联邦合同本应竞争性招标。当机构邀请公司投标时，它们可以比较价格和资质——公众也能看到谁获得了合同。
Federal contracts are supposed to be competitive. When agencies invite companies to bid, they can compare prices and qualifications — and the public can see who gets the work.
有一种例外情况适用于异常且迫切的紧急情况。如果等待会对政府造成严重损害，机构可以将竞争限制在少数潜在承包商，有时甚至只有一家，但这本应只用于等不及的问题。
There’s an exception for unusual and compelling urgency. If waiting would seriously harm the government, an agency can limit competition to a few potential contractors, or sometimes just one, but that’s meant for problems that can’t wait.
在国土安全部，这一例外已成为业务运作中占比更大的一部分。2024年，它占该部合同支出的不到1%。根据《纽约时报》的分析，截至今年8月，它已占了近三分之二。
At the Department of Homeland Security, that exception has become a much bigger part of the way business gets done. In 2024, it covered less than 1% of the department’s contract spending. Through August of this year, it has covered nearly two-thirds, according to a New York Times analysis.
根据国会研究服务处的数据，在2026财年上半年，国土安全部占联邦机构根据紧急例外承担的184亿美元合同的92%。
In the first half of fiscal 2026, DHS accounted for 92% of the $18.4 billion federal agencies obligated under the emergency exception, according to the Congressional Research Service.
一些合同授予了几乎没有或没有联邦合同经验的公司：一家初创公司获得高达9.15亿美元的合同，协助运行该政府的“自行遣返”计划；另一家公司获得4.64亿美元购买一批二手飞机；一家新成立的公司被聘请制作由时任国土安全部长克里斯蒂·诺姆主演的广告。
Some of the contracts went to companies with little or no federal contracting experience: a startup was paid up to $915 million to help run the administration’s “self-deportation” effort, another was paid $464 million for a fleet of used planes and a newly formed company was hired to make ads starring then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
问题是，这些交易如何在竞争如此有限的情况下被授予，国会又能做些什么来确保“紧急”再次具有实际意义。
The question is how those deals could be awarded with so little competition and what Congress can do to make sure “emergency” means something again.
其中几家公司是初次承接联邦工作。Salus Worldwide Solutions成立于2023年，在赢得一份9.15亿美元合同以协助运行该政府的“自行遣返”运动之前，从未持有过联邦合同。立法者正在调查指控，称时任诺姆高级顾问的科里·莱万多夫斯基曾要求承包商——包括Salus——支付款项。Salus和莱万多夫斯基均否认任何不当行为。
Several of those companies were new to federal work. Salus Worldwide Solutions, founded in 2023, had never held a federal contract before winning a $915 million deal to help run the administration’s “self-deportation” campaign. Lawmakers are investigating allegations that Corey Lewandowski, then a top adviser to Noem, asked contractors — including Salus — for payments. Salus and Lewandowski have denied any wrongdoing.
萨卢斯（Salus）的创始人威廉·沃尔特斯（William Walters）还经营着代达罗斯航空（Daedalus Aviation）。该公司同样没有联邦承包历史，却获得了4.64亿美元，为国土安全部购买10架二手飞机，其中包括三架豪华喷气式飞机。沃尔特斯曾向支持诺姆（Noem）的政治团体捐赠1万美元。《纽约时报》报道称，这些飞机大部分此后一直停放在机场。
Salus’ founder, William Walters, also runs Daedalus Aviation. That company, which also had no federal contracting history, received $464 million to buy 10 used planes for DHS, including three luxury jets. Walters had donated $10,000 to a political group supporting Noem. Most of the planes have since sat parked, the Times reported.
这种模式不仅限于这两家公司。安全美国媒体（Safe America Media）在赢得一份价值2亿美元的国土安全部广告合同部分业务前几天才成立，该广告将展示诺姆。该机构表示，特朗普在美墨边境宣布国家紧急状态构成“异常且迫切的紧迫性”，从而绕过了通常的招标程序。
The pattern extends beyond those two companies. Safe America Media was created just days before it won part of a $200 million DHS deal to produce ads featuring Noem. The agency said that Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border constituted “an unusual and compelling urgency” to bypass the usual bidding process.
其他机构则采用不同途径，在无竞争的情况下授予合同。在卫生与公众服务部，为移民儿童提供律师的一份合同授予了“我们的拯救”（Our Rescue），该组织由蒂姆·巴拉德（Tim Ballard）创立，他的故事启发了有争议的电影《自由之声》（Sound of Freedom）。记者未发现“我们的拯救”此前曾为移民儿童提供过这种规模的法律代理服务。
Other agencies have used different routes to award contracts without competition. At the Department of Health and Human Services, a deal to provide lawyers for migrant children went to Our Rescue, a group founded by Tim Ballard, whose story inspired the controversial movie “Sound of Freedom.”Reporters have not found any prior experience at Our Rescue providing legal representation to migrant children on this scale.
