§405.215 Procedures before a Federal reviewing official.

(a) General. The Federal reviewing official will review existing evidence and accept and obtain new evidence in order to make a decision on your claim. The decision will be based on all evidence in the record.

(b) Developing the record. If you have additional evidence that you did not submit with your request for review, you should submit that evidence to the Federal reviewing official as soon as possible. If there is additional evidence that you wish to submit and you are having difficulty obtaining it, the Federal reviewing official may issue a subpoena for the evidence using the process and standards described in §405.217. If the Federal reviewing official determines that additional evidence is necessary, we may obtain such evidence from other sources, including the State agency.

(c) Seeking State agency clarification. In reviewing your claim, if the Federal reviewing official determines that additional information, beyond that provided by the claimant, is necessary, the Federal reviewing official may obtain it from other sources, including the State agency or a treating source. The State agency will provide such clarification or additional information to the Federal reviewing official on a timely basis. In such circumstances, the Federal reviewing official will retain the authority to make the decision as to whether or not you are disabled.