VA Health Care

As part of the fiscal year 1996 budget, the President requested $524 million for major construction projects at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). These projects include the construction of two new VA medical facilities and major renovations at seven existing facilities. This report discusses how the projects are expected to benefit veterans and the relationships between the proposed projects and VA's recent efforts to realign all of its facilities into a new service network. GAO also discusses the potential effects of funding delays on VA's construction award dates and costs.

GAO found that: (1) the nine proposed construction projects would primarily enhance VA inpatient care capacity within designated target areas; (2) the two new medical centers would improve veterans' access to quality care and attract new users; (3) the seven renovation projects at existing medical centers would benefit users by correcting fire and safety deficiencies and improving patient environment; (4) the medical centers undergoing renovation need an additional $308 million to correct all of their deficiencies; (5) VA has not considered all available alternatives to the construction projects, partially because planned realignment criteria have not been finalized; (6) the construction of new and renovated facilities will likely limit future VA realignment decisions, since the facilities have an expected useful life of 25 years or more; and (7) delaying funding until fiscal year (FY) 1997 is likely to have a minimal affect on VA contract award dates and costs, but longer delays could significantly increase costs and award date slippage.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Team: Phone: