Evidence and Notification Delays, 12549-12550 [2022-04631]
Download as PDF
<![CDATA[
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 43 / Friday, March 4, 2022 / Notices
1,550 and annual burden by 11,067
hours.
Type of Review: Revision of a
currently approved collection.
Affected Public: Individuals or
households, and business or other forprofit organizations.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
1,590.
Estimated Time per Respondent: 7.87
hours.
Estimated Total Annual Burden
Hours: 12,527.
The following paragraph applies to all
of the collections of information covered
by this notice:
An agency may not conduct or
sponsor, and a person is not required to
respond to, a collection of information
unless the collection of information
displays a valid OMB control number.
Books or records relating to a collection
of information must be retained as long
as their contents may become material
in the administration of any internal
revenue law. Generally, tax returns and
tax return information are confidential,
as required by 26 U.S.C. 6103.
Request for Comments: Comments
submitted in response to this notice will
be summarized and/or included in the
request for OMB approval. All
comments will become a matter of
public record. Comments are invited on:
(a) Whether the collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the
agency, including whether the
information shall have practical utility;
(b) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate
of the burden of the collection of
information; (c) ways to enhance the
quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; (d) ways to
minimize the burden of the collection of
information on respondents, including
through the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information
technology; and (e) estimates of capital
or start-up costs and costs of operation,
maintenance, and purchase of services
to provide information.
Approved: February 28, 2022.
Andres Garcia Leon,
Supervisory Tax Analyst.
[FR Doc. 2022–04547 Filed 3–3–22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4830–01–P
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Treasury Advisory Committee on
Racial Equity
Department of the Treasury.
Notice of establishment of the
Treasury Advisory Committee on Racial
Equity.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:05 Mar 03, 2022
Jkt 256001
The Treasury Department has
determined that it is in the public
interest to establish the Treasury
Advisory Committee on Racial Equity. A
Charter for the Committee has been
prepared and will be filed no earlier
than 15 days following the date of
publication of this notice.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Janis Bowdler, Counselor for Racial
Equity, Department of the Treasury,
(202) 622–3002, Equity@Treasury.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant
to the Federal Advisory Committee Act
(FACA) (5 U.S.C. App., as amended),
the Department of the Treasury
(‘‘Department’’) intends to establish the
Treasury Advisory Committee on Racial
Equity (‘‘Committee’’). The Department
has determined that establishing this
committee is necessary and in the
public interest in order to carry out the
provisions of Executive Order 13985,
Advancing Racial Equity and Support
for Underserved Communities
Throughout the Federal Government.
SUMMARY:
Objectives and Duties
The purpose of the Committee is to
provide advice and recommendations to
the Department of the Treasury to assist
the Offices of the Secretary and Deputy
Secretary in carrying out their duties
and authorities towards advancing
racial equity and addressing acute
disparities for communities of color
who have been historically underserved,
marginalized, and adversely affected by
persistent poverty and inequality.
The Committee shall be a continuing
advisory committee with an initial twoyear term, subject to two-year reauthorizations at the discretion of the
Secretary of the Treasury. The
Committee will provide an opportunity
for experts to offer their advice and
recommendations to the Office of the
Secretary on a regular basis on aspects
of the domestic economy that have
directly and indirectly resulted in
unfavorable conditions for Black,
Latino, and Indigenous and Native
American persons, Asian Americans
and Pacific Islanders and other persons
of color. Topics to be addressed by the
Committee may include, but are not
limited to, financial inclusion, capital
access, housing stability, federal
government supplier diversity and
economic development.
The duties of the Committee shall be
solely advisory and shall extend only to
the submission of advice and
recommendations to the Offices of the
Secretary and Deputy Secretary, which
shall be non-binding to the Department.
No determination of fact or policy shall
be made by the Committee.
PO 00000
Frm 00127
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
12549
Membership
In order to achieve a fairly balanced
membership, the Committee shall
include representatives from a wide
range of views, such as the Federal
government, financial services industry,
state regulatory authorities, consumer or
public advocacy organizations,
community-based groups, academia,
philanthropic organizations, as well as
others focused on the advancement of
equity priorities within the United
States. Membership balance will not be
static and may change, depending on
the work of the Committee. The number
of Committee members shall not exceed
twenty-five.
The Committee shall meet at such
intervals as are necessary to carry out its
duties. It is estimated that the
Committee will generally meet four
times per year, virtually or in person.
Generally, Committee meetings are open
to the public. Nominations for
membership will be solicited in a
subsequent notice in the Federal
Register.
Janis Bowdler,
Counselor for Racial Equity.
[FR Doc. 2022–04539 Filed 3–3–22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810–AK–P
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS
AFFAIRS
Evidence and Notification Delays
Department of Veterans Affairs.
Notice of extension of
timeframes for notification letters.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
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
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\04MRN1.SGM
04MRN1
12550
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 43 / Friday, March 4, 2022 / Notices
lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
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 timelimited 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
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:05 Mar 03, 2022
Jkt 256001
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
PO 00000
Frm 00128
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 9990
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]
BILLING CODE 8320–01–P
E:\FR\FM\04MRN1.SGM
04MRN1
]]>Agencies
[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]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
Evidence and Notification Delays
AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.
ACTION: Notice of extension of timeframes for notification letters.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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]
BILLING CODE 8320-01-P
