The U.S. Capitol building.
WASHINGTON — Colorado’s two U.S. senators are pressing their colleagues to visit the Denver area and investigate the problems facing a new hospital being built for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
In a letter sent to the top lawmakers on the Senate Veterans Affairs’ Committee, Sens. Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner request that the panel take a look at the VA construction site in Aurora and hold a field hearing on the troubled project — which is significantly late and over-budget.
Itap expected to cost at least $1 billion, but , and it could open in 2017, though thatap an open question too.
“The visit will provide an opportunity for the Committee to see first-hand the extensive management and financial issues that continue to plague this project,” wrote Bennet, a Democrat, and Gardner, a Republican, in a dated Feb. 20.
Last year, a federal appeals board ruled against the VA and found the agency had breached its deal with contractor Kiewit-Turner. The decision prompted Kiewit-Turner to threaten to abandon the job and only some made it possible for workers to return to the site. A long-term deal between the VA and Kiewit-Turner, however, has yet to be signed, wrote the senators.
“While a short-term agreement between the VA and Kiewit-Turner has been reached that has allowed for construction to resume, agreement on a solution that allows for the satisfactory completion of the facility has not been reached,” they wrote. “We hope the Committee examines the issues at the Denver Replacement Facility to develop a fuller understanding of the projectap ongoing challenges and to help us identify a long-term solution to complete the work.”
