Denver International Airport’s (DIA’s) management of the Great Hall project has been disapproved of by the city’s auditor, allegedly because of a rushed hiring process, leading to poor money management.
The project, which began in 2018, aims to move all security checkpoints to the sixth level of the main terminal. The original contractor was fired in 2019 due to delays and quality of work concerns and as part of the services rendered, the contractor was paid $183 million back then.
The new audit has found issues with the management of the second contractor, a large Colorado-based construction company with offices across the U.S.
The report by the auditor, Tim O’Brien, suggests the airport may have bypassed a fair, competitive bidding process to find the new contractor in a rush, but there is not enough documentation to provide evidence of that. When inquired about the minimal documentation surrounding the hiring decision for the new contractor, the airport’s management responded it was following on the airport executives’ directives to keep documentation to a minimum, given the number of open records requests received by the airport.
In addition, the auditor found the airport may have overpaid subcontractors by not reviewing how the new contractor made hires. It was found in late August 2022, the contractor had made a hire of 34 subcontractors for work worth $70 million, but only 11 had approval from the airport in a written form.
According to 9News, O’Brien’s office provided the following statement: “We found the dollar amounts for three of the 34 phase-two subcontracts were for more money than the vendor originally proposed. This amounted to the airport paying over $1 million more than originally proposed across three subcontracts.”
The audit recommended the airport improve its management and oversight of the project to ensure the best value for the city.
DIA’s management maintains the auditor’s office approved the new contractor’s hiring and the final decision about the recruitment of subcontractors is also reached by the auditor’s office.
The Great Hall renovations are expected to continue through 2028 and are estimated to cost $2.1 billion, with funding coming from airline fees, parking, retail, and concessions.
