VA mismanaged West L.A. campus, GAO says

http://www.latimes.com/local/westside/la-me-0918-va-mismanaged-20140918-story.html

VA mismanaged West L.A. campus, GAO says
By Martha Groves
9.17.2014

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has mismanaged its West Los Angeles campus by under-billing for land use agreements and by improperly diverting funds, according to a Government Accountability Office report issued Wednesday.

The GAO found weaknesses in the billing and collection processes for so-called sharing agreements at three VA medical centers, including the sprawling, 387-acre campus between Westwood and Brentwood. The VA has leased portions of its land to theater operators, a hotel laundry service, a private school for use as tennis courts, UCLA for a baseball field and an entertainment company for set storage.

Saying that they were deeply disturbed by the findings, three Democratic lawmakers from California urged Robert McDonald, the new chief of the VA, to act quickly to bring all land use agreements into compliance with federal laws and policies, and to recover revenue that the West L.A. Veterans Affairs Medical Center did not collect, or misused, and ensure that it be used for veterans' medical care.

"It is clear to us that the West Los Angeles (VA) violated federal law and shortchanged veterans in Southern California," said Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and Rep. Henry A. Waxman.