I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3593 

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

major medical facilities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 21, 2013 

Mr. COFFMAN (for himself and Mrs. KIRKPATRICK) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as ‘‘The VA Construction As5 sistance Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

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

8 (1) According to testimony by the Director of 

9 Physical Infrastructure of the General Account10 ability Office before the Committee on Veterans’ AfVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:54 Nov 25, 2013 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3593.IH H3593

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1 fairs of the House of Representatives in May 2013, 

2 schedule delays of major medical center construction 

3 projects of the Department of Veterans Affairs have 

4 averaged 35 months, with the delays ranging from 

5 14 months to 74 months. 

6 (2) The average cost increase attributed to such 

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

8 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con9 gress that— 

10 (1) the management of the major medical cen11 ter construction projects of the Department of Vet12 erans Affairs has been an abysmal failure; 

13 (2) in order to minimize repeated delays and 

14 cost increases to such projects, the Secretary of Vet15 erans Affairs should fully implement all rec16 ommendations made by the Comptroller General of 

17 the United States in an April 2013 report to im18 prove construction procedures and practices of the 

19 Department; and 

20 (3) management of the major medical facility 

21 projects currently underway as of the date of the en22 actment of this Act in Denver, Colorado, Orlando, 

23 Florida, and New Orleans, Louisiana, should be sub24 ject to the oversight of a special project manager of 


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1 the Army Corps of Engineers that is independent of 

2 the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

3 SEC. 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF MAJOR MEDICAL FACILITY 

4 CONSTRUCTION REFORMS. 

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

6 amended by adding at the end the following new sub7 section: 

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

9 paragraph (2), the Secretary shall— 

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

11 planner as part of the architectural and engineering 

12 firm for the project; 

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

14 plan to ensure clear and consistent communication 

15 among all parties; 

16 ‘‘(C) subject the project to construction peer ex17 cellence review; 

18 ‘‘(D) develop— 

19 ‘‘(i) a metrics program to enable the moni20 toring of change-order processing time; and 

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

22 consistent with the best practices of other de23 partments and agencies of the Federal Govern24 ment; and 


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

2 processes to minimize multiple change orders. 

3 ‘‘(2) A project described in this paragraph is a con4 struction or alteration project that is a major medical fa5 cility project.’’. 

6 SEC. 4. SPECIAL PROJECT MANAGER FOR CERTAIN MED7 ICAL CENTER CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS. 

8 (a) APPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL PROJECT MAN9 AGER.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the en10 actment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

11 shall enter into an agreement with the Army Corps of En12 gineers to procure, on a reimbursable basis, the services 

13 of the Army Corps of Engineers with respect to appointing 

14 not less than one special project manager who has experi15 ence in managing construction projects that exceed 

16 $60,000,000 to oversee covered projects until the date on 

17 which the project is completed. 

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

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

20 (1) conduct oversight of all construction-related 

21 operations at the project, including with respect to— 

22 (A) the performance of the Department of 

23 Veterans Affairs involving the prime contrac24 tors; and 


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1 (B) the compliance of the Department with 

2 the Federal Acquisition Regulation, including 

3 the VA Acquisition Regulation; 

4 (2) advise and assist the Department in any 

5 construction-related activity at the project, including 

6 the approval of change-order requests for the pur7 pose of achieving a timely completion of the project; 

8 and 

9 (3) recommend to the Department best con10 struction practices to improve operations for the 

11 project. 

12 (c) PLANS AND REPORT.— 

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

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

15 special project manager shall submit to the Commit16 tees on Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Represent17 atives and the Senate detailed plans of the covered 

18 project for which the special project manager is so 

19 appointed. 

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

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

22 each 180-day period thereafter until the date on 

23 which the covered project is completed, a special 

24 project manager shall submit to the Committees on 

25 Veterans’ Affairs of the House of Representatives 


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1 and the Senate a report detailing the progress of the 

2 covered project for which the special project man3 ager is so appointed. Each report shall include— 

4 (A) an analysis of all advice and assistance 

5 provided to the Department under subsection 

6 (b); 

7 (B) an analysis of all changes ordered by 

8 the Department with respect to the project, or 

9 claimed to have been made by contract between 

10 the Department and the prime contractor, in11 cluding the extent to which such changes com12 ply with the Federal Acquisition Regulation, in13 cluding the VA Acquisition Regulation; 

14 (C) an analysis of the communication and 

15 working relationship between the Department 

16 and the prime contractor, including any rec17 ommendations made by the prime contractor to 

18 aid in the completion of the project; and 

19 (D) identification of opportunities and rec20 ommendations with respect to improving the op21 eration of any construction-related activity to 

22 reduce costs or complete the project in a more 

23 timely manner. 

24 (d) COOPERATION.— 


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1 (1) INFORMATION.—The Secretary of Veterans 

2 Affairs shall provide a special project manager ap3 pointed under subsection (a) with any necessary doc4 uments or information necessary for the special 

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

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

7 project manager, the Secretary shall provide to the 

8 special project manager administrative assistance 

9 necessary for the special project manager to carry 

10 out subsections (b) and (c). 

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

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

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

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

15 being carried out as of the date of the enactment of this 

16 Act at the following locations: 

17 (1) Denver, Colorado. 

18 (2) Orlando, Florida. 

19 (3) New Orleans, Louisiana. 

Æ 


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