VA’s No. 2 Official To Visit Overbudget Aurora Hospital

<p>(John Daley/CPR News)</p>
<p>Sloan Gibson, United States Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs, speaks to reporters at the site of the under construction VA hospital in Aurora on April 2, 2015.</p>
VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson talks about over-budget Aurora project
Sloan Gibson, United States Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs, speaks to reporters at the site of the under construction VA hospital in Aurora on April 2, 2015.

VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson will meet with contractors and department officials Wednesday at the construction site in suburban Aurora.

The medical center is expected to cost $1.7 billion, nearly triple the figure the VA gave in 2014. Completion is expected in January 2018. It will replace an aging hospital in Denver.

Investigators blamed the overruns on multiple design changes and a decision by VA officials to use a complicated contract process they didn't fully understand.

Colorado lawmakers have repeatedly criticized the VA for not firing anyone over the problems. The VA says the executives responsible have already left department, and that others were transferred or demoted.