DENVER (AP) — Federal investigators say “gross mismanagement,” delays and lax oversight by the Department of Veterans Affairs added hundreds of millions of dollars to the cost of a new Denver-area VA hospital and delayed it by years.
A report from the department’s internal watchdog released Wednesday also said a former senior VA official, Glenn Haggstrom, knew the project was veering toward huge cost overruns but didn’t tell lawmakers that when he testified before Congress in 2013 and 2014.
No phone number could be found for Haggstrom. He retired in 2015.
The report by the VA inspector general repeats some conclusions from earlier investigations but is the most scathing account of the project to date.
The hospital under construction in suburban Denver is expected to cost nearly $1.7 billion, nearly triple the 2014 estimate.
