IIB 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3593 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 17 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 16), 2014 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

AN ACT 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the 

construction of major medical facilities, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘VA Construction As3 sistance Act of 2014’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) According to testimony by the Director of 

7 Physical Infrastructure of the General Account8 ability Office before the Committee on Veterans’ Af9 fairs of the House of Representatives in May 2013, 

10 schedule delays of major medical center construction 

11 projects of the Department of Veterans Affairs have 

12 averaged 35 months, with the delays ranging from 

13 14 months to 74 months. 

14 (2) The average cost increase attributed to such 

15 delays has been $336,000,000 per project. 

16 (3) Management of the major medical facility 

17 projects currently underway as of the date of the en18 actment of this Act in Denver, Colorado, Orlando, 

19 Florida, and New Orleans, Louisiana, should be sub20 ject to the oversight of a special project manager of 

21 the Army Corps of Engineers that is independent of 

22 the Department of Veterans Affairs because, accord23 ing to the Comptroller General of the United States, 

24 such projects have experienced continuous delays 

25 and a total cost increase of nearly $1,000,000,000. 


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1 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con2 gress that— 

3 (1) the management of the major medical cen4 ter construction projects of the Department of Vet5 erans Affairs has been an abysmal failure; and 

6 (2) in order to minimize repeated delays and 

7 cost increases to such projects, the Secretary of Vet8 erans Affairs should fully implement all rec9 ommendations made by the Comptroller General of 

10 the United States in an April 2013 report to im11 prove construction procedures and practices of the 

12 Department. 

13 SEC. 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF MAJOR MEDICAL FACILITY 

14 CONSTRUCTION REFORMS. 

15 Section 8104 of title 38, United States Code, is 

16 amended by adding at the end the following new sub17 section: 

18 ‘‘(i)(1) With respect to each project described in 

19 paragraph (2), the Secretary shall— 

20 ‘‘(A) use the services of a medical equipment 

21 planner as part of the architectural and engineering 

22 firm for the project; 

23 ‘‘(B) develop and use a project management 

24 plan to ensure clear and consistent communication 

25 among all parties; 


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1 ‘‘(C) subject the project to construction peer ex2 cellence review; 

3 ‘‘(D) develop— 

4 ‘‘(i) a metrics program to enable the moni5 toring of change-order processing time; and 

6 ‘‘(ii) goals for the change-order process 

7 consistent with the best practices of other de8 partments and agencies of the Federal Govern9 ment; and 

10 ‘‘(E) to the extent practicable, use design-build 

11 processes to minimize multiple change orders. 

12 ‘‘(2) A project described in this paragraph is a con13 struction or alteration project that is a major medical fa14 cility project.’’. 

15 SEC. 4. SPECIAL PROJECT MANAGER FOR CERTAIN MED16 ICAL CENTER CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS. 

17 (a) APPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL PROJECT MAN18 AGER.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the en19 actment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

20 shall enter into an agreement with the Army Corps of En21 gineers to procure, on a reimbursable basis, the services 

22 of the Army Corps of Engineers with respect to appointing 

23 not less than one special project manager who has experi24 ence in managing construction projects that exceed 


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1 $60,000,000 to oversee covered projects until the date on 

2 which the project is completed. 

3 (b) DUTIES.—A special project manager appointed 

4 under subsection (a) to oversee a covered project shall— 

5 (1) conduct oversight of all construction-related 

6 operations at the project, including with respect to— 

7 (A) the performance of the Department of 

8 Veterans Affairs involving the prime contrac9 tors; and 

10 (B) the compliance of the Department with 

11 the Federal Acquisition Regulation, including 

12 the VA Acquisition Regulation; 

13 (2) advise and assist the Department in any 

14 construction-related activity at the project, including 

15 the approval of change-order requests for the pur16 pose of achieving a timely completion of the project; 

17 and 

18 (3) conduct independent technical reviews and 

19 recommend to the Department best construction 

20 practices to improve operations for the project. 

21 (c) PLANS AND REPORT.— 

22 (1) COMPLETION PLANS.—Not later than 90 

23 days after being appointed under subsection (a), a 

24 special project manager shall submit to the Commit25 tees on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of RepresentVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:12 Sep 18, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3593.RFS H3593

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1 atives and the Senate detailed plans of the covered 

2 project for which the special project manager is so 

3 appointed. 

4 (2) PROGRESS REPORTS.—Not later than 180 

5 days after being appointed under subsection (a), and 

6 each 180-day period thereafter until the date on 

7 which the covered project is completed, a special 

8 project manager shall submit to the Committees on 

9 Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives 

10 and the Senate a report detailing the progress of the 

11 covered project for which the special project man12 ager is so appointed. Each report shall include— 

13 (A) an analysis of all advice and assistance 

14 provided to the Department under subsection 

15 (b); 

16 (B) an analysis of all changes ordered by 

17 the Department with respect to the project, or 

18 claimed to have been made by contract between 

19 the Department and the prime contractor, in20 cluding the extent to which such changes com21 ply with the Federal Acquisition Regulation, in22 cluding the VA Acquisition Regulation; 

23 (C) an analysis of the communication and 

24 working relationship between the Department 

25 and the prime contractor, including any recVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:12 Sep 18, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3593.RFS H3593

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1 ommendations made by the prime contractor to 

2 aid in the completion of the project; and 

3 (D) identification of opportunities and rec4 ommendations with respect to improving the op5 eration of any construction-related activity to 

6 reduce costs or complete the project in a more 

7 timely manner. 

8 (d) COOPERATION.— 

9 (1) INFORMATION.—The Secretary of Veterans 

10 Affairs shall provide a special project manager ap11 pointed under subsection (a) with any necessary doc12 uments or information necessary for the special 

13 project manager to carry out subsections (b) and (c). 

14 (2) ASSISTANCE.—Upon request by the special 

15 project manager, the Secretary shall provide to the 

16 special project manager administrative assistance 

17 necessary for the special project manager to carry 

18 out subsections (b) and (c). 

19 (e) COVERED PROJECTS DEFINED.—In this section, 

20 the term ‘‘covered projects’’ means each construction 

21 project that is a major medical facility project (as defined 

22 in section 8104(a)(3)(A) of title 38, United States Code) 

23 that— 

24 (1) was the subject of a report by the Comp25 troller General of the United States titled ‘‘AddiVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:12 Sep 18, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3593.RFS H3593

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1 tional Actions Needed to Decrease Delays and 

2 Lower Costs of Major Medical-Facility Projects’’, 

3 numbered GAO–13–302, and published in April 

4 2013; and 

5 (2) has not been activated to accept patients as 

6 of the date of the enactment of this Act. 

7 SEC. 5. PROHIBITION ON NEW APPROPRIATIONS. 

8 No additional funds are authorized to be appro9 priated to carry out this Act and the amendments made 

10 by this Act, and this Act and such amendments shall be 

11 carried out using amounts otherwise made available for 

12 such purposes. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 16, 

2014. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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