Kelly wants facts
CENTER TWP — U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-3rd, said he is seeking answers to a number of questions surrounding the proposed U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health care center on North Duffy Road.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office last week dismissed a bid protest filed this year against the proposed new center by Oxford Development, which was seeking to build the center on a site in Butler Township.
The VA on Dec. 31 awarded the contract to build the 168,000-square-foot facility to Cambridge Healthcare Solutions. Cambridge is preparing to build the center on about 45 acres along North Duffy Road, about 1.5 miles away from the current VA center on New Castle Road.
Kelly said he has no information on why the contract was awarded to Cambridge over the three other potential bidders, nor any explanation why the bid protest was dismissed.
“It’s totally consistent in the way they operate,” Kelly said of the VA. “They have not been clear or transparent since the beginning.”
Kelly said problems with the project started when the VA originally awarded the contract in 2012 to Westar Development, which was going to build on the Deshon Woods site on Route 68 that Oxford hoped to take over.
However, the VA canceled that agreement in August 2013, claiming Westar made false representations in the bid process.
The VA ultimately selected Cambridge when it reopened the bidding of the project to four developers, including Oxford, who had an option to buy the Deshon Woods site if given the contract.
Kelly said his office has attempted to get an explanation about why Cambridge was given the 20-year lease. He criticized the VA for not offering any detail about the bid process, and for announcing the award on New Year’s Eve.
“It’s really discouraging,” Kelly said. “The one thing that is consistent is no one can answer you with a straight answer. You have to keep prodding and going back again.”
He said the VA should have taken extra steps to guarantee transparency throughout the process since it had problems with Westar.
“They already knew the public was questioning this project, but they kept doing the same thing,” he said.
Kelly said he also intends to write a letter to the GAO, asking why the bid protest was dismissed.
Kelly said he has concerns about both sites meeting the needs of the VA center. He said the Deshon Woods site was never large enough, while the North Duffy Road site does not currently have access to all the utilities and is not on a state road.
Kelly said his office will continue to seek answers.
“My desire is to have an open hearing in Butler so the people we serve can sit there and listen to their reasoning,” he said.
Kelly said his main concerns are making sure veterans are given a center that meets their needs and making sure taxpayers are getting the best value at a new center.
The proposed center would expand VA Butler Healthcare’s outpatient services to meet increasing demand and will include primary care, specialty care, dental, lab, pathology, radiology, mental health, and ancillary and diagnostic services.
