The process by which an Ohio developer won the contract to build a $74 million Veterans Affairs facility in Butler Township was rife with misrepresentations and short on vetting, alleges a report issued this week.

That contract, awarded in 2012 to Westar Development to build the new complex on the South Duffy Road lot known as Deshon Woods, has since been voided. Officials are yet to determine the who, what and where of the facility’s future.

They previously have said they are looking at other developers and would issue a decision this spring.

Meanwhile, the 55-page report by the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General on Monday says it is a summary of an investigation that went awry in the failed original agreement.

The report points to the VA’s decision to award a contract to a developer with property instead of making separate arrangements for the contractor and the site.

By dropping a step in the normal process, the report alleges the VA gave an advantage to Westar, which had rights to the Deshon Woods site, then owned by Butler Township.

Already two years earlier, the VA reportedly investigated available property in the area and ranked Deshon Woods as its top choice. Additionally, the report alleges there was “political pressure” to use that site.

The report goes on to allege that Westar, when graded against five other applicants, was awarded points in the bidding process for claims that were not true.

Among the problematic claims: Westar was credited for its representations that it was “100 percent veteran-owned,” when no veterans were involved in the company.

Westar was credited for a list of past projects when “we determined Westar had not developed a single project since its inception in 1998,” the report states.

And on Westar’s general contractor, the report states: “Westar received points on the qualifications of a general contractor that we found was not capable of building the Butler health care center.”

The report asserts that the VA failed to properly investigate Westar’s claims, and too much responsibility was given to the real estate broker.

Had either of those parties “conducted even the most minimal review to validate the information contained in Westar’s proposal, Westar’s proposal would have been rejected,” the report alleges.

Instead, the VA on May 31, 2012, agreed to a 20-year lease with a total value of $153 million.

The report criticizes this decision, saying the VA erred in its assertion that the deal was more cost affective than building and owning its own facility.

The analysis, the report concludes, was done on a 15-year basis not on a 20-year-contract. And the estimated cost for constructing a facility was artificially high, an estimated double what Westar actually planned to spend.

Once the ink was dried on the contract, the report alleges, the VA failed to properly investigate a complaint about the contract award.

In June 2012, one of the unsuccessful bidders alleged that Westar should have been disqualified because of its relationship with Robert Berryhill.

Berryhill, who was the founder and majority owner of Westar, was indicted on charges of stealing money from two firms while serving as the senior vice president at another company. He has since been sentenced to up to six years and four months in federal prison.

But the report alleges that the VA dismissed the protest about Berryhill as having no merit, deciding “any lack of integrity on the part of Berryhill could not conceivably be imputed to Westar.” Westar announced it fired Berryhill in April.

In March 2013, the investigator general received an anonymous complaint that Westar also had financial ties to Ohio contractor Michael Forlani.

Forlani, who was sentenced to serve eight years in prison for convictions of bribery and racketeering in 2011, was banned from government contracting.

“Our review determined Michael Forlani was involved in the Butler health care center from the beginning,” the report states. It alleges Forlani and his wife, were “the only ones that made and significant capital contributions” to the company’s project in Butler.

After the investigator general substantiated the claim on June 21, the VA issued Westar a stop work order, the report states.

And “when it became clear that work was continuing, VA issued a second stop work order to Westar on July 16, 2013.”

A month later on Aug. 9 the VA terminated its contract with Westar.

The report includes an eight-step checklist of recommendations for the future that include adhering to a two-step acquisition process and establishing requirements that past performances be verified.

Within the report is a summary of items reportedly given to the inspector general by management at the VA, who disagreed with the report’s findings.

Those comments say the management claims it did not have preference for the Deshon Woods site, the lease cost was fair and reasonable and the VA conducted due diligence in the vetting process.

Attempts to reach a spokesman in the Department of Veterans Affairs as well as the office of the inspector general were not successful.