{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://kuster.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/kuster-calls-for-increased-accountability-at-the-va-following-office-of", "Kuster Calls for Increased Accountability at the VA Following Office of Inspector General Report Detailing Mismanagement", "2016-09-22", "2016", "2016-09", "Democrat", "House", "NH", "Ann Kuster", "K000382", "kuster.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "(Washington, DC) \u2013 Congresswoman Annie Kuster (NH-02), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, is calling for a hearing and further investigations into mismanagement that led to the Aurora, Colorado VA construction project to be more than $800 million dollars over budget. Yesterday, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report that cited communications failures by senior officials, contracting officers, and design & engineering officials. While many VA projects do not face these challenges, too often at the VA communications failures on acquisition lead to project delays, wasted tax payer dollars, and worse care for our veterans.\u00a0Earlier this year, Kuster participated in a field hearing in Denver, Colorado and expressed concern about reports of cost overruns and the impact they could have on veterans\u2019 care.\n\u201cIt\u2019s wholly unacceptable that communications failures would lead to a more than eight hundred million dollar cost overrun at the VA facility in Colorado,\u201d said Kuster. \u201cThis is just another example of gross mismanagement by senior VA officials. We need to strengthen protections for whistleblowers so that when VA employees see problems they don\u2019t fear reprisal for coming forward. As Ranking Member of the House Veterans Affairs Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee, I will continue to advocate for accountability for those who have violated the trust of our veterans or misled investigations of our committee.\u201d\nSpecifically, the OIG report confirms that contracting officers (COs) at the VA can lack adequate authority to ensure projects adhere to the specifications and requirements of a contract.\u00a0In Aurora, COs presented their concerns to design officials who subsequently overrode those concerns and pushed forward with a bloated and overdesigned facility blueprint. When that design inevitably led to cost overruns, the VA attempted to falsely claim the contractor mismanaged the project and that the VA would only pay what was stipulated in the contract. It\u2019s critical that the VA learn the lessons of Aurora to strengthen its projects across the system to protect tax payer dollars and improve access to care for our veterans.\n###", 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": ["http://kuster.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/kuster-calls-for-increased-accountability-at-the-va-following-office-of"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8997409604489803, "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"}