USAspending.gov shows NPS awarded 140 contracts in Washington D.C. in FY2026 — fountains, fireworks, and renovations — as the administration redirected park money to the capital. Internal budget documents obtained by The Atlantic show DC spending up 92% while other parks fell 68%.
"Paid for by me." — President Trump, when asked about the White House walkway replacement, March 2026
Budget documents obtained by The Atlantic reveal taxpayers paid $689,232 for the walkway alone — part of a $1.3 million project covering stone and masonry repairs and new door hardware. A year earlier, taxpayers spent $347,503 to remove stucco from the colonnade wall, clearing the way for Trump to affix gold frames and plaques mocking his predecessors. Public contracting records corroborate both the scale and character of the spending.
NPS contracts awarded in Washington D.C. by month, FY2026. Source: USAspending.gov public API, June 2026.
The fiscal year opened with just $222,384 in new NPS contracts for Washington D.C. — routine fountain component replacements on the National Mall.
A single contractor, Terra Site Constructors LLC, received seven fountain rehabilitation contracts totaling $55.2M between December 5 and 11. Three contracts were awarded on the same day. Each received exactly one bid.
March brought $16.7M — Logan Circle rehabilitation, turf maintenance, sinkhole repairs. April added $20.3M including a $14.2M no-bid emergency contract to restore the Lincoln Reflecting Pool.
Hover any line for vendor and procurement details.
While DC received a record surge of contract spending, internal NPS records obtained by The Atlantic document more than 900 projects expected to receive funding in FY2026 that didn't. Three that had dollar estimates:
Contract data: Retrieved from api.usaspending.gov using the /api/v2/search/spending_by_award/ endpoint. Filters: awarding sub-tier agency = "National Park Service"; award types A, B, C, D (contracts); place of performance = Washington, D.C.; FY2026 (Oct 1 2025 – Jun 2026). Data retrieved June 2026.
Competition data: Sourced from the USAspending bulk award archive (HuggingFace mirror), queried via DuckDB. Fields: extent_competed, other_than_full_and_open_competition, number_of_offers_received.
Background reporting: The 92%/68% spending shift and the 900+ unfunded projects come from Michael Scherer's June 2026 investigation in The Atlantic, based on internal NPS budget documents not available in public contract records.
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