AURORA |Construction on the budget-busting Aurora veterans hospital will stop if Congress doesn’t authorize more spending on the project within a week, the Veterans Affairs Department said Monday.
VA Secretary Robert McDonald told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee in a memo that his department has identified $150 million it could funnel to the project from this year’s budget to keep the work moving, but Congress must first raise the spending limit by $200 million to $1 billion.
The spending limit is separate from the $730 million the VA has asked Congress to appropriate to finish the project.
McDonald also told the committee the VA was willing to scale back the project, delaying construction of a nursing home and post-traumatic stress rehabilitation unit. His memo didn’t say how much money that would save.
If Congress doesn’t raise the spending limit by May 24, builder Kiewit-Turner will stop work, further delaying the project, McDonald said. Some subcontractors would likely refuse to return, causing even longer delays, he said.
Tom Janssen, a spokesman for Kiewit Corp., one of the partners in the joint venture building the hospital, confirmed that work would stop next week without congressional action. That would delay completion until 2018 instead of the current target of 2017, he said.
Kiewit-Turner has been working under an interim contract since December, when a panel of federal judges ruled the VA had breached the original contract. The judges said the VA failed to provide a plan that could be built for the contract price.
A new contract to finish the hospital is under negotiation.
The hospital under construction in Aurora is expected to cost $1.7 billion, nearly three times the estimate the VA gave last year. The VA has blamed a flawed design process, among other problems.
Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Ed Perlmutter, both Colorado Democrats, urged Congress to act quickly to avoid a shutdown.
Allowing the work to stop would be catastrophic. Perlmutter said. “We need to finish the damn thing,” he said.
Colorado Republican Rep. Mike Coffman said the VA’s proposal to redirect the $150 million from this year’s budget and delay the nursing home and PTSD clinic could be a first step toward finishing the project.
The new hospital will replace an old, crowded facility still in operation in Denver.
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Sure, let’s start trying to blame this on Congress, when it’s the Dem controlled VA that’s to blame for it all. $1.3 BILLION OVER ESTIMATE!!
gofastgo, Let’s go off of factual information. Neither the Dems nor the Repubs are to blame, but the senior officials at the VA, for the underperforming, underestimating, and over paid bonuses for poor performance. It is currently up to The Congress to allocate funds and continue the work. I am a conservative myself and let me tell you; that is not the kind of rhetoric we need.
. What this article is trying to do is deflect the blame to Congress, a GOP Congress, when in reality, the VA had plenty of funds to do the job correctly and didn’t get it done. First, there was the poor and missing treatment of our veterans, bonuses paid for poor work, paperwork shredded to hide their misdeeds and non service for those same veterans. Then comes this debacle in Aurora, Bid at approximately $400 Million, now needing an additional $1.4 BILLION to complete. This is exactly the rhetoric we need.
gofastgo, Again, you are mistaken; the VA did NOT have plenty of funds from the beginning to get it done. Secondly, what is the significance of the paper shredding if all docs were electronically viewed? Lastly, this is not the rhetoric we need, for one simple reason. Mike Coffman and the Congress WILL allocate funds to finish this project; GUARANTEED! seems to me like you are the typical Aurora resident who all they do is WHINE, COMPLAIN, AND ACCUSE. I served six years USMC and believe me when I tell you; we cant stand people who WHINE about everything!
Thank you for you service. I don’t like whiners either.
$1.3 or $1.4 BILLION over budget is not whining, it’s caring and wanting to know who’s taking responsibility for it, and who’s accountable for it. What they shredded were requests from veterans who wanted care, I don’t care who ‘viewed’ them electronically, this was an act of betrayal of our vets to cover their own asses. I agree that Coffman and others will make sure the Aurora Hospital will get completed, but at what cost, and who pays that cost, the taxpayers, why, because some bureaucrat screwed the pooch to the tune of $1.3 BILLION.
gofastgo, I appreciate your passion and attention over this detail. Nice back and forth. We should have another soon…
VA in Washington had some old-timers who opposed this from the start, with statement that got back to veteran groups “VA does not build buildings anymore, they lease them”. And they were senior enough (one a disabled veteran himself) but retired few years ago. And Congress also heard those in Washington who demanded Women clinic, Brain clinic, PTS clinic, Spinal clinic, all separate clinics within the complex. There is enough blame to go around at all levels: Veterans, Retirees, families, media, and local folks with agendas. Any veteran-retiree could have known of this all along by joining a veteran group, even if not attending meetings, but would have learned of it through that group literature-magazines, and could have even joined in the discussions. I did from 1991 to 2011, regularly and even served as organizational officer. Not that expensive, but I sleep easy knowing I did my part after service, for all of us.
