Dive Brief:
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The Veterans Affairs Department has come up with two potential sources of revenue to pay for a half-finished Aurora, CO, medical center whose estimated construction costs are more than $1 billion over budget.
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One option would cut the department’s overall spending by almost 1%, and the other would siphon funds from construction projects in other states to help pay for the Colorado hospital.
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Construction of the hospital is expected to cost in the neighborhood of $1.73 billion. If Congress does not approve a plan to finish the work, building could stop within weeks once it reaches its $1 billion spending cap — driving the price of the project up further.
Dive Insight:
If Congress approves the proposed general spending cut, veterans' medical care would suffer, the agency estimated. If funds are diverted from other construction and maintenance projects, those projects would likely be delayed rather than scrapped.
The U.S. Senate in late May raised the project’s spending cap by $100 million to avoid a work shutdown. The 182-bed hospital has been plagued by a decade of delays already, leading to several resignations and at least two internal investigations.
