The Denver Post - Chronic Mismanagement on the VA Hospital Projects

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By The Denver Post Editorial Board

It's unclear why the under-construction Veterans Affairs hospital in Aurora, which has already ballooned in cost multiple times, is now another nearly $200 million, or 34 percent, over budget.

Regardless, one thing is abundantly clear: The VA has a troubling pattern of mismanaging the construction of its hospitals.

"They (the VA) have lost all credibility when it comes to managing projects of this size," Congressman Mike Coffman told us. The hospital is in his district, and he's also chairman of the oversight panel for the U.S. House Veterans' Affairs Committee.

Kiewit-Turner, the construction company building the new hospital, has said the designs for the project go "beyond the scope" of the hospital's $610 million construction cap. Meanwhile, the VA earlier this year blamed the architectural and engineering firms that designed the hospital, then pivoted recently and said Kiewit-Turner must justify why it can't build the facility under the cap.

Yet an April report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office highlighted a number of the VA's failings in managing construction projects, focusing on its four largest projects, including the one in Aurora. The GAO report found construction cost increases at the four facilities ranged from 59 percent to 144 percent (that's the figure for the Aurora facility) over original estimates.

In fairness, not all of the cost increases are squarely on the VA's shoulders. In Aurora and New Orleans, for example, medical facilities originally planned to share space with universities ended up being redesigned as stand-alone facilities amid concerns from the community over limited space.

But as the GAO noted, the VA's own internal reports have said cost overruns and delays "were not isolated incidents but are indicative of systemic problems facing VA."

The GAO said the VA has not used medical equipment planners to help in designing facilities, its process for approving change orders is overly bureaucratic, and on the Aurora hospital, the VA switched to a new design process in midstream.

Even if the latest cost increase isn't entirely the VA's fault, it's obvious the agency needs to get its act together.

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