Federal Reserve Renovation Project Criticized for Mismanagement

The Federal Reserve's internal watchdog has found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing in the central bank's $2.4 billion building renovation project, but criticized the Fed for mismanaging the project.

The inspector general's report said that the Fed did not secure a comprehensive cost estimate at the beginning of the project and failed to nail down a maximum overall cost, which could have forced the contractor to absorb inflation.

Prices spiked after construction began in 2022, more than doubling from an original estimate of $921 million in February 2020 to $2.018 billion by December 2024.