Web policies

VA is committed to providing quality information and service to Veterans, family members and stakeholders on our website(s).

We are required to honor the rules that govern all VA web activities. This includes posting links to specific types of information as required by law and posting other links on VA web pages deemed appropriate because they serve VA’s mission and are relevant and useful to VA website visitors.

Required links that must appear on the web policies page are posted below.

• Disclaimer–Pertains to references on VA’s website to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, and that those references do not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States government. Required on all pages in lieu of repeating the same statements on pages with external links or possible endorsement implications.
• Warning Notice–A notice regarding the intended and authorized use of a VA website.
• Section 508 Accessibility–Pertains to the requirement to make online information and services fully available to individuals with disabilities.
• Security Protocols to Protect Information–Pertains to providing a secure environment for exchanging information between VA, Veterans, and other website patrons.
• Information Quality–Pertains to the requirement that information provided by VA on its websites be complete and accurate to the maximum extent possible.
• Digital Rights, Copyright, Trademark, and Patent Laws–Pertains to using copyrighted, patented, or trademarked information.
• Avoid Weak ‘Links’ in Your Digital Chain–Pertains to links to non-VA websites for information or authoritative sources.
• Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)–FOIA provides that any person has a right to access to Federal agency records, except to the extent that such records are protected from release by a FOIA exemption or special law enforcement record exclusion.
• No FEAR Act Complaints Data (No Fear Act)–Requires all federal agencies to post summary statistical data pertaining to employment discrimination complaints filed by employees, former employees, and applicants for employment. Posting of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) data on agency public websites is intended to assist Congress, federal agencies, and the public on assessing whether (and the extent to which) agencies are fulfilling their EEO responsibilities.
• Regulatory Flexibility Act (Small Business)–VA will properly consider the impact of its rulemaking activities on small entities.
• VA’s Significant Guidance Documents – A list of VA  significant guidance documents.
• Regulations.gov – Portal for federal rulemaking allowing the public to find, review, and submit comments on federal documents that are open for comment and published in the Federal Register.
• 21st Century IDEA – Aims to improve the digital experience for government customers and reinforces existing requirements for federal public websites. View the VA reports.

All VA-owned websites and web-based applications hosted within VA-controlled infrastructure must use a *.va.gov Uniform Resource Locator(URL). Where possible, websites and web-based applications hosted in commercially controlled infrastructure should use a *.va.gov or *.gov URL for public access.

• Websites and web-based applications hosted on infrastructure owned and managed by VA (on-site).
• Websites and web-based applications hosted on VA-managed cloud infrastructure (e.g., Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Azure).
• VA-managed websites and web-based applications hosted on cloud infrastructure managed by others on behalf of VA (e.g., WordPress VIP).
• Software as a Service (SaaS) and Platform as a Service  (PaaS) solutions that have VA branding and are intended for public use.
• SaaS and PaaS solutions intended for internal use that provide capabilities to use a custom VA.gov URL (e.g., ServiceNow).

• Any solution given a written exemption by the VA Chief Information Officer.
• Joint programs with other government organizations.
• SaaS and PaaS solutions used by VA, but with an infrastructure not managed by VA in any way. This includes third-party services that can make information available to VA clinical staff (e.g., No VA data applications and services), social media, and email marketing.
• SaaS and PaaS solutions intended for internal use (not Veteran facing) that cannot provide a VA.gov URL (e.g., Microsoft 365, Box.com, etc.).
• Websites, web-based applications, and social media platforms with an infrastructure not VA owned and operated.

All VA URLs must include the host portion — www (internet) or vaww (intranet). These can be used in tandem with “naked domains” (those without www or vaww) but solely using “naked domains” is not allowed. All “naked domains” will redirect to the www or vaww version as the authoritative URL.

VA internal and external websites may not repost complete articles, content, images, or other intellectual property from non-federal government sources without permission. VA websites will only use original, VA-authored or co-authored articles, or contracted content, or articles from other government agencies.

Original articles may include hyperlinks to non-government articles if proper link disclaimers are provided. The only exception to this requirement would be articles originally produced by VA that appear on a non-government website first (e.g., Medium, Nextgov, etc.), provided no changes have been made to the original material and credit is given to the VA author.

Links to external articles or pages can be used provided the material has been checked for accuracy and does not contradict or confuse readers regarding VA policy. Again, link disclaimers must be included on the page.

This update is in effect for all articles created on or after August 27, 2020. Articles created prior to this date should be reviewed and updated if possible. The VA Web Governance Board is authorized to have articles contrary to VA or Federal policy removed immediately.