[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 43 (Friday, March 4, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12549-12550]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-04631]


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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS


Evidence and Notification Delays

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.

ACTION: Notice of extension of timeframes for notification letters.

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SUMMARY: The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) received notice 
that the vendor contracted to provide printing services to the 
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) experienced staffing and equipment 
issues that resulted in a significant delay in the printing and mailing 
of benefit letters. To protect the interests of Veterans and other 
claimants affected by this delay, VBA is instituting temporary guidance 
extending a grace period on responses to time-sensitive letter 
notifications.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Raymond Tellez, Executive Director, 
Office of Business Integration, Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 
Vermont Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20420, 202-461-9367. (This is not a 
toll-free number.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August 12, 2021, the Office of 
Information and Technology informed VBA that the vendor, contracted to 
provide printing services to VA by the Government Publishing Office 
(GPO), experienced

[[Page 12550]]

staffing and equipment issues that resulted in a significant delay in 
the printing and mailing of letters sent through the Veterans Benefits 
Management System (VBMS) Package Manager or centralized printing. VBA 
was informed that since July 13, 2021, there were letters not timely 
mailed to Veterans and other claimants. This printing and mailing delay 
does not impact Insurance Service, Education Service or Loan Guaranty 
Service timeframes for applications, appeals or notifications. In 
addition, any automated ``batch'' letters have not been affected by 
this situation. VBA awarded a new contract on September 29, 2021, with 
full printing capability achieved by December 31, 2021. Any 
notification letters issued after this date will be printed and mailed 
timely.
    The staffing and equipment issues impacted the ability of VBA to 
send timely notification letters to some claimants. Some of these 
letters require a claimant response within a set timeframe. Response 
periods are traditionally calculated based on the date of mailing and 
the date of the letter of notification is considered the date of 
mailing for this purpose. However, VBA is unable to ascertain the 
extent of delay between the date of the letter of notification and date 
of actual mailing of that letter for any given correspondence generated 
during the impacted period. As a result, some claimants may not be able 
to satisfy the required timeframe for response through no fault of 
their own due to printing and mailing delays. VA aims to protect the 
interests of claimants by extending a grace period on the timeframe for 
which claimants can respond to time-limited notification.
    If a claimant does not reply to a time-limited notification 
generated during the period beginning July 13, 2021 and ending December 
31, 2021, such as making an election of benefits or services, or 
reporting for a scheduled compensation and pension examination or 
scheduled hearing before VBA, VBA will not take adverse action to deny, 
reduce, or terminate benefits or services unless: (1) The claimant is 
contacted and there is documented notice of their right to respond; (2) 
the requested information is received; or (3) the response period has 
lapsed after affording the claimant at least an additional 90 days to 
respond. To determine the length of the extended response period, VA 
considered the number of days the mail was delayed. While this number 
has varied, once a claimant has been afforded the original time span in 
the letter (generally 30 or 60 days) followed by an additional 90 days, 
the additional timeframe would cover the period of delay for all 
impacted notices. If deemed necessary, further extensions for the 
impacted population may be announced.
    For Veterans who filed an appeal with the Board of Veterans' 
Appeals (Board) please visit https://www.bva.va.gov/ for information 
specific to Board correspondence, scheduled hearings at the Board and 
receiving your Board decision.
    VA regulation 38 CFR 3.110 provides that, ``[i]n computing the time 
limit for any action required of a claimant or beneficiary, including 
the filing of claims or evidence requested by VA, the first day of the 
specified period . . . . shall be the date of mailing of notification 
to the claimant or beneficiary of the action required and the time 
limit therefor. The date of the letter of notification shall be 
considered the date of mailing for purposes of computing time limits.''
    38 CFR 3.109(b) provides that time limits within which claimants or 
beneficiaries are required to act to perfect a claim or challenge an 
adverse VA decision may be extended for good cause shown. VA has 
determined that correspondence impacted by GPO printing vendor delays 
during the specified time frame serves as good cause to extend those 
time limits for correspondence generated during the impacted period.
    38 CFR 3.103(b) (``Procedural due process and other rights'') 
provides guidance on the right to notice. In part, this regulation 
affirms that claimants are entitled to notice of any decision. Section 
3.103(b)(2) states that no award of compensation, pension, or 
dependency and indemnity compensation shall be terminated, reduced, or 
otherwise adversely affected unless the claimant has been provided a 
period of 60 days in which to submit evidence. Section 3.103(c) 
provides the general rules regarding submission of evidence.
    VBA hereby gives notice that if a claimant for VBA benefits other 
than insurance, education, and loan guaranty benefits does not reply to 
a time-limited notification, such as making an election of benefits or 
services, or reporting for a scheduled compensation and pension 
examination or scheduled hearing before VBA issued via VBMS Package 
Manager or centralized printing from July 13, 2021 until December 31, 
2021, then VA will automatically extend the response period at least 90 
days.
    In addition to publishing this notice in the Federal Register, and 
to ensure all impacted claimants are aware of this information, VA 
issued a press release on November 30, 2021, addressing these delays 
and the remedial steps described above. https://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=5744. Furthermore, on December 6, 2021, VA 
transmitted an email notice to claimants at their last known email 
addresses that informed them of the printing delay and the extended 
response period. Additionally, VBA intends to mail a letter to all 
claimants impacted by these delays that informs them of the extension 
outlined above. This letter will encourage claimants who anticipated 
receiving a time-sensitive letter notification but have not yet 
received one to contact VA at 1-800-827-1000.

Signing Authority

    Denis McDonough, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, approved this 
document on February 27, 2022 and authorized the undersigned to sign 
and submit the document to the Office of the Federal Register for 
publication electronically as an official document of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs.

Luvenia Potts,
Regulation Development Coordinator, Office of Regulation Policy & 
Management, Office of General Counsel, Department of Veterans Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2022-04631 Filed 3-3-22; 8:45 am]
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