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System of Records (SOR)
44VA01 - Veterans Appellate Records System-VA
System location:
Board of Veterans' Appeals, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA),
Vermont Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20420, at the Wilkes-Barre VA
facility, 100 North Wilkes-Barre Boulevard, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702,
and with the Board's contractor, Promisel & Korn, Inc., 3228 Amberley
Lane, Fairfax, VA 22031.
Categories of individuals covered by the system:
Veterans, other appellants, Veterans Law Judges, Board staff
attorneys and Members of Congress.
Categories of records in the system:
The computer database entitled Veterans Appeals Control and
Locator System (VACOLS) is a part of this system and includes
electronically attached copies of Board of Veterans' Appeals
decisions, remands and development memoranda; personal information on
appellants and contesting parties including names, addresses,
identifying numbers, phone numbers, service dates and issues on
appeal; names, addresses and phone numbers of representatives, powers
of attorney and attorney fee agreements; information on and dates of
procedural steps taken in claims; records of and copies of
correspondence concerning appeals, diary entries, notations of mail
received, information requests; verbatim recordings and transcripts
of hearings; tracking information as to file location and custodian;
and employee productivity information. Material in this system that
is not maintained in VACOLS includes copies of written fee agreements
and documents relating to the filing and review of fee agreements
received prior to the Board's practice of electronically attaching
fee agreements and powers-of-attorney in VACOLS; microfiche decision
locator tables and indices to decisions from 1983 to 1994; and
microfiche reels with texts of decisions from 1977 to 1989.
Authority for maintenance of the system:
38 U.S.C. 7101(a), 7104, 5904.
Purpose(s):
Initial decisions on claims for Federal veterans' benefits are
made at VA field offices throughout the nation. Claimants may appeal
those decisions to the Board of Veterans' Appeals. See 38 U.S.C.
Chapter 71. The Board gathers or creates the records in this system
in order to carry out its appellate function, to statistically
evaluate the appellate process, to monitor attorney fee agreements,
and to evaluate employee performance.
Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including
categories of users and the purposes of such uses:
- Disclosure to law enforcement personnel and security guards in
order to alert them to the presence of dangerous persons in VA
facilities or at VA activities conducted in non-VA facilities.
- VA may disclose on its own initiative any information in this
system, except the names and home addresses of veterans and their
dependents, which is relevant to a suspected or reasonably imminent
violation of law, whether civil, criminal or regulatory in nature and
whether arising by general or program statute or by regulation, rule
or order issued pursuant thereto, to a Federal, State, local, tribal,
or foreign agency charged with the responsibility of investigating or
prosecuting such violation, or charged with enforcing or implementing
the statute, regulation, rule or order. On its own initiative, VA may
also disclose the names and addresses of veterans and their
dependents to a Federal agency charged with the responsibility of
investigating or prosecuting civil, criminal or regulatory violations
of law, or charged with enforcing or implementing the statute,
regulation, rule or order issued pursuant thereto.
- A record from this system of records may be disclosed to a
veteran, claimant or a third party claimant (e.g., a veteran's
survivors or dependents) to the extent necessary for the development
of that claimant's claim for VA benefits.
- Disclosure may be made to a congressional office from the
record of an individual in response to an inquiry from the
congressional office made at the request of that individual.
- Disclosure may be made to the National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA) in records management inspections conducted
under authority of Title 44 U.S.C.
- A record from this system (other than the address of the
beneficiary) may be disclosed to a former representative of a
beneficiary to the extent necessary to develop and adjudicate a claim
for payment of attorney fees to such representative from past due
benefits under 38 U.S.C. 5904 (d) or to review a fee agreement
between such representative and the beneficiary for reasonableness
under 38 U.S.C. 5904 (c)(2).
- Where VA determines that there is good cause to question the
legality or ethical propriety of the conduct of a person or
organization prospectively, presently or formerly representing a
person in a matter before VA, a record from this system may be
disclosed, on VA's initiative, to any or all of the following: (1)
Applicable civil or criminal law enforcement authorities; (2) a
person or entity responsible for the licensing, supervision, or
professional discipline of the person or organization prospectively,
presently or formerly representing a person in a matter before VA;
(3) to other Federal and State agencies and to Federal courts when
such information may be relevant to the individual's or
organization's provision of representational services before such
agency or court. Names and home addresses of veterans and their
dependents will be released on VA's initiative under this routine use
only to Federal entities.
- Disclosure may be made to the VA-appointed representative of
an employee, including all notices, determinations, decisions, or
other written communications issued to the employee in connection
with an examination ordered by VA under medical evaluation (formerly
fitness-for-duty) examination procedures or Department-filed
disability retirement procedures.
- Disclosure may be made to officials of the Merit Systems
Protection Board, or the Office of the Special Counsel, or both, when
requested in connection with appeals, special studies of the civil
service and other merit systems, review of rules and regulations,
investigation of alleged or possible prohibited personnel practices,
and such other functions, promulgated in 5 U.S.C. 1205 and 1206, or
as may be authorized by law.
- Disclosure may be made to the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission when requested in connection with investigations of
alleged or possible discrimination practices, examination of Federal
affirmative employment programs, compliance with the Uniform
Guidelines of Employee Selection Procedures, or other functions
vested in the Commission by the President's Reorganization Plan No. 1
of 1978.
