An audit commissioned by the Atlanta airport found that the international terminal expansion is meeting current timing and budget goals, although it also found instances of overbilling and inaccurate cost projections.
The construction management contractor for the $1.35 billion international terminal project is Holder, Manhattan, Moody and Hunt, a joint venture known as HMMH. The new terminal is due to be finished next spring, opening a new, east-side entrance to the airport for international travelers and adding 12 gates.
Originally slated to open in 2006, the terminal was plagued with ballooning budgets and delays in its early years. The first design firm was fired and the project had to be re-set.
Last year the city hired Jefferson Wells to conduct a $250,000 audit to identify issues while there is still time to fix them. The airport agreed with many of the recommendations in the audit and is addressing issues raised, officials said.
The audit “confirms the continued success” of the project, said John Kennedy, a spokesman for Hartsfield-Jackson International.
“Given the magnitude and complexity” of the project, the Jefferson Wells audit said, current city management “appears appropriate and reasonable.”
But the audit noted “certain internal control weaknesses and failure of compliance with contracts that, if not corrected, could result in the incurrence of additional or unnecessary costs.”
HMMH billed the city for severance costs even though there was no provision for it in the contract, overbilled the city for payroll taxes and had flaws in its calculation of some labor charges, according to the audit report.
Jefferson Wells found that some projected costs ran more than $1 million per quarter higher than actual costs from October 2009 through September 2010, requiring adjustment by the contractor after the city had prepaid.
Jefferson Wells recommended that a better process be used to estimate costs.
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