DENVER – Congress approved a deal on Wednesday to let the Veterans Affairs Department complete a vastly over-budget medical center outside Denver, ending months of uncertainty about the future of the ambitious project.
The VA can now shift the $625 million it needs to finish the hospital from other accounts within its budget. But the deal strips the department of the authority to manage big construction projects in the future, giving it to the Army Corps of Engineers – a change that angry lawmakers demanded.
The half-finished hospital in the Denver suburb of Aurora is expected to cost nearly $1.7 billion, almost triple last year’s estimate. The Corps of Engineers blamed the overruns on multiple design changes and a decision by VA officials to use a complicated contract process they didn’t fully understand.
Colorado’s congressional delegation expressed relief that the VA finally has the authority to finish after a series of stop-gap measures that slowed the pace of construction to a crawl. If Congress hadn’t acted, the project would have run out of money soon, bringing work to a halt, causing more delays and pushing up costs.
“I feel good about the path we’re on,” said Republican Rep. Mike Coffman, whose district includes the medical center.