VA Construction Assistance Act of 2014

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Colorado.

As chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee's Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, I introduced H.R. 3593, the VA Construction Assistance Act, along with my friend and ranking member, Ann Kirkpatrick of Arizona, to address significant problems with the VA's construction practices, problems which became public knowledge through our subcommittee's work.

My proposed reforms are designed to speed construction and rein in the out-of-control costs of three major VA regional projects under development in Aurora, Colorado; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Orlando, Florida.

We introduced this legislation late last year based on the investigative work of our subcommittee and in response to a Government Accountability Office report that found that VA's major construction projects had been mired in mismanagement. The report concluded early last year that these projects are more than $360 million each over budget and almost 3 years on average behind schedule.

The VA Construction Assistance Act implements GAO-recommended reforms by assigning medical equipment planners to these construction projects and streamlining the change order process. The proposal also goes a step further by requiring the assignment of an emergency manager from the Army Corps of Engineers, independent of the VA, to oversee these projects, and only these three major medical facility projects, currently under construction.

The GAO specifically singled out the Army Corps of Engineers as an organization with a record of building similar projects within budget and on schedule for the Department of Defense.

Our veterans cannot simply hope that the situation improves. We must get these construction projects delivered so our Nation's veterans receive the health care services that they have earned while at the same time protecting the taxpayers from massive cost overruns. Notably, this bill is supported by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion.

As such, I urge each of my colleagues to support this commonsense bipartisan legislation.

I thank the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn).

I think, again, going back to this Government Accountability report, it says that, on average, these projects are $366 million over budget; on average, these projects are 35 months behind schedule. There are a number of recommendations that are taken right from this report that are part of this bill.

One recommendation that wasn't specifically in the bill, but it was mentioned in the bill by referencing that the Army Corps of Engineers basically builds the same projects for the Department of Defense--the hospitals--on schedule and within budget.

We are talking about, again, hundreds of millions of dollars wasted in every single facility that is not going to the health care our veterans have earned; so I think it is only right that we move forward with this, not only to be fair to the men and women who have served us in uniform and sacrificed so much in defense of this country and giving them the benefits that they have earned through their service, but also out of respect to the taxpayers of the United States who have basically had their hard-earned dollars wasted in building these projects with these incredible and massive cost overruns.

I have had countless meetings with the Corps of Engineers, and they said that they could not publicly state their support for this, but I have given this legislation to them and said, ``Come back to me if you have any issues with it.''

They did not other than to say they feel prospectively they should be the ones managing these projects, period. My bill does not address that prospectively.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Kirkpatrick for yielding time to me.

I rise in opposition to this legislation. Let me just say, I understand I am the longest-serving member on the VA--23 years--and I understand--don't confuse me with too many facts--that this bill only includes three projects: Denver, Colorado; Orlando, Florida, one that we have been working on for over 25 years; and New Orleans, Louisiana. These projects, all of them, are far too along in the process to inject a special project manager. The Orlando VA Medical Center is currently 94 percent complete and construction is planned to be completed by the end of this year.

New Orleans is 52 percent complete and completion is scheduled for February 2016. The VA and the contractor have signed an agreement on a firm fixed price and are working closely together on the delivery of this project.

I understand that the gentleman from Colorado is concerned about the Denver VA Medical Center. However, the project is 55 percent complete, and any efforts to change the leadership midstream would only delay things further and cost our veterans time and money that could be better spent on their health care.

As a senior member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, I know firsthand the amount of critical infrastructure work that the Corps of Engineers have accomplished around the country. With nearly $6 billion in backlog of authorized civil works projects for the Corps of Engineers and with new, critical port-related projects included in the recent passage of the Water Resources Development Act, there are grave concerns by the Army Corps about their ability to participate in this project, especially the costs that it would relate to the Army Corps.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to put the letter in the Record from the Army Corps.

Mr. Speaker, with prior experience, the Army Corps has indicated that this kind of agreement does not work. They presently have all of the authorization they need to work with VA. And, in fact, they--the VA--spent $377 million at 74 projects they already participate in nationwide, so they don't need an additional authorization.

What this bill would do would only slow down the project in Orlando. I have spent--and all of the Members from the Orlando area and from Florida--we have spent years on this problem, and it is not just the VA's problem. For years, we did not have any construction going on with the VA. These projects, these last projects, we hadn't done any construction in the VA in 15 years, so certainly a lot of the expertise was gone.

But now it is not a benefit to have additional responsibilities placed particularly in Orlando at this time. We have a project that is close to completion. We want to bring this project in on time. By the time this bill is ever passed and signed into law, I am hoping that the veterans will be in the VA facility in Orlando, Florida.

