department of Aviation Rental car Center - february 2026
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Department of Aviation Rental Car Center
Released: February 2026 Download the Full Report here The Department of Aviation contracts its RCC (Rental Car Center) operations and maintenance. The department expressed concerns about cleanliness and potential safety hazards in the RCC facility. This audit assesses the department’s management of the RCC's operations and maintenance contract, whether the contractor has met contract terms, and whether changes to the contract could improve the department’s ability to manage contractor performance. We made five recommendations to the airport’s general manager to strengthen controls and performance expectations and align the next operations and maintenance contract with best practices. We recommend that Aviation staff receive access to the contractor’s work order management system to independently track work, develop additional performance metrics, and finalize policies and procedures for contract management. We also recommend that the contract includes specific reimbursement and payment terms and identifies whether profit and overhead will be allowed. The city should also consider whether any prior payments were paid in error and should be recovered. |
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We found:
- Aviation staff identify maintenance issues and manage work by conducting facility inspections or receiving maintenance requests from customers, rental car company staff, or other stakeholders. The contractor also sends daily, monthly, and quarterly status reports to the city; however, Aviation employees do not access the system that the contractor uses to track work orders, making it difficult to verify task completion and measure overall performance.
- We compared best practices to current contract terms and identified potential areas to strengthen management of the next contract. Although the current contract outlines contractor responsibilities, it lacks clearly defined performance standards, specific performance expectations, and measurable targets.
- We also found that from April 2024 through March 2025 the contractor was paid almost $1 million in fees for items not specifically permitted in the contract, including a management fee to the contractor’s JV partner, overhead, and profit. Aviation staff consider expenses to be appropriate as long as the cost of work is within the annual budget, which may prevent the city from getting the best value.