The Secretary may furnish office space and facilities, if available, in buildings owned or occupied by the Department of Veterans Affairs, for the use of paid full-time representatives of recognized national organizations, and for employees of recognized State or tribal organizations who are accredited to national organizations, for purposes of assisting claimants in the preparation, presentation, and prosecution of claims for Department of Veterans Affairs benefits.

(a) Request for office space should be made by an appropriate official of the organization to the Director of the Department of Veterans Affairs facility in which space is desired and should set forth:

(1) The number of full-time paid representatives who will be permanently assigned to the office;

(2) The number of secretarial or other support staff who will be assigned to the office;

(3) The number of claimants for whom the organization holds powers of attorney whose claims are within the jurisdiction of the facility or who reside in the area served by the facility, the number of such claimants whose claims are pending, and the number of claims prosecuted during the previous three years; and

(4) Any other information the organization deems relevant to the allocation of office space.

(b) When in the judgment of the Director office space and facilities previously granted could be better used by the Department of Veterans Affairs, or would receive more effective use or serve more claimants if allocated to another recognized national organization, the Director may withdraw such space or reassign such space to another organization. In the case of a facility under the control of the Veterans Benefits Administration or the Veterans Health Administration, the final decision on such matters will be made by the Under Secretary for Benefits or the Under Secretary for Health, respectively.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501(a), 5902)

[53 FR 52423, Dec. 28, 1988. Redesignated and amended at 57 FR 4104, Feb. 3, 1992; 68 FR 8547, Feb. 24, 2003; 82 FR 6272, Jan. 19, 2017]