Sec. 3. COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR PROCESSING OF LEGACY APPEALS AND IMPLEMENTING NEW APPEALS SYSTEM
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## SEC. 3 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR PROCESSING OF LEGACY APPEALS AND IMPLEMENTING NEW APPEALS SYSTEM **[**[38 U.S.C. 101 note](/us/usc/t38/s101)**]** ###
(a)Plan Required Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress and the Comptroller General of the United States a comprehensive plan for— ####
(1)the processing of appeals of decisions on legacy claims that the Secretary considers pending; ####
(2)implementing the new appeals system; ####
(3)timely processing, under the new appeals system, of— #####
(A)supplemental claims under section 5108 of title 38, United States Code, as amended by section 2(i); #####
(B)requests for higher-level review under section 5104B of such title, as added by section 2(g); and #####
(C)appeals on any docket maintained under section 7107 of such title, as amended by section 2(t); and ####
(4)monitoring the implementation of the new appeals system, including metrics and goals— #####
(A)to track the progress of the implementation; #####
(B)to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the implementation; and #####
(C)to identify potential issues relating to the implementation. ###
(b)Elements The plan required by subsection
(a)shall include, at a minimum, the following: ####
(1)Delineation of the total resource requirements of the Veterans Benefits Administration and the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, disaggregated by resources required to implement and administer the new appeals system and resources required to address the appeals of decisions on legacy claims. ####
(2)Delineation of the personnel requirements of the Administration and the Board, including staffing levels during the— #####
(A)period in which the Administration and the Board are concurrently processing— ######
(i)appeals of decisions on legacy claims; and ######
(ii)appeals of decisions on non-legacy claims under the new appeals system; and #####
(B)the period during which the Administration and the Board are no longer processing any appeals of decisions on legacy claims. ####
(3)Identification of the legal authorities under which the Administration or the Board may— #####
(A)hire additional employees to conduct the concurrent processing described in paragraph (2)(A); and #####
(B)remove employees who are no longer required by the Administration or the Board once the Administration and the Board are no longer processing any appeals of decisions on legacy claims. ####
(4)An estimate of the amount of time the Administration and the Board will require to hire additional employees as described in paragraph (3)(A) once funding has been made available for such purpose, including a comparison of such estimate and the historical average time required by the Administration and the Board to hire additional employees. ####
(5)A description of the amount of training and experience that will be required of individuals conducting higher-level reviews under section 5104B of title 38, United States Code, as added by section 2(g). ####
(6)An estimate of the percentage of higher-level adjudicators who will be employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs who were Decision Review Officers on the day before the new appeals system takes effect or had experience, as of such date, comparable to that of one who was a Decision Review Officer. ####
(7)A description of the functions that will be performed after the date on which the new appeals system takes effect by Decision Review Officers who were Decision Review Officers on the day before the date the new appeals system takes effect. ####
(8)Identification of and a timeline for— #####
(A)any training that may be required as a result of hiring new employees to carry out the new appeals system or to process appeals of decisions on legacy claims; and #####
(B)any retraining of existing employees that may be required to carry out such system or to process such claims. ####
(9)Identification of the costs to the Department of Veterans Affairs of the training identified under paragraph
(8)and any additional training staff and any additional training facilities that will be required to provide such training. ####
(10)A description of the modifications to the information technology systems of the Administration and the Board that the Administration and the Board require to carry out the new appeals system, including cost estimates and a timeline for making the modifications. ####
(11)An estimate of the office space the Administration and the Board will require during each of the periods described in paragraph (2), including— #####
(A)an estimate of the amount of time the Administration and the Board will require to acquire any additional office space to carry out processing of appeals of decisions on legacy claims and processing of appeals under the new appeals system; #####
(B)a comparison of the estimate under subparagraph
(A)and the historical average time required by the Administration and the Board to acquire new office space; and #####
(C)a plan for using telework to accommodate staff exceeding available office space, including how the Administration and the Board will provide training and oversight with respect to such teleworking. ####
(12)Projections for the productivity of individual employees at the Administration and the Board in carrying out tasks relating to the processing of appeals of decisions on legacy claims and appeals under the new appeals system, taking into account the experience level of new employees and the enhanced notice requirements under section 5104(b) of title 38, United States Code, as amended by section 2(e). ####
(13)An outline of the outreach the Secretary expects to conduct to inform veterans, families of veterans, survivors of veterans, veterans service organizations, military service organizations, congressional caseworkers, advocates for veterans, and such other stakeholders as the Secretary considers appropriate about the new appeals system, including— #####
(A)a description of the resources required to conduct such outreach; and #####
(B)timelines for conducting such outreach. ####
(14)Timelines for updating any policy guidance, Internet websites, and official forms that may be necessary to carry out the new appeals system, including— #####
(A)identification of which offices and entities will be involved in efforts relating to such updating; and #####
(B)historical information about how long similar update efforts have taken. ####
(15)A timeline, including interim milestones, for promulgating such regulations as may be necessary to carry out the new appeals system and a comparison with historical averages for time required to promulgate regulations of similar complexity and scope. ####
(16)An outline of the circumstances under which claimants with pending appeals of decisions on legacy claims would be authorized to have their appeals reviewed under the new appeals system. ####
(17)A delineation of the key goals and milestones for reducing the number of pending appeals that are not processed under the new appeals system, including the expected number of appeals, remands, and hearing requests at the Administration and the Board each year, beginning with the one year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, until there are no longer any appeals pending before the Administration or the Board for a decision on a legacy claim. ####
(18)A description of each risk factor associated with each element of the plan and a contingency plan to minimize each such risk. ###
(c)Review by Comptroller General of the United States ####
(1)In general Not later than 90 days after the Comptroller General of the United States receives the plan required by subsection (a), the Comptroller General shall— #####
(A)assess such plan; and #####
(B)notify the appropriate committees of Congress of the findings of the Comptroller General with respect to the assessment conducted under subparagraph (A). ####
(2)Elements The assessment conducted under paragraph (1)(A) shall include the following: #####
(A)An assessment of whether the plan comports with sound planning practices. #####
(B)Identification of any gaps in the plan. #####
(C)Formulation of such recommendations as the Comptroller General considers appropriate. ###
(d)Periodic Progress Reports Not later than 90 days after the date on which the Secretary submits the plan under subsection (a), not less frequently than once every 90 days thereafter until the applicability date set forth in section 2(x)(1), and not less frequently than once every 180 days thereafter for the seven-year period following such applicability date, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress and the Comptroller General a report on the progress of the Secretary in carrying out the plan and what steps, if any, the Secretary has taken to address any recommendations formulated by the Comptroller General pursuant to subsection (c)(2)(C). ###
(e)Publication The Secretary shall make available to the public on an Internet website of the Department of Veterans Affairs— ####
(1)the plan required by subsection (a); and ####
(2)the periodic progress reports required by subsection (d). ###
(f)Appropriate Committees of Congress Defined In this section, the term “**appropriate committees of Congress**” means— ####
(1)the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and ####
(2)the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.
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Sec. 3
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR PROCESSING OF LEGACY APPEALS AND IMPLEMENTING NEW APPEALS SYSTEM
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