The bill, approved Tuesday on a voice vote, requires the VA to allow the Army Corps of Engineers or other federal agency to manage projects that cost more than $100 million.
The bill responds to a multiyear debacle in Aurora, Colorado, where a hospital under construction is projected to cost $1.7 billion. Investigators blame overruns on multiple design changes and a decision by VA officials to use a complicated contract process they didn't fully understand.
Republican lawmakers call the project a symptom of the VA's overall dysfunction.
