The administration secretly awarded a no-bid contract valued a up to $500 million for the construction of a new ballroom at the White House, according to an investigation by The Washington Post, which found that officials used an unusual contracting mechanism to bypass competitive bidding procedures normally designed to protect taxpayers and ensure transparency.
Trump Used No-Bid Deal to Advance $500m White House Ballroom
The newspaper reported that the contract was routed through the Executive Residence, a little-known office within the Executive Office of the President that is exempt from federal requirements obliging most agencies to conduct competitive tenders and publicly disclose contract details. The office typically oversees maintenance, , entertainment expenses and other operational matters related to the executive mansion.
According to documents obtained by The Washington Post, the confidential agreement with Clark Construction, alongside internal correspondence and other records, provides the clearest account yet of how the administration advanced one of President Trump’s most ambitious and controversial redevelopment projects for complex. The records also indicate that Trump was directly involved in negotiating aspects of the project’s cost structure.
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The East Wing ballroom project forms a part of a wider effort by the administration to reshape prominent federal landmarks in , including upgrades to Lafayette Square, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, and proposals for other large scale civic projects.
While procurent experts have noted that the Executive Residence operates under a legal exemption from standard federal contracting requirements, several questioned whether the administration should nevertheless have sought competing bids given the scale and complexity of the undertaking.
“I would certainly expect them to compete a project of this size and complexity,” said Anthony Costa, a former General Services Administration official who oversaw complex government real estate projects during a career that spanned four presidential administrations.
The estimated cost of the ballroom has risen sharply since the project was first unveiled in July 2025. Internal construction estimates reviewed by The Washington Post reportedly increased from approximately $200 million to as much as $600 million by March this year, with previous reporting indication that could ultimately bear a substantial portion of the costs.
Trump has repeatedly asserted that the ballroom would be financed primarily through private donations and previously suggested that Clark Construction executives had offered to undertake the project without charge.
“They said: ‘Sir, we’ll do it for nothing. This is the greatest honour,” told the New York Times in January.
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However, internal cost projections reviewed by The Washington Post indicate that Clark Construction, based in McLean, and the largest general contractor in the Washington metropolitan area, stands to earn tens of millions of dollars from the project. Records show the company charged a 3 per cent profit margin for its initial work on the East Wing, a figure experts described as consistent with large-scale government construction projects.
Although the records do not detail the company’s projected profit margin across the entire project, a March document reportedly estimated that Clark would receive approximately $65 million through a combination of , overhead, staffing costs and other charges. The investigation also found that several subcontracting arrangements associated with the project were awarded without competitive bidding.
The project has already faced legal challenges. Earlier this year, a federal judge ruled that the president’s authority to alter the White House complex did not extend to demolishing the East Wing and constructing a new ballroom without additional authorisation, although the administration has appealed that decision.
Responding to questions from The Washington Post, a White House official said the East Wing contract had been awarded through the Executive Residence because that office “will be the primary support of the facility.” The official added that the Executive Residence, which forms part of the Executive Office of the President, “consistently executes contracts following the law.”
