[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 119 (Wednesday, June 22, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37302-37305]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-13321]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

National Institute of Food and Agriculture


Solicitation of Veterinary Shortage Situation Nominations for the 
Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program

AGENCY: National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA.

ACTION: Notice and solicitation for nominations.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is 
soliciting nominations of veterinary service shortage situations for 
the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP) for fiscal years 
(FY) 2023-2025, as authorized under the National Veterinary Medical 
Services Act (NVMSA). This notice initiates the nomination period for 
FY 2023 and prescribes the procedures and criteria to be used by 
eligible nominating officials (State, Insular Area, DC and Federal 
Lands) to nominate veterinary shortage situations for fiscal years 
2023-2025. Each year all eligible nominating officials may submit 
nominations, up to the maximum indicated for each entity in this 
notice. NIFA is conducting this solicitation of veterinary shortage 
situation nominations under an approved information collection (OMB 
Control Number 0524-0050).

DATES: Shortage situation nominations must be submitted between the 
first Monday in October and the second Monday in November in each 
relevant fiscal year.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                        First day to submit shortage            Last day to submit shortage
           Fiscal year                           nominations                            nominations
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2023.............................  October 3, 2022.......................  November 14, 2022.
2024.............................  October 2, 2023.......................  November 13, 2023.
2025.............................  October 7, 2024.......................  November 12, 2024.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


ADDRESSES: Submissions must be made by downloading the Veterinarian 
Shortage Situation nomination form provided in the VMLRP Shortage 
Situations section of the NIFA website at https://nifa.usda.gov/grants/programs/veterinary-medicine-loan-repayment-program, completing the 
fillable PDF electronically, and submitting it via email to 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: VMLRP Program Coordinator; National 
Institute of Food and Agriculture; U.S. Department of Agriculture; 805 
Pennsylvania Avenue, Kansas City, MO 64105; Email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Background and Purpose: Food supply veterinary medicine embraces a 
broad array of veterinary professional activities, specialties, and 
responsibilities, and is defined as all

[[Page 37303]]

aspects of veterinary medicine's involvement in food supply systems, 
from traditional agricultural production to consumption. A series of 
studies and reports 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 have drawn attention to 
maldistributions in the veterinary workforce leaving some communities, 
especially rural areas, with insufficient access to food supply 
veterinary services.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ Government Accountability Office, Veterinary Workforce: 
Actions Are Needed to Ensure Sufficient Capacity for Protecting 
Public and Animal Health, GAO-09-178: Feb 18, 2009.
    \2\ National Academies of Science, Workforce Needs in Veterinary 
Medicine, 2013.
    \3\ Andrus DM, Gwinner KP, Prince, JB. Food Supply Veterinary 
Medicine Coalition Report: Estimating FSM Demand and Maintaining the 
Availability of Veterinarians in Food Supply Related Disciplines in 
the United States and Canada, 2016. https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/Reference/Pages/Food-Supply-Veterinary-Medicine-Coalition-Report.aspx.
    \4\ Andrus DM, Gwinner KP, Prince, JB. Future demand, probable 
shortages and strategies for creating a better future in food supply 
veterinary medicine. 2006, JAVMA 229(1):57-69.
    \5\ Andrus DM, Gwinner KP, Prince, JB. Attracting students to 
careers in food supply veterinary medicine. 2006, JAVMA 228(1):1693-
1704.
    \6\ Andrus DM, Gwinner KP, Prince, JB. Job satisfaction, changes 
in occupational area and commitment to a career in food supply 
veterinary medicine. 2006, JAVMA 228(12):1884-1893.
    \7\ CAST, Impact of Recruitment and Retention of Food Animal 
Veterinarians on the U.S. Food Supply, Issue Papers--IP67: April 
2020. https://www.cast-science.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/CAST_IP67_Vet-Students.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Two programs, born out of this concern, aim to mitigate the 
maldistribution of the veterinary workforce: the Veterinary Medicine 
Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP) and Veterinary Services Grant Program 
(VSGP), both administered by USDA-NIFA. VMLRP addresses increasing 
veterinary school debt by offering veterinary school debt repayments in 
exchange for service in shortage situations, while VSGP addresses other 
factors contributing to the maldistribution of veterinarians serving 
the agricultural sector. Specifically, the VSGP promotes availability 
and access to (1) specialized education and training which will enable 
veterinarians and veterinary technicians to provide services in 
designated veterinarian shortage situations, and (2) practice-enhancing 
equipment and personnel resources to enable veterinary practices to 
expand or improve access to veterinary services.
    Paperwork Reduction Act: In accordance with the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) regulations (5 CFR part 1320) that 
implement the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), 
the information collection and recordkeeping requirements imposed by 
the implementation of these guidelines have been approved by OMB 
Control Number 0524-0050.

