On the recordMay 31, 2012
This is to request a dollar in and a dollar out to be used in that process for the inspector general to look into the VA Office of Acquisition, Logistics, and Construction, which is a subdivision of the Office of Construction and Facilities Management of the VA. This is the organization that builds and remodels new clinics and hospitals. What I have discovered, because of experiences in Omaha, Nebraska, regarding a proposed new facility to replace a very obsolete and decayed facility, is that the Office of Acquisition, Logistics, and Construction of the Office of Construction and Facilities Management hires the engineering firms to do what turns out to be a skeleton request for proposal or bids. They go out and then they start adding a bunch of stuff on there, because I don't know if it's because they're afraid to put all of the stuff they want in a bid because then it will look really big and too expensive. So what happens then, because they do that, there are literally two pages of projects that are needed for veterans. But because of their practices and procedures, I don't know if it's purposeful or just competency issues, but the reality then is because of the cost overruns of these additions and the way that they're doing, it is perhaps increasing the price of the project by 25 percent, 50 percent, even accusations at the Orlando facility of doubling to almost a billion dollar hospital.…
