Congresswoman Annie Kuster (NH-02), a member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, is calling on Attorney General Loretta Lynch to launch investigations into whether former VA construction chief Glenn Haggstrom and other VA officials committed perjury in statements before Congress regarding the Aurora, Colorado VA medical center. The bipartisan letter follows a scathing report by the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) on cost overruns and mismanagement at the center. Kuster was joined on the letter by senior members of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee including Chairman Miller and Acting Ranking Member Takano.

“The reports of mismanagement and severe cost overruns at the VA facility in Colorado are incredibly serious and must be thoroughly investigated,” said Congresswoman Kuster. “If VA officials misrepresented the situation in Colorado to Congress or attempted to mislead the Veterans’ Affairs Committee they must be held responsible. Our veterans deserve better, and I will continue to fight to clean up the problems that plague the VA so that veterans can access the care they need.”

The full text of the letter is available here and below.

September 22, 2016

The Honorable Loretta E. Lynch

Attorney General

United States Department of Justice

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20530-0001

Dear Attorney General Lynch,

This is a formal referral for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to conduct a criminal investigation into whether current and former VA officials, and Mr. Glenn Haggstrom, the former Principal Executive Director of the VA Office of Acquisition, Logistics, and Construction, committed perjury, misled or withheld information from Members of Congress, or made otherwise unlawful statements in testimony and communications relevant to the construction of the Aurora, Colorado VA Medical Center.  The Committee on Veterans’ Affairs has been investigating issues surrounding this project for many years.  We have held numerous hearings where VA representatives have testified about the issues that led to this project ultimately becoming approximately $1 billion over budget and years behind schedule.  Prior to December 2014, when the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals found that VA breached its contract with the prime contractor on the project, VA representatives consistently downplayed and disputed substantiated cost overruns in Aurora and other major construction projects, in hearings and in public statements.  Many Committee members have stated for years that VA witnesses’ hearing testimonies regarding these overruns were false, and we are concerned that these witnesses intentionally withheld information or provided knowingly false testimony during hearings before this Committee.  

Yesterday, the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a report substantiating many of the issues uncovered by this Committee, and it also highlighted that at least one VA official, Mr. Glenn Haggstrom, possessed information on the rising cost of construction that was contrary to testimony he provided in many of these hearings.  Regarding Haggstrom, the OIG found,

Although the former Principal Executive Director of the Office of Acquisition, Logistics, and Construction, Mr. Glenn Haggstrom, possessed information that the Denver project was moving toward significantly exceeding the budget, he did not share this information with Congress while testifying in May 2013 and April 2014…. Mr. Haggstrom possessed information that construction project was exceeding the budget, on both occasions when he testified before Congress, VA maintained that KT was contractually bound to complete the project within the ceiling price of $610 million contained within SA-07.

At issue are statements made at three hearings by Haggstrom and/or Ms. Stella Fiotes, Executive Director of VA’s Office of Construction & Facilities Management.  Notably, in every invitation to testify at Committee oversight hearings, all witnesses, including those representing VA, are reminded that the testimony they will provide will be subject to sections 1001, 1505, and 1621 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code.  Relevant excerpts of those hearings are attached to this letter. 

As such, we respectfully request that you open an investigation to determine whether Haggstrom and/or Fiotes made unlawful statements (perjury or otherwise) in providing false testimony in the three subject hearings.  Additionally, we request that, if during the course of your investigation you find evidence that misleading or otherwise unlawful statements were made to Congress, your investigation include a determination of whether any VA official instructed VA representatives to make otherwise unlawful statements or provide misleading information to this Committee.  If you determine that Haggstrom and/or Fiotes did in fact make an unlawful statement, or that others conspired with, instructed, or encouraged them to do the same, we request that you pursue immediate prosecution.

Please note that the Committee has issued a subpoena to the department regarding an Administrative Investigation Board report concerning the Aurora construction project.  As such, we would ask you to begin conducting this investigation after VA has fully complied with the subpoena, which has a full and final production date of Wednesday, September 28, 2016.  We ask this to eliminate any attempt by VA to cite a concurrent investigation as a means to withhold documentation from either your office or the Committee.  If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Jon Towers, Majority Staff Director, at (202) 225-3527.

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