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Union Calendar No. 433 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3593 

[Report No. 113–586] 

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 

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014 

Additional sponsors: Mr. GARDNER, Mr. TIPTON, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. ROE of 

Tennessee, Mr. STIVERS, and Mr. FORBES

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 

and ordered to be printed 


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A BILL 

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

construction of major medical facilities, and for other 

purposes. 


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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’ Af11 fairs of the House of Representatives in May 2013, 

12 schedule delays of major medical center construction 

13 projects of the Department of Veterans Affairs have 

14 averaged 35 months, with the delays ranging from 

15 14 months to 74 months. 

16 (2) The average cost increase attributed to such 

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

18 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con19 gress that— 

20 (1) the management of the major medical cen21 ter construction projects of the Department of Vet22 erans Affairs has been an abysmal failure; 

23 (2) in order to minimize repeated delays and 

24 cost increases to such projects, the Secretary of Vet25 erans Affairs should fully implement all recVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:08 Sep 15, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3593.RH H3593

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1 ommendations made by the Comptroller General of 

2 the United States in an April 2013 report to im3 prove construction procedures and practices of the 

4 Department; and 

5 (3) management of the major medical facility 

6 projects currently underway as of the date of the en7 actment of this Act in Denver, Colorado, Orlando, 

8 Florida, and New Orleans, Louisiana, should be sub9 ject to the oversight of a special project manager of 

10 the Army Corps of Engineers that is independent of 

11 the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

12 SEC. 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF MAJOR MEDICAL FACILITY 

13 CONSTRUCTION REFORMS. 

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

15 amended by adding at the end the following new sub16 section: 

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

18 paragraph (2), the Secretary shall— 

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

20 planner as part of the architectural and engineering 

21 firm for the project; 

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

23 plan to ensure clear and consistent communication 

24 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) recommend to the Department best con19 struction practices to improve operations for the 

20 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 22:08 Sep 15, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3593.RH 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 22:08 Sep 15, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3593.RH 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 being carried out as of the date of the enactment of this 

24 Act at the following locations: 

25 (1) Denver, Colorado. 


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1 (2) Orlando, Florida. 

2 (3) New Orleans, Louisiana. 


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Union Calendar No. 433 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3593 

[Report No. 113–586] 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve 

for other purposes. the construction of major medical facilities, and 

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed 


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