VA does the right thing, but only after legal action halted construction on one of its new hospitals.
Two weeks after construction was halted on the new Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Aurora, Colo., workers have returned to the job site after VA and Kiewit-Turner signed an interim contract. The new agreement included payment by VA of $157 million to KT for past costs.
KT’s workforce withdrew from the Aurora hospital work site on Dec. 9 when the U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (CBCA) ruled that VA breached its contract by failing to deliver a facility design that could be built for an approved budget of about $600 million.
“It’s quite disturbing that KT needed to twist VA’s arm by going to court in the first place,” said Louis Celli, director of The American Legion’s Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation Division. “How embarrassing to our veterans in Colorado that VA owed the contractor money and refused to pay it. We are extremely disappointed that the CBCA had to intervene in this matter, which only served to cost VA even more money.”
VA has called on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for assistance in Aurora, an action that falls in line with a resolution passed by the Legion last May, calling on Congress and VA to consider “all available options” (including the Corps of Engineers) “to ensure major construction programs are completed on time and within budget.”
Army engineers are already on site in Aurora to advise the project team and work on a long-term plan to complete the hospital, which has been plagued by delays and cost overruns since construction began in January 2012. Last March, the Legion testified before Congress that “The Army Corps of Engineers has a proven track record of managing projects of this nature.”
In its ruling, CBCA determined that VA’s current hospital design would cost more than $1 billion to complete. Congress has placed an $800 million spending cap on the project, something that Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., will try to increase with a bill he plans to introduce next month.
American Legion Past National Commander Tom Bock, who drives by the Aurora site nearly every day, worries that Congress will pull funding from the project. “Nearly every hospital in the Denver metro area has completed major construction projects since we started talking about (the Aurora hospital), and for some reason we’re still messing around.”
“Veterans are the part of the picture that’s getting lost,” said Ralph Bozella, chairman of the Legion’s Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation Commission. “Veterans have not asked for a Taj Mahal. All we’ve asked for is a functional hospital. Just get it done for the veterans.”
Once the Corps of Engineers negotiates a new contract with KT, it will take over all management responsibilities on the Aurora project through completion.
- Veterans Healthcare