LEO A DALY’s Cynthia Doolittle brings industry perspective to U.S. Senate discussion on VA facility modernization
Cynthia Doolittle, federal healthcare deputy director at LEO A DALY, recently joined federal leaders, lawmakers, and industry partners for a U.S. Senate roundtable on delivering capital improvements for Veterans Affairs facilities.
The discussion focused on current and possible future VA initiatives to reduce project costs and timelines that will allow them to do more with their Congressionally authorized capital improvement budgets. The group examined how to most effectively move projects forward while continuing to provide modern, high-quality Veteran healthcare facilities.
Drawing on decades of experience across both public and private healthcare sectors, Doolittle contributed to conversations focused on:
Leveraging industry standards to accelerate delivery
Adopting International Code Council and National Fire Protection Association codes as a baseline for core infrastructure can simplify design requirements, reduce conflicts between standards, and create a more predictable framework for project execution.
Reimagining acquisition strategies
New delivery approaches such as expanded design-build and alternative procurement strategies that might include other transaction authorities can bring industry expertise to bear earlier in the process and help address capacity challenges.
The roundtable also reinforced a broader goal: aligning VA project delivery with private-sector best practices while ensuring long-term performance, maintainability, and patient safety.
Doolittle’s participation reflects LEO A DALY’s ongoing commitment to supporting federal clients with practical, forward-looking solutions grounded in real-world experience.
LEO A DALY has maintained its ranking as the No. 1 design firm for VA facilities for seven consecutive years and has served as a design leader for innovative models of care delivery for VA facilities. The firm has designed both projects approved under the pilot CHIP-IN Act allowing for public-private partnership funding for VA facilities: The VA Omaha, Nebraska, Ambulatory Care Center and the James Mountain Inhofe VA Medical Center in Tulsa, OK.
