Chapter 5 of 11 · The Contractors
WHO GOT PAID
The contractor who won the biggest design-build contract had the lowest technical score of any bidder. The evaluation criteria were changed in the middle of the review process to let their bid proceed. That contractor's business partner had held a financial stake in the company while a senator's committee approved $759 million in military contracts for it. A Spanish corporation — ultimately owned by the president of Real Madrid — collected $2.4 billion from California taxpayers. Three IT vendors show patterns that match textbook bid-splitting fraud.
554+
Change Orders
On just 3 design-build packages · most approved internally
145%
CP2-3 Overrun
$1.2B contract → $2.94B paid → still climbing
$2.4B
To a Spanish Corp
ACS Group · owned by president of Real Madrid
Top Vendors — Contract Value vs. Amount Paid ($M)
Chapter 6 →
THE BILL
Beyond overruns — $540 million in spending that can't be explained. A PR firm billed twice with no output. IT vendors operating under four different names. The unexplained portion of the bill.