A new inspector general’s report published Thursday accuses the former Biden administration of issuing a suspect contract.
Published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG), the report says that the HHS sub-agency known as the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) gave out a suspect contract in 2021.
The $529 million “sole source contract” to Family Endeavors Inc., a nonprofit, bypassed standard federal procurement requirements, according to the HHS OIG.
A sole source contract is a type of agreement where a buyer — usually a government agency — awards a contract to a single supplier or vendor without going through a competitive bidding process.
“Other, more qualified contractors may have been available to perform the duties of the contract at a lower cost to the Government,” the OIG said in a press release.
New HHS-OIG audit: ACF’s awarding of a $529M contract to Family Endeavors, Inc., to operate an emergency intake site raises serious concerns. Other, more qualified contractors may have been able to perform the duties of the contract at a lower cost: https://t.co/yTZwfe9kVH pic.twitter.com/M10YsktZS2
— OIG at HHS (@OIGatHHS) February 12, 2026
The contract to Family Endeavors Inc. called for them to build and maintain a 2,000-bed emergency shelter for illegal alien children in Pecos, Texas.
In defending the sole source contract, the Biden administration cited the then-raging COVID pandemic. The HHS OIG, however, was not impressed by that excuse for three key reasons.
Reason number one: It was a rushed, last-minute process.
“For several months, ACF anticipated the need for additional shelter beds but failed to adequately plan to address the need,” the press release notes. “Instead, when ACF needed beds, it indicated that there was insufficient time to award a competitive contract and awarded the sole source contract 3 days after receiving an unsolicited proposal from Endeavors.”
Reason number two: No price analysis was conducted.
“ACF could not provide documentation that it conducted a price analysis before awarding the contract to show that Endeavors’ price was fair and reasonable,” the press release notes.
“ACF’s price analysis, completed 3 months after ACF awarded the Endeavors contract, showed that the $529 million contract ACF awarded to Endeavors was for more than double ACF’s total estimated cost of $245 million,” the release continues.
Reason number three: Endeavors was never scrutinized.
“ACF did not evaluate whether Endeavors was a responsible contractor before awarding the contract,” the press release explains.
While neither the OIG press release nor the report mentioned this, there’s also the fact that Andrew Lorenzen-Strait, a former Biden transition team advisor, was hired by Endeavors just months before the contract to ACF was issued.
In an undercover video recorded by Project Veritas operatives two years after the contract was issued, Lorenzen-Strait called the contract a “corrupt bargain.”
BREAKING: Former Biden Transition Official Andrew Lorenzen-Strait Describes His “Corrupt Bargain” Scheme; Brokering Massive $2 Billion Immigration Contracts with Federal Government
“There’s a much easier way to earn $2 Billion than caring for 80,000 kids…”
“@CherokeeNation is… pic.twitter.com/F58YEdUVjY
— Project Veritas (@Project_Veritas) August 8, 2023
Lorenzen-Strait’s stunning undercover remarks caught the attention of several top congressional Republicans.
“Mr. Lorenzen-Strait’s comments in the Project Veritas video are deeply disturbing,” they said at the time in a letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “The Committee is concerned that despite clear conflicts of interest and prior scrutiny, Mr. Lorenzen- Strait may be influencing ICE’s contracts for migrant services with non-governmental and non-profit organizations.”
Responding to all this, the current HHS under President Donald Trump told Fox News that they’re committed to restoring accountability.
“The previous administration wasted more than $1.8 billion on a facility intended to house illegal aliens that was not even used in the last year of the previous administration, and that kind of fiscal mismanagement is exactly what [HHS] Secretary [Robert F.] Kennedy [Jr.] is working to correct,” the spokesperson said.
“In fact, this contract was canceled in the early months of the Trump administration as soon as this mismanagement was discovered. HHS and ORR remain fully committed to protecting children, restoring accountability at every level of the system, and putting Americans first,” the spokesperson added.
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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