Nebraska State Auditor Mike Foley is asserting that Governor Jim Pillen steered a state agency to award a contract to the firm owned by a lobbyist the governor knows.
Foley said that $2.5 million emergency no-bid contract awarded by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development went to a bioeconomy consulting firm.
Foley said the economic department, in carrying out that Pillen-picked contract in 2024, broke state law by not specifying in writing what emergency justified skipping the required step of bidding out contracts worth more than $50,000.
Foley said skipping that key step in the contract with Global Sustainability Developers “smacks of favoritism." The Nebraska Examiner first reported about Foley’s audit letter that was sent to the governor’s office on January 6.
Also according to the Examiner, state records show Economic Development Department officials did not know the firm they were working with when the contract was awarded.
The governor’s office denied that favoritism to Global Sustainability factored into the contract. State officials are seeking to make it clear that no aspects of contracts can be overlooked.
