[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3593 Introduced in House (IH)]

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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as ``The VA Construction Assistance Act of 
2013''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) According to testimony by the Director of Physical 
        Infrastructure of the General Accountability Office before the 
        Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives 
        in May 2013, schedule delays of major medical center 
        construction projects of the Department of Veterans Affairs 
        have averaged 35 months, with the delays ranging from 14 months 
        to 74 months.
            (2) The average cost increase attributed to such delays has 
        been $336,000,000 per project.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the management of the major medical center construction 
        projects of the Department of Veterans Affairs has been an 
        abysmal failure;
            (2) in order to minimize repeated delays and cost increases 
        to such projects, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs should 
        fully implement all recommendations made by the Comptroller 
        General of the United States in an April 2013 report to improve 
        construction procedures and practices of the Department; and
            (3) management of the major medical facility projects 
        currently underway as of the date of the enactment of this Act 
        in Denver, Colorado, Orlando, Florida, and New Orleans, 
        Louisiana, should be subject to the oversight of a special 
        project manager of the Army Corps of Engineers that is 
        independent of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

SEC. 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF MAJOR MEDICAL FACILITY CONSTRUCTION REFORMS.

    Section 8104 of title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(i)(1) With respect to each project described in paragraph (2), 
the Secretary shall--
            ``(A) use the services of a medical equipment planner as 
        part of the architectural and engineering firm for the project;
            ``(B) develop and use a project management plan to ensure 
        clear and consistent communication among all parties;
            ``(C) subject the project to construction peer excellence 
        review;
            ``(D) develop--
                    ``(i) a metrics program to enable the monitoring of 
                change-order processing time; and
                    ``(ii) goals for the change-order process 
                consistent with the best practices of other departments 
                and agencies of the Federal Government; and
            ``(E) to the extent practicable, use design-build processes 
        to minimize multiple change orders.
    ``(2) A project described in this paragraph is a construction or 
alteration project that is a major medical facility project.''.

SEC. 4. SPECIAL PROJECT MANAGER FOR CERTAIN MEDICAL CENTER CONSTRUCTION 
              PROJECTS.

    (a) Appointment of Special Project Manager.--Not later than 180 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs shall enter into an agreement with the Army Corps of 
Engineers to procure, on a reimbursable basis, the services of the Army 
Corps of Engineers with respect to appointing not less than one special 
project manager who has experience in managing construction projects 
that exceed $60,000,000 to oversee covered projects until the date on 
which the project is completed.
    (b) Duties.--A special project manager appointed under subsection 
(a) to oversee a covered project shall--
            (1) conduct oversight of all construction-related 
        operations at the project, including with respect to--
                    (A) the performance of the Department of Veterans 
                Affairs involving the prime contractors; and
                    (B) the compliance of the Department with the 
                Federal Acquisition Regulation, including the VA 
                Acquisition Regulation;
            (2) advise and assist the Department in any construction-
        related activity at the project, including the approval of 
        change-order requests for the purpose of achieving a timely 
        completion of the project; and
            (3) recommend to the Department best construction practices 
        to improve operations for the project.
    (c) Plans and Report.--
            (1) Completion plans.--Not later than 90 days after being 
        appointed under subsection (a), a special project manager shall 
        submit to the Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the House of 
        Representatives and the Senate detailed plans of the covered 
        project for which the special project manager is so appointed.
            (2) Progress reports.--Not later than 180 days after being 
        appointed under subsection (a), and each 180-day period 
        thereafter until the date on which the covered project is 
        completed, a special project manager shall submit to the 
        Committees on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives 
        and the Senate a report detailing the progress of the covered 
        project for which the special project manager is so appointed. 
        Each report shall include--
                    (A) an analysis of all advice and assistance 
                provided to the Department under subsection (b);
                    (B) an analysis of all changes ordered by the 
                Department with respect to the project, or claimed to 
                have been made by contract between the Department and 
                the prime contractor, including the extent to which 
                such changes comply with the Federal Acquisition 
                Regulation, including the VA Acquisition Regulation;
                    (C) an analysis of the communication and working 
                relationship between the Department and the prime 
                contractor, including any recommendations made by the 
                prime contractor to aid in the completion of the 
                project; and
                    (D) identification of opportunities and 
                recommendations with respect to improving the operation 
                of any construction-related activity to reduce costs or 
                complete the project in a more timely manner.
    (d) Cooperation.--
            (1) Information.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall 
        provide a special project manager appointed under subsection 
        (a) with any necessary documents or information necessary for 
        the special project manager to carry out subsections (b) and 
        (c).
            (2) Assistance.--Upon request by the special project 
        manager, the Secretary shall provide to the special project 
        manager administrative assistance necessary for the special 
        project manager to carry out subsections (b) and (c).
    (e) Covered Projects Defined.--In this section, the term ``covered 
projects'' means each construction project that is a major medical 
facility project (as defined in section 8104(a)(3)(A) of title 38, 
United States Code) being carried out as of the date of the enactment 
of this Act at the following locations:
            (1) Denver, Colorado.
            (2) Orlando, Florida.
            (3) New Orleans, Louisiana.
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