A long-planned Veterans Affairs hospital being built in Denver, already hundreds of millions of dollars over its $604 million budget, has turned into a billion-dollar boondoggle for the agency. The contractor, Kiewit-Turner, blames the VA for ignoring agreements to submit plans that can be built within budget and has asked a federal board overseeing civilian contract disputes to let the company walk away from the job. Problems with the building emerged in January, when letters between the builder and the VA revealed the project to be running some $200 million over budget, with Kiewit-Turner blaming a pricey design that was only partially completed by the time it entered into the contract. The two sides subsequently agreed — via a handwritten agreement — to build the hospital within the original budget, with the VA in charge of submitting a new, pared-down design reflecting a number of cost-saving measures. But in a July 8 complaint to the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals,
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