diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 1b0fe4111..0b0fe07d8 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -32,8 +32,8 @@ FROM build_environment as builder
 COPY . /var/www/render/
 RUN mvn clean
 
-# use -T 1C option to multi-thread maven, using 1 thread per available core
-RUN mvn -T 1C -Dproject.build.sourceEncoding=UTF-8 package && \
+# note: cannot safely multi-thread maven for now because some unit tests are (but should not be) order dependent
+RUN mvn -Dproject.build.sourceEncoding=UTF-8 package && \
     mkdir -p /root/render-lib && \
     mv */target/*.*ar /root/render-lib && \
     printf "\nsaved the following build artifacts:\n\n" && \
diff --git a/render-ws/src/main/scripts/docker/render-config.sh b/render-ws/src/main/scripts/docker/render-config.sh
index 7c0dc4e0b..3badecb00 100755
--- a/render-ws/src/main/scripts/docker/render-config.sh
+++ b/render-ws/src/main/scripts/docker/render-config.sh
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ JETTY_BASE=$(stripQuotes $JETTY_BASE)
 RENDER_DB_PROPERTIES="${JETTY_BASE}/resources/render-db.properties"
 
 
-if [ -z "${MONGO_HOST}" ] & [ -z "${MONGO_CONNECTION_STRING}" ]; then
+if [ -z "${MONGO_HOST}" ] && [ -z "${MONGO_CONNECTION_STRING}" ]; then
   echo "ERROR: either MONGO_HOST or MONGO_CONNECTION_STRING must be defined"
   exit 1
 fi