EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Two and a half years after launching an investigation into a controversial consulting contract awarded by Gov. Dan McKee's administration, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said the process is now complete.

The state's top prosecutor initially launched the probe in October 2021, examining whether anyone broke the law when the McKee administration awarded a lucrative contract to ILO Group earlier that year. The firm incorporated just days after McKee's inauguration, and within months won a competitively bid contract over far more experienced consultants.

"The process is complete," Neronha said Wednesday during a live interview on 12 News at 4. "It's a matter now of documenting what we found and making the legal determinations we have to make, and I hope to finish that up fairly soon."

The probe has long been a political headache for McKee, who has a strained relationship with Neronha and has always rejected the idea that there was anything illegal about the deal.

The contract came under intense public scrutiny, partly because ILO executives had previously worked for the governor's longtime friend and adviser, Michael Magee, who also served on McKee's gubernatorial transition team.

Lawmakers called oversight hearings on the deal, and the contract ended six months earlier than planned. The FBI eventually joined Neronha's investigation to examine whether any federal laws were broken, since the contract was partly funded with federal COVID money.

The investigation has loomed over the governor ever since, and McKee's political rivals have repeatedly criticized him for it. Neronha insists the probe has dragged on because investigations become trickier when there's collaboration between state and federal law enforcement.

Last month, Neronha explained there were still a small number of people with connections to the ILO deal that law enforcement was seeking to interview before wrapping up. It's unclear whether those people cooperated.

"Whether witnesses will agree to a conversation with us is up to them," Neronha said Wednesday.

Unlike some of his predecessors, Neronha often issues a public explanation of his investigations — even if they don't result in criminal charges. If he does so in the case of ILO, the public could get a window into what's been going on behind the curtain for the past two and half years — regardless of the outcome.

Neronha previously released reports after other investigations, including the high-speed chase and moped crash of Jhamal Gonsalves in Providence. No charges were filed against police.

Neronha also released reports without criminal charges after investigating McKee's former chief of staff, Tony Silva, along with the governor's Division of Motor Vehicles administrator, Walter "Bud" Craddock.

Kim Kalunian contributed to this report.