New Contract for Troubled VA Hospital Project

AURORA, Colo. — Despite stalled construction and funding woes, the troubled Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital currently under construction in Aurora is moving closer to completion thanks to the approval of a new construction contract.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently awarded a $571 million construction contract to the joint venture of Omaha, Neb.-headquartered Kiewit Building Group and Turner Construction Company of New York (Kiewit-Turner). The construction consortium is not new to the project, having initially been named the general contractor in 2010. However, after the VA was found to be in breach of contract in 2014 — the same year the project was originally intended for completion — all work was halted briefly, continuing under a bridge contract just days later.

Currently, the project is an estimated $1 billion over budget (with a total budget of roughly $1.67 billion), forcing Congress to turn over responsibility for the project to the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. The overruns have primarily been attributed to a low initial estimate, poor planning and repeated delays. Several temporary funding measures as well as last minute legislation have kept the project active and afloat under a new contract awarded by the Corps of Engineers. The project is now slated for completion in early 2018.

Following the Senate vote in late September that ensured the project would remain funded, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) added, “The Senate has taken the final steps to fulfill the promise of this medical facility. The VA’s mismanagement of this project from the outset was horrendous and unacceptable. The Colorado delegation will continue its efforts to hold the VA accountable and ensure the mistakes made in Denver never happen again. The House must now act to ensure the hospital will be completed for our veterans, while offering certainty to the workers on the jobsite and protecting taxpayers.”

In a statement reacting to the newly awarded contract, Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO) added that the roughly 400,000 veterans throughout the state and region have waited too long for the health care facility they were promised. “They have endured delay after delay and been dispirited by the VA’s mismanagement and cost overruns,” Gardener said. “The final spending authorization that Congress passed in September coupled with the VA’s and the Corps’ signed contract paves the way to finish the state-of-the-art facility veterans deserve.”