Table of Contents in Guidelines for Veterinary Shortage Situation 
Nominations

I. Preface and Authority
II. Nomination of Veterinary Shortage Situations
    A. General
    1. Eligible Shortage Situations
    2. Authorized Respondents and Use of Consultation
    3. State Allocation of Nominations
    4. FY 2023-2025 Shortage Situation Nomination Process
    5. Submission and Due Dates
    6. Periods Covered
    7. Definitions
    B. Nomination Form
    C. NIFA Review of Shortage Situation Nominations
    1. Review Panel Composition and Process
    2. Review Criteria

Guidelines for Veterinary Shortage Situation Nominations

I. Preface and Authority

    In December 2003, the National Veterinary Medical Service Act 
(NVMSA) was passed into law adding section 1415A to the National 
Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1997 
(NARETPA). This law established a new Veterinary Medicine Loan 
Repayment Program (7 U.S.C. 3151a) authorizing the Secretary of 
Agriculture to carry out a program of entering into agreements with 
veterinarians under which they agree to provide veterinary services in 
veterinarian shortage situations in return for repayment of qualified 
educational loans. In FY 2010, NIFA announced the first funding 
opportunity for the VMLRP.
    Section 7104 of the 2014 Farm Bill (Pub. L. 113-79) added section 
1415B to NARETPA, as amended, (7 U.S.C. 3151b) to establish the 
Veterinary Services Grant Program (VSGP). This amendment authorizes the 
Secretary of Agriculture to make competitive grants to qualified 
entities and veterinary practices that carry out programs in 
veterinarian shortage situations and for the purpose of developing, 
implementing, and sustaining veterinary services. Funding for the VSGP 
was first appropriated in FY 2016 through the Consolidated 
Appropriations Act, 2016 (Pub. L. 114-113).
    Pursuant to the requirements enacted in the NVMSA of 2003 (as 
amended), and the implementing regulation for this Act, Part 3431 
Subpart A of the VMLRP Final Rule [75 FR 20239-20248], NIFA hereby 
implements guidelines for eligible nominating officials to nominate 
veterinary shortage situations for the FY 2023-2025 program cycle.

II. Nomination of Veterinary Shortage Situations

A. General

    1. Eligible Shortage Situations: Section 1415A of NARETPA, as 
amended and revised by Section 7105 of the Food, Conservation and 
Energy Act, directs determination of veterinarian shortage situations 
for the VMLRP to consider (1) geographical areas that the Secretary 
determines have a shortage of veterinarians; and (2) areas of 
veterinary practice that the Secretary determines have a shortage of 
veterinarians, such as food animal medicine, public health, 
epidemiology, and food safety. This section also added that priority 
should be given to agreements with veterinarians for the practice of 
food animal medicine in veterinarian shortage situations.
    While the NVMSA (as amended) specifies priority be given to food 
animal medicine shortage situations, and that consideration also be 
given to specialty areas such as public health, epidemiology and food 
safety, the Act does not identify any areas of veterinary practice as 
ineligible. Accordingly, all nominated veterinary shortage situations 
will be considered eligible for submission.
    A subset of the shortages designated for VMLRP applicants is also 
available to satisfy requirements, as applicable, for VSGP applicants 
applying to the Rural Practice Enhancement component of the program. In 
addition, a shortage situation under the VSGP must also be designated 
rural as defined in section 343(a) of the Consolidated Farm and Rural 
Development Act (7 U.S.C. 1991(a)).
    Nominations describing either public or private practice veterinary 
shortage situations are eligible for submission.
    2. Authorized Respondents and Use of Consultation: The only 
authorized respondent on behalf of each State is the chief State Animal 
Health Official (SAHO), as duly authorized by the Governor or the 
Governor's designee in each State. The only authorized respondent on 
behalf of the Federal Government is the Chief Federal Animal Health 
Officer (Deputy Administrator of Veterinary Services, the Animal and 
Plant Health Inspection Service or designee), as duly authorized by the 
Secretary of Agriculture. The eligible nominating official must submit 
nominations using the instructions provided in section A.4, FY 2023-
2025 Shortage Situation Nomination Process. NIFA strongly encourages 
the nominating officials to involve leading health animal experts in 
the State in the

