VCOEB June 2023 Meeting

Recommendation 20-02-A : The Secretary of Veterans Affairs task the VA Advisory Committee Management Office to post all agenda from past meetings.

Recommendation 20-02-B: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs task the VA Advisory Committee Management Office to post all briefing materials from past meetings.

Recommendation 20-02-C: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs task the VA Advisory Committee Management Office to post all minutes from past meetings, to include video recordings if available.

Recommendation 20-02-D: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs task the VA Advisory Committee Management Office to post all recommendations, as adopted, by the board from past meetings.

Recommendation 20-02-E: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs task the VA Advisory Committee Management Office to post all Office of the Secretary response packets from past meetings.

Recommendation 20-02-F: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs task the VA Advisory Committee Management Office to organize all aforementioned material by VCOEB Meeting (in reverse chronological order) to facilitate a streamlined organizational structure for archival information.

VA Response to Recommendations 20-02-A Through F: Concur in Principle. At VA, the role and functions of our Federal advisory committees (FAC) continue to render great importance to the Department. In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) Final Rule 41 C.F .R. parts 102-3.115, 102-3.120 and the Department’s written Committee Management Policy known as the Advisory Committee Management Office (ACMO) Guide (revised 2023, pages 7 and 8 and 41 C.F.R. part 102-3.175(e)), the ACMO works in conjunction with the Committee’s Designated Federal Officer (DFO) to certify that effective committee management responsibilities are executed, as prescribed by FACA. FACA requires the DFO to manage the FAC’s overall day-to-day activities. The DFO ensures accurate records are kept of the FAC’s deliberations and maintains the records, reports, transcripts, minutes, working papers, drafts, studies, agenda, or other documents that are made available to or are prepared for or by a FAC. Additionally, the DFO keeps all FAC documents which are made available to or prepared by the FAC and adhere to the applicable Records Control Schedules. Moreover, the DFO works closely with the VA ACMO Team to ensure all these tasks are accomplished in a timely manner.

Per VA policy and the statutes and regulations applicable to all Federal Advisory Committees, it is implied that shared the responsibilities of ACMO and the DFO enables both Committee members and public stakeholders unfettered access to these unclassified documents. As a courtesy, ACMO maintains a generic webpage for each VA FAC on its internal website. The FAC’s generic webpage contains only the most recently signed documents, such as the most current/active signed Committee charter, signed copies of the Committee report or recommendations within a 1-year period, signed copies of the Committee’s minutes submitted within a 1-period, and so forth. Access to these current documents or older generated documents may be obtained by contacting the DFO as that individual is the caretaker for FAC documents, not ACMO. Given the existing access, the request for ACMO to post and maintain all the Committee’s documents on the public site is duplicative and beyond the scope of current manpower for ACMO. Due to the vastness of this request, ACMO cannot maintain all VA FAC documents on its internal website. ACMO recommends that the- Veterans Experience Office coordinate with the VA Office of Information and Technology to explore immediate options for the Committee to establish its own internal website, as some other VA FACs have previously done.