VBA Organization and Description
Although not employed by VA, Veterans Service Organizations are also
present at the regional office to assist veterans and their families in applying for
and obtaining VA benefits and often serve as the veteran's representative.
Other VA functions that are often housed at a regional office, but are not VBA
specific, are the Inspector General, Office of Public Affairs, and Office of the
Regional Counsel.
Future Trends
With the Department of Veterans Affairs' focus on customer service, VBA is
beginning to redirect regional office operations toward a case management
approach. This conversion will cause blurring of the traditional division lines. As
an example, the Veteran Services Division and Adjudication Division create a
single team who will service a veteran from his/her initial application for benefits
to the claim's adjudication. To support this concept, VBA's space must be
flexible. Large open bays, an increased floor load-bearing capacity in more
areas to accommodate files, and a traffic flow pattern responding to the new
methods of providing service should be considered during planning. Each
station will develop its own unique scheme to deliver case management service
to veterans due to the building constraints, workloads, etc.; however, there will
be some design criteria that will be consistent throughout VBA.
Due to advancing ADP technology, space requirements for a VA regional
office are changing. The VBA staff is gradually reducing in size and eventually
paper documents will be converted into an electronic format eliminating the large
file banks now required to house claims folders. These changes not only will
reduce the space required to operate a regional office, but will also abolish the
need for the increased floor load-bearing capacity.
Other technological
advancements that will impact the regional office are teleconferencing and
satellite training which will require specialized spaces and equipment.
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VBA Design Guide
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