This is the difference between Government contracting and Civilian contracting. My first experience was with “cost plus job in Ohio while in teens, during summer months, between high school classes in the 1940s. Whatever expense of job was, with documents to prove the expense, plus 10%, so naturally the labor-material-expenses were all documented, and approved. ——However, when new legislators were elected, there was a complete audit, and gnashing of teeth, by the new administration, reproving all before. —————————–And that is why delays, and changing economy in the VAMC buildings always cost more than initial predictions. This all started in early 1990-91 when BRAC was closing military facilities. By 1992, we could see that Lowry AFB was going to close, since it no longer had a runway, was in the city, surrounded by residences and businesses. CU and VA Directors went to Washington to sell Congress and President on need for VA medical center to replace the city – land locked VAMC on Colorado Boulevard, since it was old and inefficient. Many beds lost to changing rooms sizes and to install new testing, operating equipment. Lowry closed 1994. Fitzsimons Army Medical Center closed 1997 and redevelopment started soon after. From that time, more has been added as needed due to different injuries- brain-orthopedic-spinal-women-PTS- and when early land was not sufficient, VA had to buy the land needed for additional expense. Veteran groups opposed new VAMC, while majority supported, with the opposing only coming aboard when their demands were met by designers. Legislators had to be educated on need, and then with change of President, Administrations, Congress, had to be re-sold again to them. In meantime, union, citizens, media all clamored for their agenda, adding delay, more expense, and cost of materials going up. Shame some of that stimulus money did not find its way into VA. Pres. Bush commissioned a complete study of VA in 2005, to be completed early 2008, called CARES. VA, Legislaors, Veterans- Retirees did a complete study, meeting and questioning, and a complete report was completed in early 2008 and action started on it. Funds needed were sent to Congress, to proper committees. CONGRESS HAD THE INFO, BUT THAT LED TO NEW QUESTIONS AND DELAYS. 2009 TO PRESENT. —————-
All named share blame for delays, changes to design, changes to building schedule, and there was one whole year that contract between Kewit-Turner and VA laid on someone’s desk or area, with no action. ALL VETERANS- RETIREES IN COLORADO COULD HAVE SHARED IN THIS INFO FROM 1990s TO PRESENT, BY JOINING VETERAN RETIREE GROUPS (55 plus belong to United Veterans Committee of Colorado, meeting Monthly except June and July) and especially those who are such experts, who now post complaints or criticisms. Just saying. Through those years, Rocky Mountain News, Denver Post, and Sentinel and even Westword have published reports, as well as Colorado Statesman. We need Congressional and Presidential action now, not ‘sidewalk superintendents.’
As with all VA projects, contractors underbid initially to get into the game, anticipating frequent change orders due to VA incompetence resulting in huge profits for the contractors. It has always been this way, ask any contractor involved in previous VA projects.
Wrong, Joe. K-T took contract for what was on the bubble in 1990s, with congress adding clinics under demand of veterans returning from middle east. K-T informed VA (I was in those briefings from Washington, and Legisltators) with others from UVC. More and more agenda items added by Veterans-Retirees-Congress- combined with change of presidents, change in congress, change in economy, change in attention span of all, water table found at 20 feet -changing the parking contemplated to two buildings, rather then 4 floors under ground level, and over 2,000 change orders without VA asking for more funding. Starting in 1990 era, through Clinton and Bush administration, into this one, and this is typical government contracting. CIVILIANS CONTRACT, WITH DESIGN WORK DONE, ALL WORK TO BE DONE ON PAPER- SIGNED AND THAT IS WHAT IS DONE. ANYTHING ADDED IS CHANGE ORDER AND FUNDING MUST BE SET FOR IT. This project blew out of control all the way from the site, military, political, citizens, and Congress funded other programs all through the years, never meeting the needs of any one year. Veterans and military is last real battles in congress for money, after all the congressional wannabe vote getting stuff is paid for. I knew that through out my 26 years, I was not going to get a living wage-salary for family, but as the man on television (Mike) says: Someone has to do it. I worked parttime work all through my military years, to supplement and support my family. All Government jobs I ever worked on (before military) and after was exposed to this. AND PAPERWORK IS DOCUMENTED, BECAUSE NEXT ADMINISTRATION WILL BE CHERRY PICKING PRIOR ONE. THIS ONE GOES TO EXTREMES BY BLAMING OTHERS. (and I yell on purpose). This has to be funded or we all lose with uncompleted facility. Investigate afterwards. Build the dam thing, as my pin stated at last ground breaking. (3rd one I attended, and many of my peers are deceased, who I worked with.
Funny that the VA had a facility to serve the veterans of eastern Colorado called Fort Lyon that was already built, was based in an area that needs jobs and was in an area that some of these veterans returning with mental issues could really utilize (think open space, away from the rat race of the city and lots of supportive towns in the area). This was closed about 20 years ago with the stated reason to save money. Now we are building a new facility that will cost over $2 billion and won’t even be able to help veterans for another 3-4 years? The closure of Ft Lyon was not about saving money – it was about closing a facility in an area with few voters and re-locating it to an area with more voters. Let’s look beyond who screwed up at the VA and figure out who was behind closing a facility that still had a lot of life left in it. This was done for votes and nothing else…
That story was hashed and rehashed many years ago. When I was stationed at Lamar, CO I questioned Ft. Lyon, and wondered why we as active duty military did not go there for treatment. Found in 1970 that VA was spending $8.0 million a year t maintain those buildings, with only one portion used for care, which was for mental problems. And for maintenance of a cemetery there, which I understood was full, and no intentions to expand. In 2001-2005, we found that funds were being taken from Colorado nursing home funds, to support that, and Ft. Lyons was transferred to State of Colorado, to house State Prisoners in their senior years, while a mental facility was built in Pueblo for about 40 veterans (?). Couple years ago I understood Colorado wanted Federals to take it back. VA funding for cemetery at Grand Junction and other VA facilities, now supported by Colorado as in other states. DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT GOING BACK TO THOSE DAYS, Lot of grief, anger, and frustration when we could not get that albatross off the military, and get Colorado to fund what should have been all along. At that time, Colorado was spending about $2.37 per retiree-veteran in state right down at bottom of the 50 states. Go back and read the media reports of period from 1970 to 2005, about Ft. Lyons. Has a great history when army was fighting Indians, and then through WWII, but became expensive to operate, maintain, and hard to get doctors or nurses for there, Don’t get me wrong. Folks were friendly in whole valley to military serving in Lamar, La Junta, and other areas, and my family and I enjoyed the atmosphere. We had satellite terminal on highway 287 about 12 miles south of Lamar, next to AT&T site. Now is a radio targeting site after we removed our equipment and personnel. I was senior NCO who closed that site in 1972, prior to transferring to DCA-Hawaii.
The VA trying to extort Congress? What the VA really needs is a good round of sackings.