White House planned to start Triumphal Arch work under unrelated contract

The Trump administration planned to start work at the site of the president’s proposed Triumphal Arch by piggybacking on an existing, unrelated contract for engineering services at the White House grounds more than a mile away, emails obtained by The Washington Post show.

The move would allow the administration to bypass a potentially lengthy public bidding process, and experts said it was unusual because the arch site is on National Park Service land across the Potomac River and is not part of the White House complex.

Park Service acting director Jessica Bowron wrote to White House officials last month asking whether the agency could extend a contract between the White House and engineering firm AECOM Services for an environmental assessment for the proposed 250-foot arch.

In her email, Bowron acknowledged that the proposed arch isn’t adjacent to the White House like Lafayette Square, another site AECOM has worked on under the same agreement, but she wrote that using the existing contract would allow work to “align with the Administration’s timeline.”

“I realize it's a little further afield than Lafayette Park, but given the engagement on this project from the WH, I thought I’d check,” Bowron wrote on April 22, using initials to refer to the White House.

An hour later, the White House gave NPS a green light. “Yes of course,” wrote Heather Martin, an official in the Executive Office of the President.

It’s not clear from the emails whether the Park Service ultimately followed through with the plan to use the White House contract. But site testing was to begin this week, according to a timeline laid out by the Trump administration in federal court last week. Heavy machinery was at the site Monday.

A spokesperson for the Department of Interior, which oversees the Park Service, responded to a detailed list of questions about the proposed arrangement by saying The Post’s “assertion on contract sourcing is incorrect.”

“Any correspondence that has been leaked to the Washington Post was draft/deliberative conversations and is not the final determination,” the spokesperson said in a statement without providing further explanation.

On Monday, an administration official speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss contracting matters confirmed that NPS was likely to use one of the White House’s “existing contracts for the environmental assessment process.”

The official defended the approach, saying that the White House is “better equipped to execute based on the fact that it is in the best interest of the government, more convenient and economical, and then we have the expertise.”

The administration has skirted norms as it aggressively pushes high-profile construction projects that would remake Washington to Trump’s taste.

In just over 15 months, the Trump administration has demolished the White House’s East Wing, painted the Lincoln Memorial’s reflecting pool blue, taken over the public golf course at East Potomac Park and begun an overhaul of the Kennedy Center. Every one of the moves has triggered lawsuits alleging the projects are illegal.

Since last year Trump has publicly pushed for work on the arch to begin so construction can coincide with the United States’ 250th anniversary, this July 4.

In response to questions from The Post, White House spokesman Davis Ingle issued a statement saying the arch near the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery “is going to be one of the most iconic landmarks not only in Washington, D.C., but throughout the world.”

Typically, the Park Service would use its own competitively bid contract for engineering services, experts said.

“It’s a real stretch to say that a contract for work on the White House campus, particularly the White House itself, has any relevance at all to an arch a mile away,” said Stan Soloway, a former Pentagon acquisition official who is board chair at the National Academy of Public Administration.

Soloway said he understood why the administration might use the same contract for multiple projects on the White House grounds. But he said the arch is not connected to work at the White House and that not seeking competitive bids for the project could favor preferred companies.

He also said the proposed shortcut would sacrifice rules designed to control costs.

The administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the White House contract could be extended to work on the arch site under the Economy Act, a law that allows federal agencies to purchase goods or services for other agencies.

Experts said the law should be used only when an agency lacks the capability to procure services on its own.

Contracting attorney Alan Chvotkin said the harm to taxpayers would be that “you lose the benefits of competition, pricing and transparency.”

The White House has granted AECOM work on a series of projects, including for Trump’s proposed ballroom, the visitor screening center and Lafayette Square improvements, according to contracting documents obtained by The Post. The firm has two five-year White House contracts for ongoing services, one signed in 2024 and the other in 2025, worth up to $500 million and $195 million respectively.

Contracts through the executive residence are not public, experts said, unlike those through most other agencies.

The emails indicate the Park Service estimated the work at the proposed arch location would cost $600,000. The communications did not specify which White House contract with AECOM the Park Service wanted to use for the arch work.

Bowron, the head of the park agency, requested AECOM’s service despite expressing some displeasure with the company’s work, telling White House officials she didn’t think the company provided its “A team” staff to work on a White House visitor screening facility.

“We are dealing with the issue by assigning staff to clean it up, but it might be worth flagging to them that these projects are generally among the President’s highest priorities in this area, and we need them to produce high-quality deliverables from the get-go to ensure we stay on timeline,” she wrote.

AECOM did not provide comment for this report.

The proposed arch has drawn controversy. A group of Vietnam War veterans and a historian sued the Trump Administration, alleging the arch planned for Memorial Circle would block “the solemn and unobstructed view between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial.”

When the Commission on Fine Arts approved the project’s design last month, it did so despite the organization’s chief saying that he had received about 1,000 comments from the public and that “100%” of them were against it.

While environmental testing will inform design and planning for the arch, NPS has not yet officially authorized its construction, Bowron said in a May 7 court filing.

Dan Diamond, Jonathan Edwards and Aaron Schaffer contributed to this report.