- Disclosure may be made to the Federal Labor Relations
Authority, including its General Counsel, when requested in
connection with investigation and resolution of allegations of unfair
labor practices, in connection with the resolution of exceptions to
arbitrator awards when a question of material fact is raised and
matters before the Federal Service Impasses Panel.
- Disclosure of attorney fee information may be made to the
United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims when an order of
the Board has been applied to that Court in accordance with the
provisions of 38 U.S.C. 5904(c)(2).
Note: Any record maintained in this system of records which may
include information relating to drug abuse, alcoholism or alcohol
abuse, infection with the human immunodeficiency virus or sickle cell
anemia will be disclosed pursuant to an applicable routine use for
the system only when permitted by 38 U.S.C. 7332. To the extent that
records contained in the system include information protected by 45
CFR parts 160 and 164, i.e., individually identifiable health
information, that information cannot be disclosed under a routine use
unless there is also specific regulatory authority in 45 CFR parts
160 and 164 permitting disclosure.
Policies and practices for storing, retrieving, accessing,
retaining, and disposing of records in the system:
Storage:
Information is kept in a computer database entitled Veterans
Appeals Control and Locator System (VACOLS) and backed up on computer
tape. Archived records that were created prior to expansion of the
BVA's electronic storage capability may be stored in filing folders
or cabinets, microfiche, computer disks, computer tape and magnetic
tape (hearings). Records in this system are essential to protecting
legal and financial rights of individual citizens and the government
and are maintained indefinitely as Category B Vital Records. Under
the Vital Records Schedule, electronic back-up tapes are updated
quarterly. A back-up tape is transferred weekly to the Board's
contractor for quick access back-up tape storage. Hearings before the
Board are recorded and stored digitally until a transcript has been
made. Transcripts are then electronically attached to the record in
VACOLS. Attorney fee agreements and related correspondence received
prior to the Board's practice of attaching this information in VACOLS
are kept in file folders. These files will be scanned into VACOLS, at
which time original documents will be forwarded for association with
the appropriate claims file. The now discontinued Briefface folders
are maintained at the Board according to provisions of General
Records Schedule 16, Item 7, for a minimum of 18 months.
Retrievability:
VACOLS records in this system may be retrieved by any searchable
field in the VACOLS database. This system notice covers only
information retrieved by an individual's name or other identifier.
Archived material from this system that is not in VACOLS may be
retrieved by veteran's name, VA file number, or BVA archive citation
number.
Safeguards:
Files are under custody of designated employees of the Department
of Veterans Affairs, including employees of the Board of Veterans'
Appeals and its contractor, all of who have a need to know the
contents of the system of records in order to perform their duties.
Access to VACOLS is strictly limited to reflect the need individual
employees have for the different records in the system. Where a VSO
office is located in a VA facility and has access to VACOLS through
the Wide Area Network (WAN), that access is strictly limited to
viewing records of current clients of the organization. No personal
identifiers are used in statistical and management reports, and
personal identifiers are removed from all archived BVA decisions and
other records in this system before VA makes them available to the
public. Files kept by the contractor are in a locked safe in locked
rooms in a secured building.
Retention and disposal:
Records in this system, in VACOLS and those collected prior to
VACOLS use as a repository, are retained indefinitely as Category B
Vital Records unless otherwise specifically noted. Under the Vital
Records Schedule, electronic back-up tapes are destroyed by erasure
upon receipt of the next quarterly tape set. Transcriptions of
recordings of hearings will be attached electronically in VACOLS.
Following procedures established in Rule 714, 38 CFR 20.714,
transcripts will become the official records of hearings and the
recordings will be destroyed through erasure after the hearing
subject has had the opportunity to challenge the accuracy of the
transcript. Briefface folders are shredded after 18 months as
described in General Records Schedule 16, Item 7.
System manager(s) and address:
Chairman (01), Board of Veterans' Appeals, 810 Vermont Avenue,
NW., Washington, DC 20420.
Notification Procedures:
An individual desiring to know whether this system of records
contains a record pertaining to him or her, how he or she may gain
access to such a record, and how he or she may contest the content of
such a record may write to the following address: Privacy Act Officer
(01C1), Board of Veterans' Appeals, 810 Vermont Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20420. The following information, or as much as is
available should be furnished in order to identify the record: Name
of veteran, name of appellant other than the veteran (if any), and
Department of Veterans Affairs file number. For information about
hearing transcripts or tape recordings, also furnish the date, or the
approximate date, of the hearing.
Record access procedures:
Individuals seeking information regarding access to information
contained in this system of records may write, call or visit the
Board of Veterans' Appeals Freedom of Information Act Officer, whose
address and telephone number are as follows: Freedom of Information
Act Officer (01C1), Board of Veterans' Appeals, 810 Vermont Avenue,
NW., Washington, DC 20420, (202) 565-9252.
Contesting record procedures:
(See notification procedures above.)
Record source categories:
VA Claims, insurance, loan guaranty, vocational rehabilitation,
education, hospital records, and outpatient clinic records folders
and associated folders; Board of Veterans' Appeals records; data
presented by appellants and their representatives at hearings and in
briefs and correspondence; and data furnished by Board of Veterans'
Appeals employees.
Systems exempted from certain provisions of the act:
None.
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