The $2.5 billion renovation and expansion project of the Federal Reserve headquarters building— is this budget really reasonable?

From a market perspective, $1 billion is enough for any contractor to complete a similar-scale infrastructure project. This suggests there may be significant markup in the budget. While it is difficult to determine whether corruption has occurred, cost management issues are worth examining.

More importantly, should such infrastructure projects really require the Federal Reserve Chair to be directly involved in decision-making? From an organizational perspective, infrastructure maintenance is usually handled by specialized departments and contractors, with senior management typically making strategic decisions only at key points. If project costs are high, it is more likely to reflect efficiency issues at the middle management level rather than mistakes at the decision-making level.