Contractor earning $850,000 more than usual on no-bid Trump deal to fix Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, report says [View all]

Source: The Independent

Wednesday 27 May 2026 19:30 EDT


The Trump administration’s no-bid, $13.1 million contract to repair the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool featured “excessive” profit margins” and “inflated overhead,” according to federal documents.

The deal, awarded to Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings, saw the contractor ask for 20 percent profits, roughly doubling the typical 6 to 12 percent margin on such projects, netting it at least $850,000 in extra compensation, per a National Parks Service analysis obtained by The New York Times.

The Reflecting Pool project contained other irregularities, the paper found, including that work reportedly began before a final price was agreed upon, a method more typically used in emergencies.

Ultimately, however, the government decided to move forward with the deal, according to the documents. “The contracting officer determined that due to the risk of the project, the inflated overhead and profit percentages of 20 percent were reasonable,” the analysis concluded.

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-reflecting-pool-lincoln-memorial-contract-b2984806.html