The team investigating what went wrong with the Department of Veterans Affairs $1.73 billion hospital project in Aurora will have a construction expert after all.
The VA announced Thursday that Joanna Krause, who heads the medical facilities design office at the U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command Headquarters, will take part in the agency investigation of cost overruns at the medical center.
The agency also confirmed Thursday that two of 43 elevators on the 13-building campus had to be redesigned to accommodate veterans with spinal-cord injuries.
“All patient elevators were designed to be able to handle stretchers or patient beds,” spokesman Paul Sherbo said, but “two elevators were redesigned to meet new Paralyzed Veterans of America design standards, calling for a larger elevator to handle propelled gurneys for spinal cord injury patients.”
He said the redesign did not increase the project cost because the architect-engineer team provided it as part of its contract.
The elevator issue is just one design change in the project. In 3½ years of construction, contractor Kiewit-Turner has submitted hundreds of change-order requests on a project that began with a $604 million construction budget.
While most details of the Aurora project’s escalating costs remain a mystery, the VA gave Congress a stunning new price estimate last month — $1.73 billion.
The VA has appointed an administrative investigation board to examine how the costs grew and who was responsible. The agency has said the report would be finished this month unless an extension is granted.
On Wednesday, The Denver Post and others reported that the , its outside construction expert, to join the team.
That approval quickly followed.
Krause “has been approved to participate in the ongoing Administrative Investigation Board (AIB), which is focused on determining the facts with regard to the issues surrounding the construction of the Denver replacement facility,” Sherbo said Thursday.
He said the board has not determined a timetable for its report, but will be “holding individuals accountable when appropriate.”
Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, welcomed Krause’s appointment but called it “unfortunate that it often takes negative press coverage or congressional scrutiny just to get this administration to take VA’s problems seriously.”
David Olinger: 303-954-1498, dolinger@denverpost.com or twitter.com/dolingerdp
