A Veterans Affairs hospital construction project in Colorado, now with a $1.7 billion price tag, has turned into a prime example of government waste as it continues to soar over budget and lag behind schedule,
The Washington Post reported.
The debacle was outlined in a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), highlighting a continued pattern of waste and malfeasance in construction for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) , the Post said.
The VA has previously been under fire for its inability to manage its patient load and its backlog of veterans' medical treatment, as well as its actions against whistleblowers as public trust in its performance lags.
"Everything that could have gone wrong did. It's just an astounding price tag," wrote David Wise in a GAO report about the Aurora, Colorado, hospital as well as other VA construction problems in New Orleans, Las Vegas and Orlando, the Post said.
"Think of it like this — you're building a kitchen, but you don't check how big your stove or refrigerator is. You measure too late. And nothing fits, so you have to hack up a whole another piece of wall. That's very expensive and time-consuming," Wise said of the VA's disaster, described by the Post as "extravagant planning divorced from financial reality and bungled execution."
Among the problems with the Colorado construction were doors estimated at $100 each that skyrocketed to $1,400 apiece, problems with a $100 million atrium with "towering glass windows," and entire rooms needing overhauls simply because no one bothered to measure whether medical equipment could fit inside, the Post said.
On Monday, the VA told Congress it hoped to use a $5 billion fund designated for improving healthcare to complete the hospital,
The Associated Press reported, citing information from the office of Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet.
The plan comes as the House Committee on Veterans Affairs will hold a hearing Wednesday into the VA hospital's problems.
Congress has sought a way forward on the project, just outside Denver, and has asked the VA to explain how costs spiraled so far out of control. The VA had estimated last year that it would cost about $630 million to complete in 2015. Now, it is estimated that it will take until 2017 to finish the project, the AP said.
The VA's top construction executive,
Glenn Haggstrom, stepped down last month and retired as the investigation on the pricey cost overruns continued, the Post said.
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