Carolina Journal colleague John Trump. The North Carolina Alcohol Beverage Control Commission has just awarded LB&B Associates a 10-year contract to warehouse the state’s liquor supply. In a sense, that was progress. At least the company was forced to bid for the contract, which it had previously enjoyed since 2004 with no competition and little oversight. That was the finding of a scathing 2018 review by State Auditor Beth Wood. It found that from 2004 to 2017, the state spent a total of $77.7 million on the warehouse contract. Auditors determined that approximately $13.6 million of that represented either overcharges or unnecessary expenses, including the purchase of warehouse space that was little used.