[[Page 37304]]

identification and prioritization of shortage situation nominations.
    3. State Allocation of Nominations: NIFA will accept the number of 
nominations equivalent to the maximum number of designated shortage 
areas for each State. For historical background and more information on 
the rationale for capping nominations and State allocation method, 
visit https://nifa.usda.gov/vmlrp-nomination-and-designation-veterinary-shortage-situations.
    The maximum number of nominations (and potential designations) is 
based on data from the 2017 Agricultural Census conducted by the USDA 
National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). Awards from previous 
years have no bearing on a State's maximum number of allowable shortage 
nomination submissions or designations in any given year, or number of 
nominations or designations allowed for subsequent years. NIFA reserves 
the right in the future to proportionally adjust the maximum number of 
designated shortage situations per State to ensure a balance between 
available funds and the requirement to ensure that priority is given to 
mitigating veterinary shortages corresponding to situations of greatest 
need. Nomination Allocation tables for FY 2023-2025 are available under 
the VMLRP Shortage Situations section of the VMLRP website at https://nifa.usda.gov/resource/vmlrp-shortage-allocations.
    Table I lists the maximum nomination allocations by State. Table II 
lists ``Special Consideration Areas'' which include any State or 
Insular Area not reporting data to NASS, reporting less than $1,000,000 
in annual Livestock and Livestock Products Total Sales ($), and/or 
possessing less than 500,000 acres. One nomination is allocated to any 
State or Insular Area classified as a Special Consideration Area.
    Table III shows the values and quartile ranks of States for two 
variables broadly correlated with demand for food supply veterinary 
services: ``Livestock and Livestock Products Total Sales ($)'' (LPTS) 
and ``Land Area (acres)'' (LA). The maximum number of NIFA-designated 
shortage situations per State is based on the sum of quartile rankings 
for LPTS and LA for each State and can be found in Table IV.
    While Federal Lands are widely dispersed within States and Insular 
Areas across the country, they constitute a composite total land area 
over twice the size of Alaska. If the 200-mile limit for U.S. coastal 
waters and associated fishery areas are included, Federal Land total 
acreage would exceed 1 billion. Both State and Federal Animal Health 
officials have responsibilities for matters relating to terrestrial and 
aquatic food animal health on Federal Lands. Interaction between 
wildlife and domestic livestock, such as sheep and cattle, is 
particularly common in the plains States where significant portions of 
Federal lands are leased for grazing. The USDA Food Safety and 
Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) ensures food safety in processing plants 
via Federal veterinarians' inspection of meat, poultry, Siluriformes 
and eggs. These Federal veterinarians ensure food is safe for human 
consumption and properly packaged and labeled. Therefore, both SAHOs 
and the Chief Federal Animal Health Officer (Deputy Administrator of 
Veterinary Services, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service or 
designee) may submit nominations to address shortage situations on or 
related to Federal Lands, or the USDA-FSIS. Nominations related to 
Federal Lands or USDA-FSIS submitted by SAHOs will count towards the 
maximum number of nominations for that individual state.
    NIFA emphasizes that the shortage nomination allocation is set to 
broadly balance the number of designated shortage situations across 
States prior to the nomination and award phases of the VMLRP and VSGP. 
Awards will be made based strictly on the peer review panel's 
assessment according to each program's review criteria; thus no State, 
Insular Area or Federal designation will be given a preference for 
placement of awardees. Additionally, each designated shortage situation 
will be limited to one award per program.
    4. FY 2023-2025 Shortage Situation Nomination Process: For the FY 
2023-2025 program cycle, all eligible nominating officials submitting 
may: (1) request to retain designated status for any shortage situation 
successfully designated in the previous year and/or (2) submit new 
nominations. Any shortage from previous year not retained or submitted 
as a new nomination will not be considered a shortage situation in the 
next year. The total number of new nominations plus designated 
nominations retained (carried over) may not exceed the maximum number 
of nominations each eligible nominating official is permitted.
    The following process is the mechanism for retaining a designated 
nomination: Each nominating official should review the map of VMLRP 
designated shortage situations for the previous year--FY 2022's map can 
be found here: (https://nifa.usda.gov/vmlrp-map) and download a PDF 
copy of the nomination form they wish to renew. If the nominating 
official wishes to retain (carry over) one or more designated 
nomination(s), the nominating official shall copy and paste the prior 
year information into the current year's nomination form and submit it 
to [email protected].
    Both new and retained nominations must be submitted on the 
Veterinary Shortage Situation Nomination form provided in the VMLRP 
Shortage Situations section at https://nifa.usda.gov/vmlrp-nomination-and-designation-veterinary-shortage-situations.
    Nominations retained (carried over) will be designated without 
review unless major changes in content are identified during 
administrative processing or the shortage has been retained for three 
years. Major changes in content or shortages already retained for three 
consecutive years will be treated as new submissions and undergo merit 
review.
    If a state elects not to participate in the nomination process in a 
given year, the SAHO, or their designee, will notify the NIFA Program 
Office by email at [email protected] prior to the deadline to 
submit shortage nominations each year the state elects not to 
participate.
    5. Submission and Due Date: Submissions must be made by downloading 
the Veterinarian Shortage Situation nomination form provided in the 
VMLRP Shortage Situations section at https://nifa.usda.gov/vmlrp-shortage-situations, completing the fillable PDF form, and submitting 
it via email to: [email protected].
    Both new and retained (carry-over) nominations must be submitted on 
or before the deadlines in the table below.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                        First day to submit shortage            Last day to submit shortage
           Fiscal year                           nominations                            nominations
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2023.............................  October 3, 2022.......................  November 14, 2022.
2024.............................  October 2, 2023.......................  November 13, 2023.
2025.............................  October 7, 2024.......................  November 12, 2024.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


