Goodlatte Calls For Investigation

Congressman Bob Goodlatte has called on the Inspector General of the General Services Administration (GSA) and the Comptroller General of the United States, who is the head of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), to investigate the .9 million planned renovation of the Richard H. Poff Federal Building in downtown Roanoke.

Funds for the renovation were designated from appropriations made in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, “the stimulus bill,” which was enacted in February 2009.

Congressman Goodlatte sent letters to GSA and GAO requesting the investigations into the renovation of the Poff Federal Building after being informed by GSA that they “have awarded a $39.9 million contract for Construction Phase Services.”  The contract, which was not awarded to a local business, comes without full disclosure of the supposed benefits of the planned renovation or the projected costs according to Goodlatte.

Three weeks ago Goodlatte wrote to GSA strongly urging that the Poff Federal Building renovation be halted in order to, “avoid taxpayer funds from being wasted and suggesting that  more cost-effective alternatives be pursued.”  The only response from GSA has been to local media inquiries regarding Congressman Goodlatte’s letter.  GSA’s response to these media reports was called  “wholly insufficient” by Goodlatte’s office and brought a strong rebuff from Goodlatte:

“Recently I called for the Poff Federal Building project to be halted due to what I believe to be a tremendous waste of taxpayer funds. My reasons for calling for the project to be suspended are multifaceted – lack of thorough proof of a cost-benefit analysis, the significant disruption to the processing of veterans’ claims and benefits which will result from haphazardly moving the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Roanoke Regional Office out of the Poff Building to four different locations during the renovations, plans by the Department of Veterans Affairs (the building’s largest tenant) to relocate offices  after the renovation is complete, and failure to include security improvements to the building in the project’s plans.  While Poff Federal Building tenants move out and construction nears, it is reprehensible for GSA to essentially dismiss these issues.”

Goodlatte points out that not only will it be difficult for the employees of the VA Roanoke Regional Office but, “it will cause an increase in already lengthy delays in processing veterans’ claims and place an unnecessary burden on area veterans who seek assistance from the Department of Veterans Affairs.”

Since the announcement, over a year ago, that the Poff Building would undergo $50.9 million worth of renovations, Goodlatte says that he has received numerous inquiries from constituents concerned about the excessive price tag for the project, the cost effectiveness of this project relative to alternative construction, and the inability of local businesses to bid on the initial stages of the project.

Since that time Goodlatte has been aggressively seeking answers from the GSA regarding the cost and scope of the project.

Goodlatte concluded his response by saying, “The GSA’s handling of this project is irresponsible.  The seeming lack of transparency surrounding the planned renovation of the Poff Federal Building does not lead me to have any confidence whatsoever that it is proceeding in a manner that will be beneficial to the taxpayers, the federal government, or the Poff Building tenants.”