Airport contract rules sought

Two City Council committees that are looking into whether a major Los Angeles International Airport contract was awarded improperly praised the city’s airport director Wednesday 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, which received a $25-million contract in March to manage modernization projects at 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.

-- Dan Weikel