在五角大楼，一份备忘录指示官员在帕兰提尔（Palantir）上花费高达2.44亿美元，几乎没有说明为何选择该公司。特朗普的舞厅，合同价值高达5亿美元，正在根据单独安排进行建设。
At the Pentagon, a memo directed officials to spend up to $244 million on Palantir, with few details about why the company was selected. Trump’s ballroom, with a contract worth up to $500 million, is being built under a separate arrangement.
这些例外条款和漏洞为外部监督留下了很小的空间。相关机构可以自行宣布进入紧急状态，并将相关理由保密；即便面临法律诉讼，其胜诉的可能性也非常有限。例如，美国国土安全部（DHS）以“国家安全”为由拒绝解释为何需要这些飞机。当有人对相关合同提出质疑时，法官裁定该部门无权提起诉讼。不过，负责管理白宫房产的机构并未遵循公开招标的程序；尽管一位白宫官员表示该机构“始终依法执行合同”。
These exceptions and loopholes leave little room for outside scrutiny. Agencies can declare an emergency themselves, keep the justification secret and face limited chances of a legal challenge. DHS, for example, declined to explain why it needed the planes, citing national security. When a competitor challenged the Salus award, a judge ruled it had no right to sue. The ballroom took a different route: the office overseeing the White House mansion is not required to seek competing bids, though a White House official said it “consistently executes contracts following the law.”
政府方面强调，快速行动是关键。国土安全部官员认为，出于紧急驱逐移民的需要，绕过正常审批流程是合理的；该部门还声称自己的宣传工作成功说服了数百万人离开美国。但这种紧急状态下的例外条款本是为那些“延迟处理可能导致严重后果”的情况而设立的——而非为了让机构在追求目标时逃避任何形式的监督。
The administration has said speed is the point. DHS officials have argued that urgent deportation goals justified bypassing the normal process, and the department has credited its ad campaign with persuading millions of people to leave the country. But the emergency exception was designed for situations where waiting could cause serious harm — not as a shortcut around scrutiny whenever an agency has an ambitious goal. Congress has several ways to tighten the rules.
国会有多种手段可以加强相关监管：例如，可以要求各机构在支出资金前必须获得监察长的批准；或者要求机构在合同价格大幅上涨时重新申请审批（这一问题早在几年前就被政府审计人员指出）。为了增加透明度，立法者还可以要求各机构在几天内公开其决策理由。如果相关理由涉及机密信息，该机构可以将这些信息私下提交给国会委员会，而非对所有人隐瞒。
It could require an agency inspector general to approve large emergency contracts before the money is spent, instead of reviewing them after the fact. It could also require agencies to seek fresh approval when a contract’s price rises sharply, a problem government auditors flagged at DHS years ago. To make the process visible, lawmakers could require agencies to publish their explanations within days. If a justification includes classified information, the agency could send it privately to congressional committees rather than withholding it from everyone.
国会还可以要求，当合同授予在赢得合同前不久才成立的公司时，必须进行自动审查。国会还可以为监督团体提供一种途径，以便在法庭上对可疑的合同授予提出质疑，因为竞争对手公司不一定总有起诉资格。另一项改变可以要求白宫的重大项目遵循与其他联邦工作相同的竞争规则，从而堵住白宫建设漏洞。
Congress could also require an automatic review when a contract goes to a company formed shortly before it won the work. And it could give watchdog groups a way to challenge questionable awards in court, since rival companies may not always have standing to sue. A separate change could close the White House construction loophole by requiring major projects there to follow the same competition rules as other federal work.
障碍在于政治因素。即使民主党在11月赢得一院或两院，特朗普也可能否决新法案，而他们不太可能有足够票数推翻他的否决。但国会必须通过支出法案以维持政府运转。将采购改革附加到这些法案上，可能会让改革更有机会成为法律。
The obstacle is political. Even if Democrats win one or both chambers in November, Trump could veto a new law, and they are unlikely to have the votes to override him. But Congress must pass spending bills to keep the government open. Attaching procurement changes to those bills could give the reforms a better chance of becoming law.
也有共和党人提出了担忧。路易斯安那州参议员约翰·肯尼迪在特朗普3月解雇诺姆之前不久，就广告合同向她施压。不过，对个别交易的质疑尚未改变允许各机构自行宣布紧急状态的体系。
There are Republicans who have raised concerns, too. Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana pressed Noem over the advertising contracts shortly before Trump fired her in March. Still, questions about individual deals have not yet changed the system that lets agencies declare their own emergencies.
紧急规则本是为国家公园水管爆裂之类的事情而设。现在它却在为豪华喷气式飞机和舞厅买单。是否改变，取决于国会是否认定紧急状态必须被证明，而不仅仅是被宣布。
The emergency rule was built for things like a burst water main at a national park. Now it’s paying for luxury jets and a ballroom. Whether that changes depends on whether Congress decides an emergency should have to be proved, not just declared.
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