eVIP Mail Service for Veterans Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8919 To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to consolidate and upgrade the mail management systems of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 9, 2020 Mr. CUNNINGHAM introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs A BILL To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to consolidate and upgrade the mail management systems of the De- partment of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ensuring Vastly Im- 4 proved Performance (eVIP) for Mail Service for our Vet- 5 erans Act’’ or the ‘‘eVIP Mail Service for Veterans Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. MAIL STRATEGY AND MODERNIZATION. 7 (a) DEVELOP STRATEGY.— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:18 Dec 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8919.IH H8919 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8919 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 1 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec- 2 retary of Veterans Affairs shall develop a strategy to 3 improve the printing and mailing operations of the 4 Department of Veterans Affairs. 5 (2) EXCLUSION.—The strategy described in 6 paragraph (1) does not apply to the mailing of pre- 7 scription and over-the-counter drugs. 8 (b) STRATEGY GOALS.—The Secretary shall include 9 in the strategy under subsection (a) plans for improving 10 the printing and mailing operations of the Department, 11 including plans for the following: 12 (1) Consolidate the printing and mailing oper- 13 ations of the Department— 14 (A) such that the operations are performed 15 at not more than four locations, except that the 16 Veterans Health Administration and the Vet- 17 erans Benefits Administration are each pri- 18 marily serviced by not more than two of the lo- 19 cations; 20 (B) to enable production cost efficiencies; 21 and 22 (C) to improve the timeliness of sending 23 mail. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:18 Dec 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8919.IH H8919 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8919 IH (2) Ensure each of the locations described in 1 paragraph (1)(A) has the capacity to offset service 2 disruptions at another such location, and enable the 3 exchange of mail volume between such locations for 4 purposes of such offsetting and for balancing the 5 mail volume for which each such location is respon- 6 sible. 7 (3) Update the printing and mailing practices 8 of the Department to decrease mailing costs, includ- 9 ing increasing the use of automation discounts of- 10 fered by the United States Postal Service. 11 (4) Improve the accuracy of mail data main- 12 tained by the Department. 13 (5) Improve the tracking of mail within the De- 14 partment. 15 (6) Perform house holding on a more consistent 16 basis. 17 (7) Set Departmentwide standards, including 18 minimum requirements and target goals, for appro- 19 priate mail data metrics. 20 (8) Improve the accuracy of address informa- 21 tion held by the Department for persons to whom 22 the Department sends mail. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:18 Dec 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8919.IH H8919 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8919 IH (c) PILOT PROGRAM.—The Secretary may carry out 1 a pilot program to test the feasibility and efficacy of the 2 strategy developed under subsection (a). 3 (d) IMPLEMENTATION.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 5 after the Secretary has developed the strategy under 6 subsection (a), the Secretary shall implement the 7 strategy except as provided in paragraphs (2) and 8 (3). 9 (2) CONSOLIDATION.—Subject to paragraph 10 (3), not later than 24 months after the Secretary 11 has developed the strategy under subsection (a) the 12 Secretary shall implement the strategy with respect 13 to the goals described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of 14 subsection (b). 15 (3) EXTENSION IN CASE OF PILOT PROGRAM.— 16 If the Secretary carries out a pilot program under 17 subsection (c), not later than 36 months after the 18 Secretary has developed the strategy under sub- 19 section (a) the Secretary shall implement the strat- 20 egy. 21 (e) REPORT.— 22 (1) CONTENTS.—Not later than the date de- 23 scribed in paragraph (2), the Secretary shall submit 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:18 Dec 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8919.IH H8919 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8919 IH to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the Sen- 1 ate and the House of Representatives a report on— 2 (A) the effect of the strategy developed 3 under subsection (a), as implemented, on the 4 reliability and timeliness of correspondence be- 5 tween the Department and veterans and their 6 dependants; 7 (B) the cost savings resulting from the im- 8 plementation of the strategy; 9 (C) the improvements implemented under 10 the strategy to the hardware and software used 11 for printing and mailing operations of the De- 12 partment, including any such improvements 13 that will be implemented; and 14 (D) whether the Department is processing 15 a significant volume of mail correspondence vol- 16 umes outside of the locations described in sub- 17 section (b)(1)(A). 18 (2) TIMING.—The date described in this para- 19 graph is— 20 (A) two years after the date of the enact- 21 ment of this Act; or 22 (B) if the Secretary carries out a pilot pro- 23 gram under subsection (c), three years after the 24 date of the enactment of this Act. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:18 Dec 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8919.IH H8919 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8919 IH (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 1 (1) The term ‘‘house holding’’ means consoli- 2 dating into a single piece of mail all mail that is sent 3 on the same day from the same location to the same 4 intended recipient at one address. 5 (2) The term ‘‘mail data’’ means metrics relat- 6 ing to printing and mailing operations, including the 7 quantity of mail, costs, and address errors. 8 (3) The term ‘‘printing and mailing operations’’ 9 means the processes, personnel, facilities, and mate- 10 rials and other resources involved in the production, 11 handling, and transmission of electronic and physical 12 mail, and the management thereof. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:18 Dec 21, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8919.IH H8919 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS