Three weeks ago, Essex County, N.J., announced that it was seeking a company to run a 450-bed immigrant detention center, hoping to take advantage of a federally financed initiative to set up such facilities with better supervision and medical care.

The county said the contracting process was open to any company. But behind the scenes, it appears that officials have a clear favorite: Community Education Centers, which has a checkered record in immigrant detention but counts one of Gov. Chris Christie’s closest confidants as a senior vice president. The company’s executives are also political backers of the county executive, Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr., a prominent ally of Mr. Christie.

The county’s bidding rules specified that visitors to the detention center greet detainees “in the gymnasium” — a requirement that seemed to point to an existing facility, Delaney Hall in Newark, operated by Community Education Centers. Bidders were given 23 days to submit applications, an unusually short deadline for a multimillion-dollar contract.

Community Education Centers itself seemed to act as if its selection were a done deal. The deadline for bids is Thursday, but the company posted advertisements on its Web site weeks ago to fill five jobs working with immigrant detainees at the facility.