Two federal lawmakers are demanding answers as to why the Department of Veterans Affairs ended a contract to build a new facility in Butler Township.

U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-3rd, of Butler and U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., have sent letters to the VA seeking more information about the situation.

Kelly said he got a report on the project from the VA’s Office of Inspector General “and it is not good.”

Without going into specifics because he said he needed to go through the report more thoroughly, Kelly said Friday “this goes a lot deeper than we thought.”

He said it appears that those responsible for checking on project developers failed to do their jobs.

The VA on Aug. 9 terminated the lease with Westar Development of Aurora, Ohio, based on an investigation by the inspector general.

According to a VA statement, “VA determined that due to false and misleading representations made by Westar Development Company during the Butler Health Care Center lease procurement, the Butler lease should be terminated.”

This week, Toomey sent a letter to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki saying, “I am very disturbed by this information and request your answers.”

He demands to know what the false representations Westar made were, why the VA only found them after an inspector general investigation and what measures the VA will take to prevent situations like this in the future.

Last week, Kelly also sent a letter to Shinseki seeking answers. Kelly set an Oct. 4 deadline for the VA to respond.

The new center, which would replace the nearby main building at VA Butler Healthcare on New Castle Road, was set to open in 2015.

Under the canceled $75 million contract, Westar would have erected a three-story, 168,000-square-foot building.

VA would have leased the land and building from Westar for an annual $7.6 million payment with a 20-year term.

The center’s services were to include primary care, mental health, dental, diagnostic, laboratory, pathology, radiology, pharmacy and physical rehabilitation.

The groundbreaking for the project was April 5, but VA stopped construction June 21 because of its initial findings about Westar.

The company came under scrutiny in April after firing its senior vice president, Robert Berryhill, who was indicted on charges of stealing money from two firms while serving as the senior vice president at another company — Carnegie Management and Development in Cleveland. That company has no connection with the project in Butler.

In July, Berryhill was sentenced to up to 6 years, 4 months in federal prison.

The VA did not respond to a request for comment.