White House ballroom contract worth up to $500M awarded secretly without competitive bidding, WP reports

President Donald Trump's plan to build a ballroom at the White House was awarded as a secret sole-source contract worth up to $500 million, it has emerged.

The Washington Post reported Monday that the White House awarded the grand ballroom construction project directly to Clark Construction through the White House residence office, bypassing the standard competitive bidding process. Negotiations on the contract's terms began in mid-August last year or earlier, and the contract was signed Sept. 22 last year. Demolition of the East Wing to make way for the project began Oct. 20 last year. The contract covers a range of services Clark will provide over five years and includes a nondisclosure agreement.

The Post said the contract was concluded in secret, with the justification for skipping competitive bidding explicitly stated as: disclosing the administration's needs "would compromise national security."

The Post also said assigning a major White House construction contract to the residence office contradicts the division of responsibilities outlined in internal White House documents. Under internal protocols, the General Services Administration or the National Park Service is supposed to handle large-scale construction procurement at the White House. That requirement is spelled out in a memorandum of understanding on White House maintenance and operations that remains in effect through 2029.

Anthony Costa, a former civil servant who spent more than 30 years at the GSA, told the Post that "a project of this size and complexity would normally go through competitive bidding."

The White House residence office typically handles routine maintenance of the presidential residence, event costs, and purchases of furniture, artwork and other items. Federal procurement rules that apply to ordinary government agencies — including competitive bidding requirements — do not govern it. The arrangement raises suspicions that the White House routed the contract through the residence office specifically to avoid competitive bidding and proceed on a sole-source basis.

In a June 16 report, the Post said the projected cost of the White House ballroom had tripled since Trump announced the project last July, and that taxpayers would foot half the bill. Trump had pledged last year that the $200 million (about 310 billion won) construction cost would be covered entirely by donations, with no expense to taxpayers — a figure that also roughly matched Clark's initial internal cost estimate.

Clark subsequently raised its cost estimate to $478 million last October, and by March the figure had climbed further to $600 million. The Post said it obtained a document prepared in March showing Clark would receive a total of $65 million in project management fees.

The Post also reported that Trump personally intervened in cost negotiations with Clark. According to the March document, Trump directly participated in negotiations over the price of concrete to be supplied by a wholly owned Clark subsidiary for the ballroom construction. Those negotiations reduced the price — which had exceeded $47 million — by approximately $2.3 million.