VA Construction Contract Award Delays

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed whether the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) had reported all projects funded through their annual appropriations act for which it had not awarded contracts by September 1994. GAO noted that: (1) VA identified 15 projects that did not have required construction documents or construction contracts awarded by September 1994, but inadvertently omitted reporting an unawarded construction contract arising from its fiscal year 1990 appropriations act; (2) the contracting delays for the projects did not constitute impoundments of budget authority under the Impoundment Control Act, since there was no evidence that VA did not use the appropriated funds; (3) the contracting delays were likely caused by programmatic considerations, such as changes in project scope or design; and (4) VA expects to award 14 of the 18 required contracts by September 1995.