of claims for benefits under the laws administered by the 
Secretary in accordance with the following principles: 
(1) The purpose of automation should be to in-
crease the speed and accuracy of claims processing 
decisions. 
(2) Automation should be conducted in a man-
ner that enhances the productivity of employees of 
the Department of Veterans Affairs. 
(3) Automation should be carried out in a man-
ner that achieves greater consistency in the proc-
essing and rating of claims by relying on patterns of 
similar evidence in claim files. 
(4) To the greatest extent possible, automation 
should be carried out by drawing from information 
in the possession of the Department, other Govern-
ment agencies, and applicants for benefits. 
(5) Automation of any claims analysis or deter-
mination process should not be end-to-end or lack 
intermediation. 
(6) Employees of the Department should con-
tinue to make decisions with respect to the approval 
of claims and the granting of benefits. 
(7) Automation should not be carried out in a 
manner that reduces or infringes upon— 
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(A) the due process rights of applicants for 
benefits under the laws administered by the 
Secretary; or 
(B) the duties of the Secretary to assist 
and notify claimants. 
SEC. 3. PLAN FOR MODERNIZATION OF VETERANS BENE-
FITS ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION TECH-
NOLOGY SYSTEMS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Vet-
erans Affairs shall submit to appropriate congressional 
committees a plan for the modernization of the informa-
tion technology systems of the Veterans Benefits Adminis-
tration. The plan shall cover the first fiscal year that be-
gins after the date of the enactment of this Act and the 
subsequent four fiscal years and shall include each of the 
following: 
(1) An identification of any information system 
to be modernized or retired, if applicable, during the 
period covered by the plan. 
(2) A description of how the Secretary intends 
to incorporate the principles referred to in section 2 
into the modernization of such information systems. 
(3) An identification of targets, for each fiscal 
year, by which the Secretary intends to complete the 
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modernization of each information system or major 
component or functionality of such system identified 
under paragraph (1). 
(4) Cost estimates for the modernization of 
each information system identified under paragraph 
(1) for each fiscal year covered by the plan and in 
total. 
(b) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES.— 
In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
(1) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the 
Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans’ 
Affairs, and Related Agencies of the Committee on 
Appropriations of the House of Representatives; and 
(2) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the 
Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans’ 
Affairs, and Related Agencies of the Committee on 
Appropriations of the Senate. 
Æ 
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