Waste of the Day: Avoidable Delays Blew $65.5M

Five construction projects at a Department of /Veterans Affairs medical center in Fayetteville, Arkansas nearly tripled in cost because of delays that “could have been prevented” by better communication among VA staff, according to a Sept. 9 report from the agency’s inspector general

How these delays happened

Key facts: Staff in Fayetteville hired construction companies for the five projects, but never provided the necessary blueprints or details about what the projects entailed, the IG found. 

The construction companies were left to follow “vague” instructions, leading to errors that delayed each project by one to seven years. The cost jumped from $34.5 million to $100 million — an increase of $65.5 million.

Staff members had never been formally trained on how to manage construction companies. They also kept no record of blueprint drafts and approvals, as required by federal regulation.

The five construction projects were renovations to a surgery unit, a laundry facility and an equipment sterilization center, as well as a new mental health building and water storage center. 

The sterilization center faced so many delays that its cost increased more than 10 times, from $2.7 million to $28.9 million. That was mostly because the VA chose a location that did not have enough space to fit all the necessary equipment.

The mental health building was supposed to be finished in 2018, but a construction company started building it without the necessary lighting, stairwells and elevator shafts. The project is still not finished, and its design has been modified 34 times.

As of January 2026, only the laundry facility had been completed.

Tipped off

VA staff agreed with all four of the audit’s recommendations, including developing new training protocols and record retention requirements. 

The VA spent $2.7 billion on construction at its more than 170 medical centers in 2025, according to the audit. The Fayetteville facility was chosen for an audit because of an anonymous tip.

Summary: What could have been a routine set of construction projects once again ballooned in cost due to government mismanagement. 

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.

This article was originally published by RealClearInvestigations and made available via RealClearWire.