Construction Project Management at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston, South Carolina

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviewed four allegations originating from an October 2017 hotline complaint about potential mismanagement of several construction projects at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston, South Carolina. The OIG substantiated two of the allegations—that construction for some nonrecurring maintenance projects took years to begin after contract awards, resulting in increased project costs of at least $441,000, and that engineering service staff had planned to spend about $74,000 to create separate drawings from a single rendering completed for a project. Regarding the first allegation, the OIG reviewed four construction projects—the specialty clinic renovation, the gastrointestinal clinic refurbishment, the emergency department expansion, and an upgrade for the induction unit system for the 5B South Ward area. Construction for these projects started an average of 743 days after the contracts had been awarded. The OIG recommended the medical center director ensure a process is established to inform the Veterans Integrated Service Network 7 capital asset manager in advance if construction is not planned to start within 150 days after contract awards. The process will make certain that prudent decisions can be made regarding project funds in a timely manner. The project related to the second allegation was initially planned as a single multiphase project but was subsequently separated into two. However, because the original drawing was never split and used for both projects, which would have improperly increased rendering costs, the OIG did not make any recommendations. The OIG did not substantiate other allegations that construction items were inappropriately removed from the solicitation on the intensive care unit project to reduce the contract price, or that a construction project was inappropriately classified.