mr. sullivan, please. >> sure. number one i think we heard the critical nature of good internal controls in a professionally groomed contracting and project managing staff. va spends a significant amount of effort, time, and resources to be sure our staff is fully trained and meets the requirement with a strict internal control. every lease at va more than 10,000 square feet is reviewed by numerous offices and our secretary signs them all. if anything at va, folks think there's too much review. i don't agree with that, but that's the ground swell. we have strict controls. the other is leasing for providing medical services is different than providing office space. leases really work well because number one, the population may shift of who we provide services to, and one thing that has become more apparent over time is the technology of providing medical services changes, so if we do a ten-year lease, the way we provided mris ten years ago, radiology, oncology treatment, all of those things have changed. the buildin

mr. sullivan mentioned sort of the enhanced use leasing authority. they have some authorities that we don't at gsa and so we've been able to lease from them and develop properties to. >> if -- to specific where we've been able to use a former postal service facility, renovate that can use their authority to create honor and efficient space for the irs. and help find a good site for the taxpayer. >> that's very encouraging to anyone else? that's good stuff, thank you. anyone else? >> i'm sure if the post office had sites that become available due to to a downsizing and they were available, and for us it would be key, would they be located in the place where we need space, that would be the critical point of how close it would be to wear veterans needs are. and if they could be easily adapted to deliver health care, i'm sure we would look at those and see if there was a match and take advantage of any economies that was a. >> okay, thanks. i'm just asking our staff both democrat and republican staff to please know that. if there's a snare where we can

mr. jim sullivan, also known as james, director of the office of asset enterprise management of u.s. department of veterans affairs. it seems like we pick on the g8 a lot, and we actually use them a lot of times i'm agencies do things well. sometimes folks in the sense they just like, they like to conduct catchier and. what we like to do is sort of when folks are behaving in in a private ways we like to put spotlight on them. when agencies are managing a behaving in a more ways, we like to put spotlight on them and many number of times we've done that with the va. mr. sullivan assumed the leadership role in 2009 after serving as the deputy director since 2000 -- i guess since may 2002, something like that. you're now the director of the office of asset enterprise management, and mr. sullivan has over 25 years of experience of capital budget, budgeting and planning and asset management. he plays a pivotal role in managing with a large portfolio portfolio of property in the federal government. including delaware. the honorable david kotz, like i want to sleep and a lot of cops? okay. d

mr. sullivan, i think you may have -- there were three questions the va asks. could you say the questions again for us, please? i looked through your testimony, and i didn't see them. >> sure. when we make real property decisions whether to renovate it, sell it, or whatever, how will that decision affect veteran and veteran's families, number one. we don't do anything to negatively impact them. second priority is to be sure that decision improves the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the va operations whether it's consolidating, building a new building or buying a piece of property. the third is we want to be a good neighbor. we're located in 165 communities around this country with major presences, and sometimes we are the presence in that community, and we do to the extent possible be a good neighbor to the community and reach a decision that helps us and helps the local community, and we take them in that priority, first for veterans and families, efficiency, and then try to be a good neighbor. >> all right. i'll ask other panels, are those three good que

mr. sullivan, please proceed.ot chairman carper and ranking member brown, thank you for the opportunity to appear to discuss veterans affairs management of its capital asset portfolio and more specifically is leased property portfolio. at the outset of his ava evaluates all its capital decisions including leasing based on three following critical principles. first is that directly benefit veterans and families at second, does it improve operations of va and your monthly doesn't allow us to be a good member of the local community? ca is the operator of five large portfolios in the country. he also maintains facilities for the benefits administration national cemetery of minutes ration of allah. we've seen has been and continues to be an essential part of the capital portfolio management practice. b. is authorized to require facilities including the facilities for medical and nonmedical purposes which include hospitals, community-based clinics, cemeteries and the medical research space and other medical related func

mr. sullivan said, the budget enforcement act and the budget scorekeeping rules limit the flexibility that we have had in the past. >> that's good to know. >> mr. heslop i don't want to beat a dead horse but when you say we are on the hook for the space but we are not using it united physically in the space you mean the taxpayers are on the hook. some cover to get our appropriation from congress and basically there is a next tradeoffs of it isn't direct taxpayer dollars but someone is paying there's an obligation that will come due in january of 2013 if we are unable to find a tenant. however, i think our conversation with the gsa is optimistic and we will -- >> so you are not in that space but you are already in another space you are paying for right now you indicated throughout the region; is the right? >> right. we have 11 regional offices. >> i want to make sure i a understand that. thank you. >> mr. kotz come in your may, 2011 report you indicated to the sec that they grossly underestimated the office space that it needed violated federal law by $556.000000 lease and last year the con

mr. sullivan acknowledged that many passages in perry's "fed up" could dog his presidential campaign.n that flip flop is always a bad thing. i think it's bad to punish a candidate and elected officials to develop new ideas. if leaders are willing to stop, listen, and learn and evolve, that's good for them and for you. president george w. bush aka the deciders often boasted of his it tee nace yus determination to stay the course even when everything suggested that the country needed a new course. at my most charitable i like to believe rick perry has a moment of clarity that allows him to see the danger in declaring meshgs's crucial associate safety net is unconstitutional, even if he's having trouble saying it. when a staff says to ignore what he wrote in a book less than a year ago and when perry answersanswers policy questions saying, read the boong then maybe we need to involve an our thinking and look at how similar rick perry and george bush really are after all. >>> coming up, mitt romney says he understands all of that stuff about unemployment. he's unemployed. he's so unemploy