No-Bid Contract for Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Sparks Controversy

Earlier this year, a firm tied to President Donald Trump secured a no-bid contract to install a water purification system at the Reflecting Pool next to the Lincoln Memorial. Now, the deal is raising questions after algae overtook the basin just days after a multi-million-dollar refurbishment was completed, according to a new report.

The National Park Service in April sidestepped the usual competitive bidding process, awarding a $1.7 million cleaning contract to Ohio-based Greenwater Services, which had only ever been given one other federal contract.

The firm is owned by the J.J. Cafaro Investment Trust, headed by John J. Cafaro, who has contributed over $300,000 to Trump-linked political committees, The New York Times reported. He also resides next to the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. In 2016, Trump described Cafaro, who once found himself at the center of a bribery scandal, as a “fantastic man.”

The $1.7 million contract with Greenwater to improve the pool filtration system is drawing new scrutiny after the roughly 2,000-foot Reflecting Pool turned a vivid green as algae blooms spread across its shallow waters — just days after a $14 million refurbishment left the basin coated in “American flag blue.”

Department officials told the Times that Greenwater Services had already installed a temporary purification system and plans to put a permanent one in place shortly. A spokesperson didn’t explain why the pool had been refilled before the permanent system was up and running.

The pool’s water flows through underground pipes to a nearby building fitted with filtration and purification equipment. The Park Service had long planned to enhance the system with a “nanobubble” device that pulverizes algae using tiny gas bubbles.

“This technology is actively killing algae, pathogens (e.g., E. coli), and contaminants that have long plagued the Reflecting Pool since 1922, most infamously, the Obama pool reopening that resulted in massive algae clumps taking over the pool’s surface following years of construction that cost taxpayers millions upon millions only to be broken and disgusting days later,” an Interior Department spokesperson told The Independent earlier this week.

The National Park Service, which operates under the Interior Department, said it bypassed competition under an emergency exemption, arguing there was no time to solicit other bids because the purification system had to be installed before the nation’s 250th anniversary next month.

The Interior Department also said it had no knowledge of Cafaro’s political affiliation, with a spokesperson telling the Times: “This company was selected because they had the expertise, work force and materials.”

The Independent has reached out to the Interior Department for comment.

This week, workers were seen vacuuming out algae and dumping hydrogen peroxide into the water in an attempt to fix the problem. The administration has labeled the cleanup job a “regional and national priority” ahead of July 4.

The administration has previously bypassed the usual competitive bidding process in its effort to beautify the city. Atlantic Industrial Coatings, the firm that resurfaced the pool, was similarly awarded a no-bid contract.

The newly applied coating is already showing signs of wear. This week, a chunk of the blue layer appeared to detach from the bottom and float to the surface of the green water.

Photos showed the chunk of paint floating next to the algae.