White Paper Supplementary

Department of Veterans Affairs
National Cemetery Administration
Cemetery Operations (41A1)

April 23, 2018

White Paper

1. Purpose. To achieve Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval of revised
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Form 40-40, Gravesite Reservation Questionnaire
(2 Year).
2. Summary of Changes. As follows:
a. Narrative preceding detachable form:
1) Clarification of Intent. Narrative updated to provide additional information
about why VA’s National Cemetery Administration (NCA) needs to keep
information on gravesite reservations current. Currency/accuracy of these
records enables NCA to administer Veterans’ memorial benefits effectively.
2) Clarification of Eligibility. Narrative updated to explain change in law in 2003
that allows for surviving spouses of Veterans who remarried and whose date
of death is on or after January 1, 2003 to be eligible for burial in a VA national
cemetery.
3) Clarification of Instructions. Narrative updated to provide more detailed
instructions to respondent concerning what information to provide on the form
and where to do so.
b. Detachable form. The form has been updated to capture additional information
necessary for NCA to maintain current/accurate records of gravesite reservations
across its facilities. Includes new information blocks (numbered) for NCA to
obtain confirmation of whether respondent is the individual with a reserved
gravesite or someone responding on the reservation holder’s behalf due their
incapacitation or death.
3. Respondent Burden. There is no change to current form’s listed respondent burden
time of 10 minutes.
4. Case-Specific Information. This document requires several areas to be printed with
case-specific information, to include addresses for the reservation holder and
corresponding national cemetery. (These areas are highlighted on proposed
updated FL 40-40 PDF for reference.) Upon OMB approval of an updated Form 4040 NCA has identified the appropriate POCs for coordination in the Office of

Information Technology to modify the form’s printing and distribution program so this
information populates correctly.
5. Point of Contact. George N. Cannizzaro, Program Analyst, Cemetery Operations
(41A1), (202) 461-1502 or george.cannizzaro@va.gov.

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