The White House awarded a no-bid contract worth up to $500 million for the construction of the East Wing ballroom, with President Donald Trump being directly involved in negotiating some costs, The Washington Post reported, citing a copy of the agreement, related correspondence and records it had obtained.
The contract, awarded to Virginia-based Clark Construction, was routed through the Executive Residence, an office that is exempt from rules requiring federal agencies to seek competitive bids and make contract details public, according to the June 30 report.
USA TODAY has not seen the agreement. Neither the White House nor Clark Construction immediately responded to USA TODAY’s request for comment.
The project is one of many undertaken by the president as he looks to remake the White House and Washington, D.C., including the Triumphal Arch, rehabilitating the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and Lafayette Square Park. Many of these projects have drawn criticism for a variety of reasons, including not seeking congressional approval and awarding no-bid contracts. An analysis of federal contract data by USA TODAY found that 20 days before Trump first announced the renovation of the reflecting pool, the government had already committed $8.5 million to fix the pool even though the president said it would cost $2 million.
The company charged a 3% profit for its early work on the East Wing, and subsequently projected that it would receive a total of $65 million in combined profit, overhead and daily rates for on-site staff and other costs, according to the new report.
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