In addition, we have worked with them--and the people who are handling it are not just the VA--the construction people. It has been a problem all along. I am not saying that the Army Corps could not be helpful, but at this time they absolutely cannot be helpful in this project.

So as we move forward, take Orlando out of what you are proposing. It is too late. We are ready for our VA facility to open up in Orlando, Florida, and to serve the veterans of the central Florida area. May God continue to bless America, and certainly the veterans deserve to be able to move into the VA facility in the Orlando, central Florida, area.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I am pleased that we are bringing up a bill that I introduced, along with the chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, Representative Coffman.

This bill takes aim at two of the VA's most chronic problems: accountability and efficiency. It is also an attempt to make real reforms in the VA construction process.

This bill may not have all the answers, but it is a step forward in a discussion we must have on addressing the facility needs of the VA and ensuring that we are addressing the access requirements in a timely and cost-effective manner.

We have seen time and again how VA has underperformed in the management of its multibillion-dollar construction budgets.

Last year, the Government Accountability Office testified to the committee on a number of significant cost overruns and completion delays.

There may be some disagreement on the metrics and the magnitude of VA shortcomings in this area--and I do wish to note that VA has made steps in the right direction--but in the end, we are faced with a very real issue that VA needs additional expertise with construction management and the acquisition of major medical facilities.

I believe that asking the Army Corps of Engineers to provide the expertise they have to the VA is a step we should explore. I am hopeful that we will pass this bill today and continue the discussion with the members of this committee, the VA, and the Army Corps of Engineers.

This legislation shows what we can do by working across the aisle. It would codify some of the GAO recommendations from 2013, as well as other industry best practices.

H.R. 3593 would also provide technical assistance to the VA in the form of special project managers and design construction evaluations on, particularly, troubled major construction projects.

While I recognize the Corps of Engineers and VA have some reservations with the bill, I believe we can work within the confines of the legislative language to ensure a positive outcome for all parties.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3593 as part of our role as watchdogs on behalf of veterans and taxpayers.

I reserve the balance of my time.

At this time, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Brown).

Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentlewoman an additional 2 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues support H.R. 3593 and work with our partners in the executive branch to improve the delivery of facilities for our veterans.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3593) to amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the construction of major medical facilities, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 3593, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

In a moment I will yield to the bill's sponsor, Mr. Coffman, for a more detailed description.

The goal of this legislation is to improve the way VA manages its major construction projects.

Mr. Speaker, it is no secret that VA has a poor track record in managing major medical facility projects. Major construction projects are routinely completed years late and tens of millions of dollars over budget. Unfortunately, the critically needed VA hospital being constructed in Aurora, Colorado, for instance, has run into major problems, as have a handful of others around the country.

This legislation would direct the inclusion of an outside entity, the Army Corps of Engineers, which has a record of on-time, on-budget completion of projects, to assist in the management of VA's major facility construction efforts.

No longer can veterans afford to wait years for needed facilities to open. This bill finally would move VA away from the status quo, which clearly has not served veterans or the taxpayers well at all.

I would like to commend my colleague and friend, Representative Mike Coffman, and applaud his leadership on this important issue.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Arizona for her support of this good piece of legislation.

I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Coffman), who is a member of the VA committee, a subcommittee chairman of the committee, and the sponsor of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Terry).

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Coffman).

Mr. Speaker, I too thank the gentlewoman from Arizona once again for her bipartisan support of this good piece of legislation.

I urge all of my colleagues in the U.S. House to support H.R. 3593, as amended, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Coffman for bringing this bill. I think it is extremely important, and it directly affects the Omaha VA in-patient facility, as well as veterans all around the Midwest area.

The cost overruns of the Denver, or the Aurora hospital, as well as Orlando and others, have been noted in the GAO report showing that these hospitals on average are 35 months delayed and somewhere between 300 and $400 million over budget. It shows a serious inability of the VA's construction and management subagency to manage and run these projects.

I am pleased that this legislation would require the VA to employ at least one special project manager from the Corps of Engineers. It has been noted by every speaker here today that the Corps of Engineers has a specialty, a somewhat amazing ability to get projects done on time and on budget, so having their level of expertise injected into this, even if it is just an advisory or a consulting role, I think is an important first step.

I would prefer that we just turned it all over, the VA hospital construction, to something like the Corps of Engineers, but this is a legitimate good first step in this process.

Now, our Omaha facility remains number 23. It has been in that area now for 6 years, and it looks like unless we improve this process and get their spending under control that it could be more than a decade before our new VA in-patient replaces an over 60-year-old building where they had no water for one 24-hour period because of the poor infrastructure. So that is how we are harming our veterans by not getting these projects done on time and within budget.

Again, I want to thank the gentleman from Colorado for taking charge of this issue and all of the conversations you and I have had about this over the last couple of years.