CENTER TWP — The U.S. Government Accountability Office has rejected a bid protest against the proposed new U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health care center on North Duffy Road.

The VA awarded the contract Dec. 31 to build the 168,000-square-foot facility to Cambridge Healthcare Solutions.

However, Oxford Development, the developer hoping to build on a site in Butler Township previously approved by the VA, filed a protest against the contract on Jan. 26.

Eric Ransom, an attorney with the GOA, said the protest was dismissed because the VA took action to address the issues made by Oxford.

“It’s what we in general refer to as corrective action,” he said.

That occurred on Wednesday.

But Ransom did not say what the corrective action was. He said a copy of a redacted version of the protest will be posted on the office’s website.

The VA issued a stop work order on the project in response to the protest by Oxford. It is not known whether the stop work order on the project has been lifted.

A spokesman for the VA could not be reached for comment.

Oxford was hoping to build the center on property on Route 68 adjacent to the existing VA center on New Castle Road. The VA originally awarded Westar Development the lease to build the facility on that site called Deshon Woods. However, the VA canceled that lease in August 2013, accusing Westar of making false representations in the application process.

Oxford reached an agreement to buy the land from Westar to build the center if it would have been awarded the contract when the VA reopened the bidding process.

However, the VA selected Cambridge’s bid to build the center on North Duffy Road, about 1.5 miles away from the current VA campus.

That land is part of about 145 acres of a farm owned by the Herold family, just north of the Butler/Center township line.

Ed Latuska, chairman of the Center Township supervisors, said Cambridge has continued to prepare for the project despite the stop work order.

“When the protest was originally filed, Cambridge was pretty confident the protest was not going through,” he said. “They said it did not have the substance needed, and obviously they were right.”

Latuska said representatives from Cambridge have a meeting with township officials on Tuesday to get approval for a zoning variance.

The center requires a variance because it is bigger than what is allowed by the township’s ordinances.

“I don’t anticipate there being a problem with that variance,” Latuska said, adding he expects Cambridge to begin moving dirt this year.

The lease with Cambridge said VA Butler will occupy the center for 20 years. Cambridge will be paid $8.4 million in annual rent after an initial two-year rent abatement period.

Under the agreement, Cambridge was to complete the project in 31 months, but Cambridge officials expected the project could be completed before the July 31, 2017, deadline.