May 13, 1999

Dear Colleague:

I have received some disturbing news concerning the Board of Veterans Appeals (the Board) of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) which I want to share with you. The Board is responsible for deciding claims for VA benefits which are appealed from VA Regional Offices. I have been informed that over 1,000 pieces of unprocessed mail has been discovered at the Board. Some of this mail is dated over one year ago.

According to the Board, the affected mail involves claims from Decision Team I which includes the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wisconsin. At this time, the Board has not identified problems with mail involving any other states.

The VA Inspector General is currently investigating this matter and a number of steps are reportedly being taken by the Board to address the problem. The cache of unprocessed mail is being sorted according to whether it represents new evidence, requests for a hearing or other matters. The Board is in the process of categorizing and inventorying the old mail and identifying any specific action which needs to be taken.

Priority is to be given to taking remedial action on those matters that affect active cases currently pending before the Board or on cases in which a Board decision has already been made. It is expected that affected cases in which a Board decision has been rendered will have the decision vacated and a new decision issued. I have asked the VA to identify any affected cases which were appealed to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and to assure that the Office of the General Counsel appraises the Court and opposing parties of the misplaced correspondence.

I hope this information will be helpful to you in responding to inquiries you may receive about this matter. If you need other information or assistance concerning this matter please contact Mary Ellen Mc Carthy, Democratic Counsel to the Subcommittee on Benefits at 225-9756.

Sincerely,

LANE EVANS
Ranking Democratic Member