Pentagon awards $281 million no-bid contract to firm linked to senior official

Pentagon officials awarded a $281 million no-bid consulting contract to Alvarez & Marsal Federal, an affiliate of the Alvarez & Marsal firm linked to George K. Kollitides II, who holds multiple senior positions in the department. Kollitides, a former partner at Alvarez & Marsal Capital, was still listed as a senior adviser to that firm when the contract was signed, and a prior $67.6 million deal was also awarded to the consulting arm.

Both contracts, totaling almost $350 million, were executed under an Other Transaction Agreement, a procurement tool intended for rapid development of experimental weapons and rarely used for consulting work. Ethics specialists argue the arrangement appears unusually close and may violate rules that prohibit officials from influencing contracts that could benefit them financially. The Pentagon maintains that all applicable ethics regulations were followed, while the consulting firm declined to detail the services it is providing.