DETROIT — Companies headed by a longtime friend of embattled Mayor Kilpatrick won millions of dollars in contracts while the friend secretly consulted with the mayor’s chief of staff, the Detroit Free Press reported yesterday. Records and text messages it obtained indicated that Bobby Ferguson and companies he partnered with have collected at least $45 million in city contracts.

The text messages from 2002 and 2003 show that the then-chief of staff, Christine Beatty, provided Mr. Ferguson with bid strategies and sensitive information on potential projects. The mayor was directly involved in at least one discussion, the Free Press reported. Mr. Ferguson, the city, and a lawyer for Ms. Beatty all denied wrongdoing in the handling of contracts.

Ferguson Enterprises Inc. companies generally have received good reviews for their work and have been among the lowest bidders on major city projects. But text messages from Ms. Beatty’s city-issued pager show Mr. Ferguson repeatedly communicated with her about pending bids, giving him access that may not have been available to others, the newspaper said.

In a statement e-mailed to the Associated Press, Ferguson Enterprises said it obtained its work through public bids in which “it was the lowest and most qualified bidder.” The company said it “objects to any suggestion to the contrary and to any attempt to impugn its integrity or the integrity of its principals.”

In a statement given to the AP yesterday by the mayor’s office, Detroit Economic Growth Corp.’s vice president of project management, Waymon Guillebeaux, said the city’s contract decisions are based purely upon economics and qualifications. “Mr. Ferguson won bids through an impartial and unbiased process with deliberations taking place in an open public forum,” Mr. Guillebeaux said.