White Paper_VA-FSC Vendor File Request Form VA10091

WHITE PAPER

Department of Veterans Affairs

VA-FSC VENDOR FILE REQUEST FORM

VA10091

ISSUE:

The mission of the Nationwide Vendor File Division of the Department of Veterans Affairs – Financial Services Center (VA-FSC) is to add, modify, or delete vendor records in the Financial Management Services (FMS) Vendor File. The VA-FSCs FMS Vendor File controls aspects of when, where, and how vendors are paid. There are currently more than 2.4M active vendor records in FMS. The Authorizing statute for this data collection falls under 31 USC 3701, and Public Law 104-134, Section 31001. Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996.

BACKGROUND:

The new Vendorizing Form (VA10091) streamlines the data required to establish a vendor record (from the SF 3881 and Vendorizing Cover Sheet) into a single form. By the summer of 2014, the VA-FSC began utilizing the VA10091 for Vendorizing purposes. Email communications demonstrating the VA-FSCs efforts to obtain OMB Approval date back to October 2014; however, due to organizational changes within the VA-FSC Vendorizing Division, OMB Approval efforts were not completed. As a result, information has been (and continues to be) collected using the non-OMB approved form.

West Palm Beach (WPB) Prosthetics Service used the ad hoc vendorizing form in response to the January 2015 regulatory change that affected the Home Improvement and Structural Alterations (HISA) program. This regulation required for the first time Veterans to be vendorized so they could receive the benefit directly and pay the third party contractor. This was done to prevent the third party vendor from directly receiving the benefit and potentially withholding from a Veteran their benefit. West Palm Beach Prosthetics, in trying to implement the requirements associated with the regulation, developed this abbreviated form to be Veteran Centric in that it was easier to understand and directly correlated with the program to which they were applying. WPB Prosthetics does not have exact numbers, but believes the form was sent to approximately 75 Veterans (roughly 17 / quarter) in the 11 months the form was used. Since October 2015, WPB has been using VA10091 as instructed by VA Central Office.

ACTIONS:

The VA10091 – VA-FSC Vendor File Request Form, will be used throughout the VA to gather essential payment data from vendors (Commercial, Individuals, Veterans, Employees, etc) to establish or update vendor records in order to process electronic payments through the ACH network to the vendor's financial institution. VA seeks OMB approval in order to bring this data collection into full compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.