Office of Regulation Policy and Management
Department of Veterans Affairs Guidance Documents
VA maintains a list of Significant Guidance Documents as required by the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Memorandum M-07-07, Final Bulletin for Agency Good Guidance Practices, dated January 18, 2007.
Among other things, OMB has directed agencies to develop procedures for creating, issuing, and using significant guidance documents and economically significant guidance documents.
OMB established good guidance practices to ensure that guidance documents of executive branch departments and agencies are:
- developed with appropriate review and public participation,
- accessible and transparent to the public,
- of high quality, and
- not improperly treated as legally binding requirements.
Guidance Documents
An agency statement of general applicability and future effect, other than a regulatory action (as defined in Executive Order 12866 (as amended by Executive Order 14094, and as further amended, § 3(g)), that sets forth a policy on a statutory, regulatory or technical issue or an interpretation of a statutory or regulatory issue. (U.S. Office of Management and Budget. Section I(3), “Final Bulletin for Agency Good Guidance Practices.” January 18, 2007.)
Significant Guidance Documents
As defined in Executive Order 12866 (as amended by Executive Order 14094, and as further amended, § 3(h)), a guidance document disseminated to regulated entities or the general public that may reasonably be anticipated to:
(1) have an annual effect on the economy of $200 million or more (adjusted every 3 years by the Administrator of OIRA for changes in gross domestic product); or adversely affect in a material way the economy, a sector of the economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, public health or safety, or State, local, territorial, or tribal governments or communities;
(2) create a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with an action taken or planned by another agency;
(3) materially alter the budgetary impact of entitlements, grants, user fees, or loan programs or the rights and obligations of recipients thereof; or
(4) raise legal or policy issues for which centralized review would meaningfully further the President’s priorities or the principles set forth in this Executive order, as specifically authorized in a timely manner by the Administrator of OIRA in each case.”
Section I(3)(b) of the Bulletin explains what this definition of “significant guidance documents” excludes. (U.S. Office of Management and Budget. Section I(4), “Final Bulletin for Agency Good Guidance Practices.” January 18, 2007.)
Economically Significant Guidance Documents
A significant guidance document that may reasonably be anticipated to lead to an annual effect on the economy of $200 million or more or adversely affect in a material way the economy or a sector of the economy, except that economically significant guidance documents do not include guidance documents on Federal expenditures and receipts. (U.S. Office of Management and Budget. Section I(5), “Final Bulletin for Agency Good Guidance Practices.” January 18, 2007.)
