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Office of Construction & Facilities Management

 

CHIP IN

Communities Helping Invest through Property and Improvements Needed for Veterans Act of 2016 (CHIP IN)

Public Law 114-294, the Communities Helping Invest through Property and Improvements Needed for Veterans Act of 2016, also referred to as the CHIP IN Act, authorizes VA to carry out a pilot program under which it may accept up to five donations from specified non-federal entities of:

  1. Real property that includes a constructed facility or that is to be used as the site of a facility constructed by the donor, and
  2. A facility to be constructed by the donor on real property of the VA.


The Donation must be:

  1. A property for which funds have been appropriated for a VA facility project or a property that is identified as meeting a need of the VA as part of its long-range capital planning process and that is the location for a VA facility project that is included on the Strategic Capital Investment Planning process priority list; and
  2. Donated pursuant to a formal agreement with the VA for a VA facility project in an amount acceptable to the VA at no additional cost to the federal government.


An agreement that provides for the construction of a facility shall require the entity to:

  • Conduct all necessary environmental and historic preservation due diligence,
  • Comply with all local zoning requirements,
  • Obtain all required construction permits,
  • Use construction standards required of the VA when designing, repairing, altering, or building the facility, and
  • Provide the real property, improvements, goods, or services in a manner sufficient to complete the construction at no additional cost to the federal government.

VA can carry out a pilot program to accept up to five donations for VA facility projects, and two have been identified:

  1. Omaha, NE: A project/donation in Omaha, NE for an ambulatory care center was approved, constructed and began seeing patients at the end of 2020.
  2. Tulsa, OK: A project/donation to construct an inpatient facility to support the Muskogee Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC)’s projected workload in the Tulsa, OK, market. VA received a proposal from The Board of Regents for the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges to donate a site with a building that will be renovated, and a parking garage constructed to support the VAMC’s requirements as detailed in the project’s SCIP Business Case. In 2021, VA received $120 million for a capital contribution to execute the donation. The Design and Development Agreement was completed and signed in August 2021 between VA and the donor group, Veterans Hospital in Tulsa (VHiT); this agreement provides the guidelines for the design and associated funding. This project is currently in design, which is being executed by VHiT.


VA's authority to accept donations under the program originally expired five years after the date of the bill's enactment. Public Law 117-42, amended the authority to expire on December 16, 2026.

If you are a non-federal entity interested in participation in the CHIP IN program or are simply looking to get more information on the program, please contact Office of Construction and Facilities Management Office of Real Property.

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