'Extraordinary Waste': Trump's Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool Bill Skyrockets 'Seven Times' Over Budget

The repair work on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has commenced, as President Donald Trump has vowed to address the degradation that the national monument has suffered over the years.

In the process, the administration has come under scrutiny for potentially overspending, paying more to the contractors than what was initially estimated.

The work has been dragging on longer than anticipated, costing the government more than expected.

What has raised eyebrows among many critics is that the company involved in the project is charging a significantly higher percentage of profit compared to typical federal construction contractors.

According to a report by The New York Times, a National Park Service analysis found that the contractor handling the repair work was given a no-bid contract.

The documents reveal that the firm fixing the pool submitted a bid that calculated a 20 percent profit margin compared to other companies whose margins typically range between 6 percent and 12 percent.

The report noted that the increased percentage meant the firm would be charging at least $850,000 more than what a typical contract would have cost the government.

Moreover, Trump agreed to pay the company $13.1 million — which critics point out is "seven times the amount" that the administration had initially presumed the project would cost.

The documents also state that the chosen contractors had initially failed to carry out the project successfully during a prior phase, failing to seal the gaps between the concrete slabs on the pool’s floor.

Consequently, water has leaked from those cracked areas for several years, creating major damage to the Washington landmark.

Trump has vowed to finalize the repair, putting much focus into restoring the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool ahead of America's semiquincentennial Independence Day celebration.

Surprisingly, the revelation about the profit margin and the contractor’s past performance issues had not been shared in previous reports.

Katie Martin, an Interior Department spokesperson, defended the contract’s cost in a written statement.

She stated that it reflected the necessary effort and time to completely apply the leak-prevention coating project, which included “more people, more materials, more equipment and longer hours ahead of our 250th.”

In a report by the Times magazine highlighting the contract analysis, the combined total of profit and overhead was described as appearing “excessive.”

It pointed out that there was a significant difference in profit between Atlantic Industrial Coatings and other firms.

However, by the time the cost analysis was discovered, workers had already been engaged in the project for over a month.

John Hart, the chief executive of the conservative watchdog group Open the Books, criticized the project for a lack of cost projections and competitive pricing.

“The first thing any rational homeowner, family or business does is they solicit competitive bids,” Hart said, adding, “Because when you rely on sole-source contracting, it opens the door to extraordinary waste,” according to The New York Times.

The criticism did not end there, with Hart noting that everyone knew July 4 would mark America’s 250th anniversary. “It’s not like we didn’t have time to plan,” he remarked.