Two years ago, construction on a much-needed new Veterans Administration clinic for Savannah appeared to be mere months away.
The VA had chosen a location and developed all the necessary plans — including site, architectural, environmental and landscaping — and put the package out for bid.
More than 125 would-be developers, contractors and architects attended the bid conference in late May 2011 before appraisal issues with the property put the project on hold.
Two years later, the project is back in the works, although the process is significantly different.
This time around, prospective developers have submitted potential sites — some with undeveloped land, some with existing buildings, according to Brad Seifert, senior director of the Washington, D.C., firm Public Properties.
The firm represents the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in construction, leasing and real estate matters.
“The sites and buildings have been scrutinized against the criteria, and that report is being prepared now,” Seifert said.
Those submittals that meet the criteria (details of the criteria haven’t been made public) will then be sent a solicitation for offer — the VA’s version of a request for proposal — that will describe what the VA is looking for in the project.
Because the project is still in the proposal process, Seifert declined to elaborate on what the solicitation for offer will contain, other than to say it will cover such criteria as square footage, building material specifications, technical and price award factors.
The solicitation is expected to go out to the pre-qualified developers sometime this summer, he said.
The developer who wins the bid will buy the property, build the clinic and lease it to the VA.
Seifert deferred to the Veterans Administration on questions regarding the project’s timeline and services the new clinic will offer.
The VA didn’t respond Friday to calls requesting that information. The original project was expected to provide primary care, ophthalmology, mental health care and minor surgical procedures. It also was to include a women’s health care facility.
That a new facility is needed has never been in question.
At only 39,000 square feet, the existing clinic off Montgomery Crossroads is often overwhelmed by the needs of the more than 8,000 veterans in the Savannah area, many of whom must drive to the VA Hospital in Charleston, S.C., for anything beyond primary care.
“I have to go to Charleston for a lot of things I need, even a routine colonoscopy,” said Korean War veteran Arthur O. Dilworth, 84.
“We ought to be able to stay in Savannah to get our health care,” he said. “A bigger clinic would certainly be welcome.”
Vietnam veteran Thomas Moody, who served from 1960-82, agreed.
“With as many veterans as we have in this area, everything they need should be right here,” Moody said.
