WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on Tuesday revised its estimate of how much it expects a new hospital in Aurora will cost — and the updated figure is a doozy: $1.73 billion, more than five times its initial $328 million price tag.

The new cost estimate, which VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson revealed to Colorado lawmakers in a late-afternoon phone call, is the latest headache for a project that has been in development for more than a decade and was suspended temporarily in December because of a dispute between the VA and its prime contractor, Kiewit-Turner.

“I am completely shocked by the number,” said U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Golden. “This is a number that took my breath away.”

This new revelation comes about two months after no one — including the VA — could come up with a cost estimate for a project. At the time, a price tag of more than $1 billion was expected, but $1.73 billion is even outside of the range of what lawmakers and administration officials had considered likely.

“It’s sticker shock,” said U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora. “It is going to be a heavy lift to get this through Congress.”

VA officials said the new figure is based on research provided by the Army Corps of Engineers, which was asked to assist the troubled project after the VA’s most recent fight with Kiewit-Turner.

“The estimate includes the cost of construction, contingencies and Army Corps of Engineers costs, as well as VA’s cost to close out the original contract and continue construction until the Army Corps of Engineers assumes construction management duties this summer,” wrote Gibson in a letter to Congress.

The only positive to come from the new figure, said Perlmutter, is that he finally felt as if the $1.73 billion estimate had some basis in fact.

“At least we have a real number and we don’t have the smoke being blown at us by the VA (as it has) the last two years or three years,” he said.

Having a more accurate cost estimate, however, is only the latest step to finishing the project.

In his letter to Congress, Gibson estimated that the agency was in the process of reprogramming about $100 million toward the Aurora project, but that there was an “additional funding need of $830 million.”

Coffman and Perlmutter agreed that finding new money would be tough — especially in light of the project’s recent problems. In December, a federal appeals board ruled against the VA and found the agency had breached its contract with Kiewit-Turner.

“I would expect serious questioning, and we’re going to have to really put on a good case and work for the additional funding,” Perlmutter said. “One of the clear results of this is that the VA has no business in construction management.”

In spite of the latest trouble — and the new price tag — there remained hope that the project ultimately would get done. An executive with Kiewit-Turner previously pegged 2017 as the year it would open.

“We have to build the hospital. I don’t think Congress will not build the hospital,” said Bernie Rogoff, a patient advocate on a VA hospital committee in Denver. “I cannot see that hospital standing there as a vacant albatross.”

At the same time, he called for an investigation that will hold VA officials accountable for a budgetary disaster.

“Those people who planned the hospital didn’t have the expertise. It was above their pay grade,” Rogoff said.

The Government Accountability Office reported in 2013 that VA medical center projects in Colorado, Las Vegas, Orlando, Fla., and New Orleans were all behind schedule and over budget, with a total cost increase of $1.5 billion and an average increase of $366 million.

The new estimate for the Aurora project, however, puts it in a class by itself.

Mark K. Matthews: 202-662-8907, mmathews@denverpost.com or twitter.com/mkmmathews