Dive Brief:

• Plagued by a decade of delays and more than $1 billion in cost overruns, a 182-bed veterans’ hospital under construction in Aurora, CO, is “a disaster,” according to the chairman of a congressional Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and “a fiasco,” according to the VA official overseeing the project.

• The official said the troubles resulted when Veterans Affairs ignored its contractors, who advised the department that the building’s design would overrun the budgeted $600 million.

• Committee Chairman Rep. Jeff Miller last week called for the agency to fire the executives responsible for construction of VA hospitals. The Army Corps of Engineers has taken over the management of the project.

Dive Insight:

The Colorado project isn’t the only construction disaster under VA purview. Miller said “nearly every major” VA hospital under construction is behind schedule and over budget.

Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee, said the breakdown was due to "pure incompetence.” Democrats on that panel last week proposed stripping the VA of any construction authority.