A Review of Veterans Affairs Major Lease Procurement

 PURPOSE:

• To review the process by which Veterans Affairs (VA) leases outpatient clinics.
• To identify efficiencies that will benefit veterans who seek access to nearby, modern medical facilities through the examination of specific cases, such as the Community-Based Outpatient Clinic of St. Johns County, Florida.

BACKGROUND:

• The VA Office of Construction and Facility Management stated in a “Fact Sheet” that major lease projects for replacement or new medical facilities are ready to serve patients within five years from the “start date.”
• A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on this topic revealed that, “As of January 2014… 39 of 41 projects reviewed—with a contract value of about $2.5 billion—experienced schedule delays, ranging from 6 months to 13.3 years, with an average delay of 3.3 years.”
• In October 2013, the VA Office of Inspector General released a report examining the VA’s management of seven Health Care Center (HCC) leases, and concluded that, “VA’s management of timeliness and costs in the HCC lease procurement process has not been effective.”
• According to a 2015 report by Concerned Veterans for America, “the profoundly inefficient distribution and scale of VA facilities serves veterans poorly, not only because they are difficult to access but also due to cost.”