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FREE COVERSHEET FOR SENDING VETERAN EVIDENCE OR OTHER DOCUMENTS TO THE NEWNAN, GEORGIA AND JANESVILLE, WISCONSIN EVIDENCE INTAKE CENTERS.  Click here for cover sheet:

v_Newnan_GA_Janesville_WI_Cover_sheet.pdf

September 15, 2014

REGIONAL OFFICES NO LONGER ACCEPT VETERAN EVIDENCE, CLAIMS AND APPEALS.

September 15, 2014: REGIONAL OFFICES NO LONGER ACCEPT VETERAN EVIDENCE, CLAIMS AND APPEALS. After January 2014, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) apparently issued a several billion dollar contract to a unknown private corporation to produce paperless veteran records to the individual Regional Office adjudicators for VA decisions.

            The VA has yet to make a national Internet announcement of how the system works.

            This system started operating in August 2014. There will be two Centralized Mail Processing (CMP or CM) centers for the entire nation: Newnan, Georgia and Janesville, Wisconsin. These CMP's will scan all veteran evidence, claims, and appeals, etc., and make them available to the Regional Offices. All scanned and paperless documents will be in Adobe Acrobat PDF format and will be available to the adjudicators through their computer system. Supposedly, the veteran can connect to the VA veteran Internet access called "e-Benefits", but “e-Benefits” is currently unreliable and not updated due to the new CMP delays.

              The United States Post Office is now instructed to divert mail from individual Regional Offices to the new CMP centers regardless of content. The veteran apparently cannot avoid the CMP monopoly by communication with the Regional Office.

             Each document collection submitted by a veteran must be scanned individually by the CMP's. The CMP employees will determine whether the veteran document submission is evidence, a claim, an appeal or something else like a waiver. VA forms may have priority over letters even if the letter is very explicit.

              The scanning and organizational process at CMP will take at least three weeks per document collection before the Regional Office can access the collection. There appears to be no procedure or time limit to notify the veteran that his document collection is received.

             The veteran CANNOT submit his document collection in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. The veteran must submit paper only by mail. Fax transmission to the CMP is allowed, but is limited to nine pages plus a cover page. No email upload is allowed at this time.

             Veteran National Organizations representatives can still submit in the traditional manner of giving paper to the Regional Office. Attorneys and unrepresented veterans cannot do so.

             Questions that arise for this CMP monopoly include:

             -- Do CMP employees have any experience with VA procedures and VA forms? What are the qualifications of the CMP employees?

              --Will National Veteran Organizations be able to "game" the system by moving their members' claims ahead of attorney clients and unrepresented veterans? These vet rep's for national organizations already have free offices in the Regional Offices and they have virtually unlimited access to the veteran's file folder including VA computer access. Attorneys must pay for this VA access.

            --Will this new CMP effort create a much longer backlog than exists at this time?

            -- If a veteran has a hearing before a Decision Review Officer (DRO), how can the veteran submit evidence directly to the DRO without a three week delay?

            Most of us who know the VA can guess where this system is going. It will create longer backlogs and further sabotage the nation’s disabled veterans.