Newsom's "competitive bid" #Diapergate deal wasn't. California's budget includes dozens of similar no-bid exemptions.
Summary
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a $6.2 million contract with Baby2Baby to provide free diapers to new parents, claiming it was competitively bid. However, state records show the contract was awarded without competitive bidding, and CBS California found many similar no-bid exemptions in the state budget totaling over $1 billion.Key Facts
- The Baby2Baby diaper contract is labeled "non-competitively bid" in California’s official records.
- Governor Newsom publicly described the contract as having gone through a competitive bidding process, but state law requires true competitive bids or specific exemptions.
- The diaper contract exemption was included in the state budget, waiving normal bidding rules, oversight, and public disclosure.
- CBS California Investigates found over two dozen similar no-bid exemptions in the 2026 California state budget, totaling more than $1 billion.
- Many of these no-bid contracts do not appear in the state's public no-bid contract database and lack third-party oversight.
- Baby2Baby has received at least three no-bid state contracts; earlier ones were named in the budget but are not in the no-bid database.
- Government grants to Baby2Baby show as a single $2.5 million item in its tax filings, with details kept private under federal rules.
- The state replaced traditional diaper bank funding with this program but did not hold a competitive bid; instead, it issued a Request for Information that is not a formal bid solicitation.
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