Newsom officials quietly reveal contract for $6.2M diaper deal

Gov. Gavin Newsom has finally released the long-sought contract behind California’s controversial $6.2 million no-bid diaper deal — months after resisting calls from reporters to release the taxpayer-funded agreement with a nonprofit tied to his wife.

The California Department of Health Care Access and Information posted the contract with Baby2Baby late Friday night, finally revealing how the state plans to spend millions on its “Golden State Start” diaper program after repeated public records delays and mounting scrutiny.

The release comes after Newsom repeatedly described the deal as having gone through a “competitive bidding process” — a claim challenged by state records and an investigation, which found the contract is officially labeled “NON-COMPETITIVELY BID” in California’s contract database.

The nonprofit — whose CEO sits on the board of a charity founded by Jennifer Siebel Newsom — was awarded the deal to provide 400 free diapers for every newborn delivered at participating California hospitals.

The department defended its selection of Baby2Baby, saying it sought information from 15 organizations before determining the nonprofit had the statewide distribution network, procurement capacity and partnerships needed to launch the program quickly.

Officials said they used the same evaluation process for all respondents.

But CBS California’s investigation found the state never conducted a traditional competitive bid.

Instead, lawmakers tucked a single provision into the nearly 900-page state budget exempting the diaper program from competitive bidding laws, Department of General Services oversight and public posting requirements for no-bid contracts.

The investigation also found the state issued only a Request for Information — a document that explicitly states it is “Not a Solicitation” and cannot be used to award a binding contract through a competitive bidding process.

Fifteen organizations responded, but several applicants later told CBS they either never received interviews or did not believe they were seriously considered.

Republicans continue to question why the state chose to funnel the program through a nonprofit instead of allowing hospitals or government agencies to purchase diapers directly.

“They’re going through a middleman, a nonprofit, and that’s going to have administrative expenses,” State Sen. Roger Niello said.

The Newsom administration delayed releasing the contract for months despite repeated public records requests before quietly posting it late Friday — a timing critics said limited public attention heading into the weekend.

“The Newsom administration has been misleading about whether the contract was awarded in a competitive process and has mired the entire situation with a complete lack of transparency,” said Kendra Arnold, executive director of Washington DC-based Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust.

Under the newly released agreement, more than half of the $6.2 million — roughly $3.89 million — will pay for “Golden State Start”-branded diapers.

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Another $750,000 will cover shipping, $610,000 is earmarked for warehousing and $35,000 will go toward communications.

Labor accounts for $917,000, spread across 12 employees, averaging just over $78,000 per worker. Overall, the state estimates the diapers will cost up to 12.5 cents each.