Congress Does Not Have a Line-By-Line Explanation of Costs in the $1.7 Billion VA Hospital Project7 News
Members of Congress do not have a detailed line-by-line accounting of costs in the over-budget VA Hospital project in Aurora. The newest estimate for the completion of construction is $1.7 billion. On Thursday at 6 a.m. Denver time, Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colorado, will present a bill to a Veteran's Affairs subcommittee, asking for Congress to increase the limit on how much money the VA is allowed to spend. Right now, Congress has only given the VA permission to spend $880 million, even though the VA now has $899.8 million for the Aurora hospital. The VA provided Congress a worksheet with very general information about the troubled budget. It lists the current account balance at $899.8 million and provides the following breakdown of that total: $60.4 million - land $49.5 million - design $24.2 million - CM support (but the worksheet does not define what CM means) $622.5 million - original construction contract (this is the original estimated construction cost) $143.2 million - interim construct The VA then lists that $700 million is required for a contract so the Army Corps of Engineers can take over management of the project. There is no accounting for the $700 million and how it will specifically be used. The VA is also requesting: $57 million - reserve fund $8 million - program management support $30 million - sub settlements (this is to settle outstanding debts with subcontractors) $33 million - additional construction required to get to June The total unfunded portion of the project is currently $828 million. That brings the project total to $1,727,800,000, essentially $1.73 billion. "Certainly, no doubt, having an exotic design doesn't help in terms of containing cost," said Coffman. "They're clearly not in the construction business. I think they've demonstrated that very clearly." There is no line-by-line detail of how much the construction equipment and supplies cost. There is no accounting for the contractor and subcontractor work. There are no specifics that tell Congress how each dollar is spent. "I don't think we have the full picture yet and it's hard to imagine how an organization can be so incompetent," said Coffman. |
