For several healthcare centers that the Veterans Affairs Department planned  to build in 2012, the department still had yet to award leases — let alone begin  construction — as of August of this year.

In October 2009, Congress passed a law (PL  111-82) that authorized about $150 million for the VA to award seven  healthcare center leases–three in North Carolina, two in California, and one in  Alabama and Pennsylvania. The department preferred leases so that it wouldn’t  have to undertake major construction projects.

VA sent Congress a timeline in 2010, showing its plans to award the leases by  August 2010, finish construction by May 2012 and occupy the buildings a month  later. But a report from the VA office of inspector general says that as of August 2013, only four of the leases had been awarded. One of those, for the Pennsylvania facility, was  later terminated because of problems with the contractor.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.fiercegovernment.com/story/construction-va-healthcare-centers-years-overdue/2013-11-05

Download a copy of the VA IG’s report at: http://www.va.gov/oig/pubs/VAOIG-12-04046-307.pdf