A Colorado congressman says the Department of Veterans Affairs should no longer be allowed to supervise large construction projects,
CNN reported.
Republican Rep. Mike Coffman, whose 6th congressional district includes an unfinished VA medical center whose estimated building costs have practically doubled to $1 billion, says the agency wastes money on elaborate designs instead of prioritizing its resources for the care of veterans.
Investigations by lawmakers and watchdog agencies, like the Government Accountability Office and the VA Inspector General, reveal that large VA projects suffer from massive cost overruns and lengthy building delays that are mostly traceable to VA mismanagement.
Such inefficiencies at projects in Denver, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Orlando, Florida, have added $1.5 billion in costs, CNN reported.
Coffman said the problem was not any single management team but the VA's culture.
"VA doesn't have a money problem; it has a management problem," said Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Florida, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.
Congress regularly provides the VA with more money. The agency's budget grew from around $114 billion in 2010 to approximately $154 billion in 2014. Yet hundreds of millions budgeted for healthcare have gone unspent since 2010, CNN reported.
The Denver medical center project was supposed to cost $583 million. A judge agreed with builders, Kiewit-Turner, that the VA failed to provide a workable design given its budget — and more than $1 billion figure it provided was the more accurate estimate. Construction now is again underway.
A 2013 GAO report revealed that the Denver, Las Vegas, New Orleans, and Orlando projects were delayed by 35 months each in part because of changing VA policies.
Construction delays have forced the VA to lease more space. This has already contributed to $34.5 million in added costs.
The Inspector General found that the agency stands to mishandle $795 million worth of service contracts over the next five years, assuming it sticks with its ineffective contract management systems, according to CNN.
The VA has also been criticized for costly design add-ons that are unconnected to delivering health services. At its St. Cloud, Minnesota, hospital, the agency spent $2.3 million on an energy-saving wind turbine that has never quite worked.
The VA has also been taken to task for excessive spending on employee outings, defective computer systems, superfluous software, and office renovations in a report this year released by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, CNN reported.
VA construction official Gregg Haggstrom said the agency had improved how it handles construction projects with better cost estimates, more personnel, and enhanced information technology.
Robert McDonald, who took over the VA in the wake of this summer's wait time scandal, has promised to get the agency on track, CNN reported.
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