Additional actions are needed to speed up major medical center construction projects and lower costs at the Department of Veterans Affairs, GAO has said after finding cost increases and schedule delays for large projects in Denver, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Orlando.
As of November 2012, delays for the projects ranged from 14 to 74 months, and cost increases ranged from 59 to 144 percent, with a total cost increase of nearly $1.5 billion and an average increase of about $366 million.
VA established a construction review council in June 2012 to oversee the department’s development and execution of its real property programs, but construction management challenges remain, and opportunities exist for VA to avoid further cost increases and schedule delays, according to GAO-13-302.
It said the department has not taken full advantage of medical equipment planners on all projects, in part because there is no guidance for doing so, and that it has yet to clearly define roles and responsibilities of VA construction management staff.
VA is reviewing options to shorten the decision cycle for approval of construction contract modifications but has not yet streamlined the process.
VA agreed with recommendations to implement guidance for assignment of medical equipment planners, disseminate procedures for communicating to contractors the roles and responsibilities of VA project managers, particularly in regard to the change-order process, as well as to implement guidance on streamlining the change-order process.
VA concurred with GAO’s recommendations, but expressed concerns about the depiction of cost increases and schedule delays – arguing that using the initial completion date from the construction contract would be more accurate than using the initial completion date provided to Congress.
