Building a VA infrastructure for the next generation of veterans

OPINION:

Veterans should not have to win the geographic lottery to access the modern health care services they are eligible for through the Department of Veterans Affairs. Ensuring that promise is kept true to the millions of veterans VA serves starts with a rock-solid, modern VA infrastructure in place.

House Republicans and my Committee in Congress are leading a historic reauthorization initiative to reform and improve key aspects of VA’s infrastructure to better serve veterans across the United States and its territories. Under current law, VA’s construction and leasing process is constrained by inaccurate cost estimates, outdated internal VA workflows and rigid design standards — all of which ultimately slow down needed construction projects. In return, VA’s infrastructure procurement system oftentimes fails to meet the needs of veterans nationwide. I want to change that.

This effort will reauthorize and modernize key VA infrastructure authorities, including construction, leasing and facility modernization programs that have not been updated in decades. Modernizing these authorities will not only improve access to internal VA care for the veterans who want it, but it would also ensure taxpayer dollars are spent more efficiently by reducing project delays, redundant approvals and costly bureaucratic bottlenecks.

The bills my House Republican colleagues and I are leading include provisions to reduce the bureaucratic red tape in VA construction projects; propel VA to partner with private companies in communities where we need VA clinics and facilities to speed up the leasing process; require VA to award leases within one year of issuing a solicitation; and mandate updates to VA’s outpatient clinic design guides every five years to keep the facilities and clinics our veterans are using consistent or better than private-sector standards, among other initiatives. These reforms are not about replacing VA care. They are about making sure the VA system has the modern facilities it needs to deliver care where veterans actually live today.

Our efforts have one goal in mind: pushing VA forward instead of preserving a status quo that no longer serves veterans well.

In parts of the country like my rural district of Southern Illinois’ — where veterans can’t be driving hours to access quality care — or in Florida, North Carolina, and California where we have a large population of veterans, Congress should be able to give veterans nationwide the assurance that they will have access to a good facility, clinic, or medical center that meets their individual healthcare benefits needs. And if we need a new VA facility, it should not take years to get it done no matter what the zip code is.

VA’s infrastructure and construction procurement system relies on processes that have not been meaningfully modernized in decades. The veteran community has changed a lot over the last 20 years. And as the veteran population shifts and Americans are living longer, VA must have the right facilities in places where veterans and their families live to effectively deliver care and benefits. That means we must reform the way VA’s real estate portfolio is set up and make it easier, not harder, for the federal government to get the right facilities, in the right place, at the right time. That’s exactly what House Republicans’ bills would do.

As a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, in addition to my role as chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, I have seen firsthand where the improvements need to be made to build up our American infrastructure to ensure that the American taxpayers’ multimillion dollar investment is a worthy one. That includes VA, so that the veterans who choose VA care can get it at the best facilities. We have the best of the best working in the trades and construction industry to deliver innovation for America every single day across our great country. It’s time to cut out the red tape and let our veterans reap the benefits of that too.

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• Rep. Mike Bost is a Marine veteran, represents Illinois’ 12th congressional district, and serves as chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs in Congress.