An extension on a federal grant has led South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard to cancel a one-day special session of the legislature to appropriate $10-million dollars to cover cost-overruns at the new State Veterans Home in Hot Springs.

The Legislature earlier this year approved $41.3 million dollars in state and federal money for the project, but the lowest bid came in about $10-million higher.

The governor’s staff originally believed the special session was needed because waiting until next year’s legislative session to approve money to meet the overruns would push the state past the deadline for a grant from the VA that’s covering much of the cost of the project.

That led to Daugaard’s call for a one-day session to keep things moving forward, but the governor says the VA extended the deadline…eliminating the need to act immediately.

Instead, he’s now ordering that “the entire project be reevaluated, redesigned, and rebid”…a process he believes will result in considerable considerable cost savings when the new plan is presented to lawmakers in January.

Daugaard also says that the prime contractor, Scull Construction of Rapid City, has agreed to set aside the state’s contingent acceptance of its winning bid.