L.A. Council panels urge changes in contracting
The awarding of a major LAX project was proper, they say, but members agree that their review process can be improved.
Two Los Angeles City Council committees that are looking into whether a major Los Angeles Airport contract was awarded improperly praised the city's airport director today but called for recommendations to improve contracting procedures to avoid future controversy.
"We have great confidence in Gina Marie Lindsey and are delighted she was tapped to run our airport," said Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who chairs the Trade, Commerce and Tourism Committee. "But I can see how this process might be tightened up. . . . I don't want criticism every time we do something."
Hahn's panel met with the council's Audit and Government Efficiency Committee to review the hiring of DMJM Aviation Inc., which received a $25-million contract in March to manage modernization projects for LAX.
Questions have been raised over whether Lindsey improperly influenced the hiring of DMJM after another firm, Bechtel Corp., scored higher during the airport's initial evaluation process. A second review panel, which Lindsey wanted and attended, later met and recommended DMJM for the job.
Both committees called on the airport commission, the city attorney's office and the city controller's office to propose revisions to the city's contracting procedures in the weeks ahead.
Committee members discussed whether criteria were needed for convening second review panels and whether procurement policies should make it clear to companies competing for contracts that their bids could be subject to a second round of evaluations.
They further suggested that rules might be needed to determine when executive directors of city agencies can attend bid evaluations to avoid the possibility of undue influence on members of review panels.
In addition, today's committee hearing indicated that Lindsey had very little to do with initiating the second review that recommended DMJM over Bechtel.
Two of five members of the first evaluation panel said they and their colleagues requested the second review because they wanted more information about Bechtel and DMJM before making a formal recommendation.
After the first evaluation, "there was no comfort by anyone on the panel with moving forward, given the importance of the project. All of us asked for the second interview," said Roger A. Johnson, airport deputy executive director.
dan.weikel@latimes.com
