{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20141024031314/http://coffman.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/delay-for-butler-va-project-prompts-groans-from-american-legion", "Delay for Butler VA project prompts groans from American Legion", "2014-10-20", "2014", "2014-10", "Republican", "House", "CO", "Mike Coffman", "C001077", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "Work may not resume on an outpatient health center for the Veterans Affairs Butler Healthcare System until 2015, nearly two years after crews broke ground, an official said.\nFor the 2.4 million-member American Legion, which has been critical of construction delays and cost overruns plaguing the VA, the Butler project is the latest sign of a troubled system.\n\u201cEvery day a medical center is not completely done, it's a day a veteran may or may not be receiving care,\u201d said Ed Lilley, the Legion's assistant director for health care, veterans affairs and rehabilitation.\nAn April 2013 Government Accountability Office report determined that costs increased for the VA's four largest, most recent projects \u2014 in Aurora, Colo., Orlando, New Orleans and Las Vegas \u2014 from 59 percent to 144 percent. The average overrun was nearly $366 million.\nDelays ranged from 14 to 74 months, averaging 35 months, the report found.\nThe American Legion is so concerned, its executive committee in May urged more congressional and legislative oversight and that the VA consider using the Army Corps of Engineers to complete projects on time and on budget.\n\u201cVeterans are frustrated and concerned with the VA's construction processes and the continued delays and cost overruns and unsure whether VA's improvements will ensure VA major construction in the future will be within schedule and budget,\u201d its resolution stated.\nThe VA established a construction review council in April 2012 to oversee development and execution of building programs, the GAO report said.\nLegislation sponsored by U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman of Colorado, which passed the House on Sept. 16, would require the VA to hire a medical equipment planner as part of a project's architectural and engineering team and use the Corps of Engineers as a special project manager. It is awaiting action in the Senate.\n\u201cIt is the sense of Congress that the management of the major medical center construction projects of the Department of Veterans Affairs has been an abysmal failure,\u201d the measure reads.\nVA spokeswoman Genevieve Billia said her agency doesn't support the legislation as written. Creating a special project manager \u201cwould be problematic in the management and supervision of these projects,\u201d she said.\nThe Army Corps has assisted on 70 VA construction projects since 2008, she added.\nThe Las Vegas project is done and the Orlando project should be almost done by the end of the year, Billia said. The New Orleans project has a February 2016 completion date. The Colorado project is 58 percent finished. Work continues despite the contractor filing a lawsuit seeking to drop out, she said.\nThe VA likely won't award a contract for the Butler facility until 2015, Billia said. The General Services Administration now reviews all potential leases.\nOnce the GSA finishes its review, the VA could select a site for the outpatient center and award a development contract within three months, Billia said.\nWestar Development Co. beat out five other companies in May 2012 to build the $75 million outpatient center, which it would have rented to the VA for 20 years while receiving an average $7.6 million annually.\nThe project collapsed when the VA Inspector General's Office became concerned that Westar had misrepresented itself, including a claim that it was veteran-owned when it isn't, and that it may have had ties to a businessman sentenced on federal charges of racketeering, bribery and fraud unrelated to the Butler project.\nWestar officials denied any wrongdoing.\nJefferson resident Stan Schubert, a Marine who served in Vietnam, said Friday that fellow veterans at a Marine Corps League meeting he's attending in Fort Indiantown Gap have been asking about the Butler project.\n\u201cIt's the talk of the town,\u201d Schubert, 72, said. \u201cPeople are wondering what's going on, when it's going to be built, where it's going to be built. It's very important.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20141024031314/http://coffman.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/delay-for-butler-va-project-prompts-groans-from-american-legion"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6527649238705635, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}