Dive Brief:
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The U.S. Senate has approved legislation that would strip the Department of Veterans Affairs of its responsibility for managing construction jobs valued at more than $100 million.
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“It’s time to get the VA out of the construction business and get the responsibility for completing these critical projects into the hands of more competent agencies,” Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner said in a statement. The bill would transfer management of high-ticket VA construction to the Army Corps of Engineers.
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The action sprang from an ongoing battle between the VA and Congress over a cost overrun of more than $1 billion on the construction of a medical center in Aurora, CO. The project, which spurred an internal investigation, initially had a $328 million budget. VA managers have blamed the debacle on design changes, but Gardner pointed instead to “incompetence, delays and a complete lack of accountability… The VA has proven that it is unfit to manage its own major construction.”
Dive Insight:
If the legislation becomes law, it will mark “a major reform to the VA’s construction management system,” the bill’s co-sponsor, Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, said in the statement. The VA amendment was a part of a broader defense bill and now has to be merged with the House's previously passed defense bill.
Bennet said stopping the VA from managing future building projects will save taxpayer money and get the jobs done more efficiently. And he said it will ensure the completion of the Aurora facility.
He also called the move “an important step toward accountability.”
