EXCLUSIVE: Zeteo Story on Dubious ICE Contract Spurs Congressional Inquiry
Democratic Reps. Bennie Thompson and Shri Thanedar want ICE to explain why and how a $2.25 million contract was awarded without competition to a company owned by a prominent Republican donor.
Following a Zeteo investigation into a no-bid ICE contract awarded to a company owned by a Republican donor, Democrats on the House Committee on Homeland Security launched an inquiry on Friday, demanding the Trump administration provide answers about its use of the sole-source contract.
In an oversight letter sent to acting ICE director Todd Lyons, Reps. Bennie Thompson (Miss.) and Shri Thanedar (Mich.) pressed the agency to explain how and why the $2.25 million contract for 25 SUVs was awarded without competition to Hendrick Motorsports LLC, a company owned by prolific Republican donor Joseph Riddick "Rick" Hendrick III.
“It is unclear how ICE’s stated justification—’providing full and open competition would result in unacceptable delays and seriously hinder the Government’s recruiting initiative’—meets the required threshold given vehicles are not a prerequisite for recruiting, and it takes several months to recruit, hire, and train ICE officers and agents,” Thompson and Thanedar write. “Furthermore, an agency is not permitted to justify awarding a noncompetitive contract due to a lack of advance planning.”
The letter, which cites Zeteo’s report, also inquires about the price per vehicle. “As the Government Accountability Office has found, noncompetitive contracts carry the risk of overspending because, among other things, they have been negotiated without the benefit of competition to help establish pricing,” the two Democrats write. “It appears that ICE ultimately paid $90,000 for each Chevrolet Tahoe, which has a starting price of approximately $63,000, calling into question whether the government received the best value.”
Thompson and Thanedar also question why ICE didn’t use the normal procedures for procuring commercially available vehicles through the Government Services Administration. They asked ICE to reply by Sept. 19.
ICE did not immediately respond to Zeteo’s questions about the letter. In its justification for the sole-source contract, it wrote that “[u]rgency is warranted as these vehicles must be deployed to the streets immediately to provide a visible law enforcement presence, support public safety operations, and reinforce recruitment efforts.”
As Zeteo previously reported, Hendrick has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republican committees and causes (he has not donated to President Donald Trump directly). Hendrick and Trump were photographed together at a NASCAR event in 2020.
On the final day of his first term, Trump granted a pardon to Hendrick's nephew, James Austin Hayes, citing Hendrick's support. Hayes had pleaded guilty to insider trading in 2014.
Read the full letter: