Homeland Security Department Fast-tracked $1 Billion Contract to Politically Connected Company that Obtained Inside Information
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A stunning report today by the Washington Post revealed the Trump Administration’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) fast-tracked a contract worth almost $1 billion to Salus Worldwide Solutions, a company formed in 2023 that had never received a federal contract but had ties to a pro-Trump group, the America First Policy Institute. One of the DHS officials overseeing the deal previously worked at America First.
The Post reported on a lawsuit alleging that Salus had an unfair advantage in helping to design the contract it bid on and that DHS officials shared nonpublic information with Salus to help prepare its bid. The lawsuit also alleges that, in advance of the contract being awarded, DHS employees exchanged at least 40 emails with Salus to discuss the contract, including budget and program specifications.
This is just the latest in a series of stunning disclosures indicating that massive DHS contracts have been awarded outside the usual competitive bidding process to companies tied to high-level Trump DHS officials. One example is the $220 Million DHS Ad contract that went to companies linked to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and her “Chief Advisor” Corey Lewandowski, who Noem reportedly put in charge of green-lighting large DHS contracts.
Public Citizen Democracy Advocate Jon Golinger issued the following statement:
“Stack this latest shady revelation on top of the mountain of evidence that hundreds of millions in DHS contracts have been handed out like candy on Halloween to companies tied to the people who run DHS. The cloud of corruption now hovering over the DHS contracting process is a growing storm. The Trump Administration should take action to clean house at DHS, starting by terminating Corey Lewandowski, who it appears has long overstayed his legally permitted 130 days as a ‘Special Government Employee’.”