Part 5/11:
The Escalating Air Conditioning Contract Scandal
Another example of mismanagement involved the installation of 1,615 window air conditioning units with an initial budget of $2.3 million. Instead, the project cost over $5.4 million—more than double the budget. The CEO, David Northern, claimed the additional costs were due to splitting contracts to promote minority and women-owned businesses. However, many of these "businesses" were newly formed entities or were not based in Texas, prompting suspicion of cronyism.