actions immediately, and in no event later than September 5, 2025. These instructions should be communicated in writing by the Office of the General Counsel, with a copy provided to Calderwood & Harkness LLP for the compliance record.

1. Suspend Auto-Deletion Policies. All automated retention and deletion policies must be disabled immediately for the following systems and data sources, as they pertain to all custodians and non-custodial sources identified in Section III: • Drayton Solutions email retention and deletion policies • Brightwater Solutions retention and deletion schedules • Northgate Data Systems message retention policies (including c

2. Preserve Backup Tapes. IT personnel must identify, collect, and secure backup tapes from the most recent quarterly backup cycle (Q2 2025, covering April through June 2025), as well as any other backup tapes within the preservation period that are readily identifiable. These tapes must be stored in a secure, climate-controlled location and must not be overwritten, recycled, degaussed, or otherwise rendered inaccess

3. Disable Remote-Wipe Capabilities. For all mobile devices (company-issued and BYOD) assigned to or registered by the five identified custodians, remote-wipe and factory-reset capabilities must be disabled immediately. This includes disabling remote-wipe functionality in any mobile device management ("MDM") platform used by DEH/DFS (e.g., Northgate Systems, Ridgeway Software, or similar). This measure is necessary t

4. Pinnacle Health IT Audit Trail. Full audit-trail logging must be enabled in the DFS Pinnacle Health IT instance to preserve a complete record of any changes to Meridian-related records, including modifications to account records, opportunity records, contact records, activity logs, and custom objects. If audit-trail logging is not currently enabled at the maximum level of granularity, IT should coordinate with the

5. Network Drive Snapshots. IT must create a point-in-time snapshot of the shared network drive located at \\\\DFS-FILE01\\GovContracts\\ and preserve the snapshot in read-only format. The snapshot should be stored on a separate, secure storage volume and should be accompanied by documentation recording the date and time of the snapshot, the method used, and the identity of the IT personnel who performed the operatio

6. Coordinate with E-discovery Vendor. IT personnel should be prepared to facilitate on-site access by Brindoval Analytics LLC, Calderwood & Harkness LLP's designated e-discovery vendor, for the purpose of forensic imaging of custodial devices (laptops, desktops, and mobile devices). Brindoval Analytics LLC is located at 8400 Leesburg Pike, Suite 320, Tysons Corner, Virginia 22182, and the designated project manager

VI. E-discovery Vendor Engagement Calderwood & Harkness LLP anticipates retaining Brindoval Analytics LLC ("Brindoval") as the e-discovery vendor for this matter. Brindoval will be responsible for forensic data collection, processing, hosting, and technology-assisted review ("TAR") services. Brindoval has extensive experience supporting complex antitrust investigations and government enforcement matters, and its tech

VII. Coordination with Third Parties The following third-party considerations are relevant to the preservation and investigation response efforts and require attention from DEH's legal team. Alderton & Knox, CPAs, LLP. As noted in Section III.B.8, DEH's independent auditors, Alderton & Knox, CPAs, LLP ("A&K"), may hold bid-related financial records relevant to the investigation. The A&K engagement partner is Yolanda

VIII. Key Deadlines and Action Items The following table sets forth the key deadlines and action items for the initial phase of the preservation and investigation response effort. All deadlines are firm unless otherwise indicated. Calderwood & Harkness LLP will provide regular status updates to Ms. Aldridge and will maintain a detailed tracking log of all preservation and collection activities for the compliance reco

IX. Consequences of Non-Compliance The preservation obligations described in this memorandum are mandatory and must be treated with the utmost seriousness and urgency by every custodian, IT personnel member, and other individual to whom they apply. Failure to comply with these obligations — whether through affirmative destruction, negligent loss, or passive failure to prevent the deletion of relevant information — ma

X. Contact Information All questions regarding this memorandum, the litigation hold, or the preservation obligations described herein should be directed to one of the following individuals: Monica Reyes Senior Associate, Antitrust & Competition Calderwood & Harkness LLP 1900 K Street NW, Suite 1100 Washington, DC 20006 Tel: (202) 555-0147 Email: mreyes@calderwoodharkness.com Howard Bellamy Partner, Antitrust & Compet