Aviation capital projects - April 2024
Aviation Capital Projects
Released: April 2024 Download the Full Report here Download the Highlights Page here We undertook this audit because the Atlanta City Council expressed concerns about the status of the Atlanta Police Department's precinct at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. City Council adopted Ordinance No. 22-R-4261, requesting that the City Auditor's office audit the previous five years of construction expenditures and the condition of the police precinct after spending slightly over $1 million to renovate the precinct in 2020. Our recommendations to the airport general manager is to ensure that Planning and Development staff formalize design-to-cost and mobilization/demobilization methodologies and update design review and closeout policies, reinforce staff participation in safety training programs. To ensure project files are available for review we recommend to ensure safety and health plans are approved before construction and route project closeout checklists through PMWeb for approval. To ensure policies and procedures are updated to reflect current practices we recommend to update change management policies and develop a schedule for annual reviews. To apply project management tools according to contract terms and program procedures we recommend to ensure safety non-compliance forms are approved, ensure projects are closed out timely in PMWeb, and ensure operations and maintenance manuals and activation plans are in accordance with contract terms. To avoid potential conflicts of interest regarding project management decisions we recommend to direct the assistant general manager to seek advice from the Ethics Office when potential conflicts occur. |
We found:
- Aviation's Planning and Development staff has developed detailed policies and procedures that generally follow the best practices for capital project management.
- Most change orders and work authorizations issued across the four projects complied with procedures.
- Small adjustments would bring controls in line with best practices regarding design checklists, value engineering policies, recurring safety training, and mobilization and demobilization plans.
- While Planning and Development has controls in place, policy updates would clarify business processes and accountablity.