[Federal Register: June 19, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 118)]
[Notices]
[Page 36773-36774]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr19jn03-22]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Arbitration Panel Decision Under the Randolph-Sheppard Act
AGENCY: Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice of arbitration panel decision under the Randolph-
Sheppard Act.
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SUMMARY: The Department gives notice that on August 2, 2002, an
arbitration panel rendered a decision in the matter of Alabama
Department of Rehabilitation Services v. U. S. Department of Veterans
Affairs, Veterans Canteen Service (Docket No. R-S/01-6). This panel was
convened by the U.S. Department of Education, under 20 U.S.C. 107d-
1(b), after the Department received a complaint filed by the
petitioner, the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under section 6(c) of the Randolph-Sheppard
Act (the Act), 20 U.S.C. 107d-2(c), the Secretary publishes in the
Federal Register a synopsis of each arbitration panel decision
affecting the administration of vending facilities on Federal and other
property.
Background
This dispute concerns the alleged denial by the U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs (DVA), Veterans Canteen Service (VCS), of a request by
the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services, the State licensing
agency (SLA), to establish Randolph-Sheppard vending facilities at DVA
Medical Centers in Alabama, in violation of the Act (20 U.S.C. 107 et
seq.) and the implementing regulations in 34 CFR part 395.
A summary of the facts is as follows: In 1998 the SLA filed an
arbitration complaint with the U.S. Department of Education. The SLA's
complaint alleged that DVA/VCS had failed to comply with the provisions
of the Act and implementing regulations regarding permit applications
submitted by the SLA for four Federal properties maintained and
operated by DVA/VCS. A Federal arbitration panel was convened to hear
this matter and rendered a decision on October 20, 2000.
The panel ruled that DVA/VCS had not complied with the Act and
implementing regulations regarding the establishment of Randolph-
Sheppard vending facilities on Federal property. At the instruction of
the arbitration panel, the SLA submitted to DVA/VCS, during the
arbitration proceedings, permit applications requesting the
establishment of blind vending facilities in 33 separate buildings
located in Alabama. However, at the time of the SLA's filing of this
second arbitration complaint, the SLA had not received a response to
these requests.
Later, the SLA alleges that it learned DVA/VCS had contracted with
private companies to operate vending machines on DVA/VCS property in
Alabama subsequent to January 1, 1975, which is in violation of the Act
and implementing regulations. Further, the SLA also contends that it
has never received any disbursement of vending machine income from the
operation of these vending machines operated by DVA/VCS on Federal
property in violation of the income-sharing provisions of the Act and
implementing regulations.
As a result of this dispute, the SLA requested the Secretary of
Education to convene a Federal arbitration panel to hear this
complaint. A panel was convened, and a hearing on this matter was held
on April 23, 2002.
Arbitration Panel Decision
The arbitration panel heard the following three issues: (1) Whether
DVA/VCS had violated the Act and implementing regulations by failing to
take action necessary to carry out the decision of the arbitration
panel in Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services v. Department of
Veterans Affairs, Veterans Canteen Service, Case No. R-S/98-7; (2)
whether DVA/VCS' failure to approve or disapprove the applications for
permits submitted by the SLA in March 2000 to establish vending
facilities on Federal property in Alabama was in violation of the Act
and implementing regulations; and (3) whether the operation of vending
machines by private companies and the receipt of vending machine income
from those machines by DVA/VCS without sharing a percentage of the
income with the SLA was in violation of the income-sharing provisions
of the Act and implementing regulations.
After considering the evidence presented, the panel made the
following decision and award: Concerning the first issue, the panel
concurred with the first arbitration panel's findings and award in Case
No. R-S/98-7 in which that panel ruled that DVA/VCS had violated the
Act. Therefore, the panel ruled that DVA/VCS should take all proper
corrective action necessary.
Regarding the second issue, the majority of the panel ruled that
DVA/VCS had failed to properly respond to the applications for permits
submitted by the SLA in March 2000. Accordingly, the panel directed
DVA/VCS to review, investigate, and determine which permit applications
submitted by the SLA should have been approved and then to issue those
permits. Also, the panel ordered DVS/VCS to determine the amount of
monies lost as the result of its failure to timely grant and issue
those permits and to compensate the SLA with interest at the lawful
rate.
Finally, as to the third issue, the majority of the panel concluded
that testimony showed that DVA/VCS performed every activity involved in
the vending of beverages, thus establishing that DVA/VCS, not a private
vending company, operated the vending machines. Therefore, the panel
ruled that profits made by DVA/VCS were exempt from the vending machine
income-sharing provisions of the Act as alleged by the SLA.
One panel member dissented.
The views and opinions expressed by the panel do not necessarily
represent the views and opinions of the U.S. Department of Education.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: You may obtain a copy of the full text
of the arbitration panel decision from Suzette E. Haynes, U.S.
Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW., room 3232, Mary E.
Switzer Building, Washington, DC 20202-2738. Telephone: (202) 205-8536.
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you may call
the TDD number at (202) 205-8298.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an
alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer
diskette) on request to the contact person listed in the preceding
paragraph.
Electronic Access to This Document
You may view this document, as well as all other Department of
Education documents published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe
Portable Document Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following site:
www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister.
To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available
free at this site. If you have questions about using PDF, call the U.S.
Government Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 1-888-293-6498; or in
the Washington, DC, area at (202) 512-1530.
Note: The official version of this document is the document
published in the Federal
[[Page 36774]]
Register. Free Internet access to the official edition of the
Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations is available on
GPO Access at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html.
Dated: June 13, 2003.
Robert H. Pasternack,
Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services.
[FR Doc. 03-15415 Filed 6-18-03; 8:45 am]
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