Sept. 6, 2008 - Just when construction plans were finally getting under way to build Montana veterans a modern $8 million clinic on the West End of Billings, the project may be delayed because one unsuccessful bidder, apparently the Transtech Center, has filed a protest.

On Aug. 26, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs awarded a contract to a Pennsylvania business, J.R.A. Development Co., to build a 24,000-square-foot outpatient clinic off the Shiloh Interchange.

The clinic would sit on 8 acres in Broso Valley Park, just north of the Wingate by Wyndham Hotel and The Reef indoor water park. It would more than double the space of the existing VA clinic, at 2345 King Ave. W.

Initially, J.R.A executives and several Billings developers confirmed that the contract had been awarded and that construction should start within 90 days and be done by October 2009.

However, after the letter of protest surfaced, VA officials in Denver and Helena refused to comment and asked the other parties not to discuss the building project.

Executives at two other unsuccessful bidders, Go Ventures of Butte and Western Devcon Inc. of San Diego, said they didn't file the protest. Scannell Properties of Indianapolis could not be reached for comment.

Transtech Center, which is close to Broso Valley Park, also filed an unsuccessful bid to build the VA clinic at an unknown site. When asked if his company had filed the protest, Transtech real estate developer Jerry Thomas said, "I'm not going to comment on that right now."

He later added, "We haven't heard back on either yet."

When asked if that meant that Transtech had not heard back from the VA on its proposal and its protest letter, Thomas said, "I told you I wasn't going to comment."

Transtech, the first high-tech business park in Billings, has one medical facility on campus: the Advanced Care Hospital of Montana. The $14 million facility for people recovering from illness or surgery opened in January.

A data center is under construction at Transtech, and the Big Sky Economic Development Authority is building the GE Commercial Finance operations center on its land at 3333 Hesper Road, near Transtech.

Thomas and Joe McClure, who is Advanced Care's chief executive, used to head the Big Sky EDA. The public-private corporation partially financed with Yellowstone County tax dollars owned the Transtech land until most of the parcels were sold to a private development company, Diamond B Properties.

Developer Matt Brosovich, who negotiated the buy-sell contract for the VA clinic site, said he didn't know who filed the protest letter. "I'm strictly the local land guy," he said.

The VA requires that its clinics be located next to a major exit off an interstate and be close to hotels and high-speed Internet connections.

"The clinic would be the third-largest building on our property," Brosovich said. "Obviously, the beneficial side of it is there are going to be a lot of other doctors and medical staff that will want to relocate to this site."

Al Koelzer of NAI Business Properties said he showed the J.R.A. executives 15 sites along the interstate from Lockwood to Zoo Drive and they settled on Broso Park the same day.

"They chose what I believed to be the best site by coming to town prepared," Koelzer said. "They have joint venture with companies that have built VA clinics before, so they really know what they are doing."

J.R.A. teamed up with two other Wisconsin companies on the Billings proposal: Summit Smith, a health care developer out of Milwaukee, which specializes in health care facilities, and a company in Fond du Lac.

Although the VA staff in Denver and Helena declined to comment, disabled Billings veteran Angelo Bianco said such protests are common in the VA bidding system.

"It could delay the clinic into 2010 because the appeal process is 180 days minimum from when the appeal is filed," Bianco said. "So, at the minimum, you're looking at March 2009 to award the contract again or longer."

In February, Montana Sen. Jon Tester took U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake on a tour of Montana VA facilities. After the visit, the project gained momentum.

The current VA clinic on King Avenue West now serves 7,000 patients per year, up from 1,500 patients when it opened in 2000. And the ranks of veterans needing physical or psychological care are swelling with war injuries from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Montana veterans needing surgery or hospitalization must be taken to Helena, Sheridan, Wyo., Denver, Salt Lake City or other major medical centers.

Given the vast distances and the sparse VA facilities in Montana, van drivers for the Disabled America Veterans Volunteer Transportation Network logged 1.4 million miles last year driving veterans around for treatment.

"It's just sad," Bianco said. "Doing the appeal will slow down the process and delay local veterans from getting better health care."