Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is racing into a multibillion-dollar expansion with a paperwork problem the size of a terminal. A new draft city audit says the airport’s contract files are riddled with mistakes and missing documents, leaving staff without a single reliable source of truth as they juggle hundreds of vendor agreements. With manual processes, overlapping spreadsheets, and incomplete records, even basic questions about whether contractors have met their obligations can be tough to answer.
What Auditors Found
City auditors pulled samples from both procurement and commercial contract files and did not like what they saw. Out of 26 procurement contract files reviewed, 24 had errors or missing paperwork, and more than 90 percent of 49 contracts examined had at least one documentation issue, according to the City of Austin.
The report says the airport’s systems "does not ensure that contract documentation is accurate, leading to a significant amount of incorrect information," as stated by the City of Austin. Staff are trying to track contracts across a patchwork of tools that include eCAPRIS, ABRM, Excel, and SharePoint, which makes it easy for details to slip through the cracks.
Auditors also flagged how contract amendments are handled. Amendments are uploaded manually with no automated reminders to keep staff on schedule, and in some cases, vendor documents were still missing from the system up to two years after they were submitted. In other words, the official record can lag far behind reality.
Management Response And Timeline
Airport leadership does not dispute that things need to change. Managers told auditors they will work with Austin Financial Services to make sure contract requirements are entered accurately and on time, and they have hired several commercial managers to add another review layer, as reported by The Austin Bulldog.
The department has floated June 2026 as the target for fully rolling out those staffing and process fixes. In the near term, it has promised refresher training for staff by next March and says it will look into automated tools and an interactive dashboard by next September. As per The Austin Bulldog, the draft audit is set to go before the City Council’s Audit & Finance Committee this week, giving council members a public chance to poke at those dates and push for firmer benchmarks.
Why It Matters For Expansion And Taxpayers
The timing of all this is not subtle. Auditors warned that shaky contract oversight can lead to cost overruns, schedule delays, and legal headaches as AUS moves ahead with expansion projects estimated at more than $4 billion and Austin Aviation staff manage more than 700 contracts.
Capital delivery for the expansion itself is handled separately and was not part of this audit, but everyday operational and commercial contracts still matter. Everything from baggage handling deals to retail leases depends on accurate, verifiable records. The report urges the airport to consolidate contract files, assign independent reviewers, and bring in technology that cuts down on manual data entry and adds automated reminders so key tasks do not get lost in someone’s inbox.
Past Conflict And Oversight Questions
The current findings land against a backdrop of earlier leadership drama. Previous reporting has shown that former AUS CEO Jacqueline Yaft did not promptly disclose a relationship with vendor Parslay Management Group while she was running the airport, The Austin Bulldog notes. That episode drew scrutiny and helped trigger leadership changes in 2023.
Auditors point to that history as one more reason to tighten things up. They recommend clearer disclosure practices and independent verification steps so that no single manager controls key contract records without a second set of eyes.
Next Steps
The City Council’s Audit & Finance Committee will review the draft this week and decide how hard to lean on airport leadership. Members could demand stricter timelines, regular progress updates, or both. For now, the audit lays out a fairly nuts-and-bolts fix list: unify the records, add reviewers, train staff, and upgrade the tech.
The real test will be whether those changes happen before the expansion flood of new contracts hits. Travelers may never see the paperwork, but taxpayers will be the ones on the hook if contract chaos turns into cost overruns at Austin’s rapidly growing airport.