[[Page 37305]]

    7. Period Covered: Each shortage situation is approved for one 
program year cycle only. However, any previously approved shortage 
situation not filled in a given program year may be resubmitted as a 
retained (carry-over) nomination. Retained (carry-over) shortage 
nominations (without any revisions) will be automatically approved for 
up to three years before requiring another merit review. By 
resubmitting a carry-over nomination, the nominating official is 
affirming that in his or her professional judgment the original case 
made for shortage status, and the original description of needs, remain 
current and accurate.
    8. Definitions: For the purpose of implementing the solicitation 
for veterinary shortage situations, the definitions provided in 7 CFR 
part 3431 are applicable. Given the evolving nature of food supply 
veterinary medicine, the Secretary has determined that equines used in 
agricultural production, any vertebrates or invertebrates that are 
consumed by, or produce food consumed by, humans are to be included in 
the list of food animals.

B. Nomination Form

    The VMLRP Shortage Nomination Form must be used to nominate 
veterinarian shortage situations. Once designated as a shortage 
situation, VMLRP applicants will use the information to select shortage 
situations they are willing and qualified to fill, and to guide the 
preparation of their applications. NIFA will use the information to 
assess contractual compliance of awardees. The form is available in the 
VMLRP Shortage Situations section at https://nifa.usda.gov/vmlrp-nomination-and-designation-veterinary-shortage-situations. See Part II 
A. 5. for submission information. Resources to complete each field can 
be found at https://nifa.usda.gov/resource/vmlrp-veterinary-shortage-situation-nomination-guide and https://nifa.usda.gov/resource/vmlrp-shortage-nomination-form.

C. NIFA Review of Shortage Situation Nominations

    1. Review Panel Composition and Process: NIFA will convene a panel 
of food supply veterinary medicine experts from Federal and/or State 
agencies, industry, private mixed or large animal practice or an 
institution receiving Animal Health and Disease Research Program funds 
under section 1433 of NARETPA or an 1862 Land-Grant institution, to 
review the nominations and make recommendations to the National Program 
Leader. NIFA will review the panel's recommendations and designate the 
VMLRP shortage situations. The list of approved shortage situations 
will be made available on the VMLRP website at www.nifa.usda.gov/vmlrp.
    2. Review Criteria: Criteria used by the shortage situation 
nomination review panel and NIFA for certifying a veterinary shortage 
situation will be consistent with the information requested in the 
shortage situations nomination form. NIFA understands the process for 
defining the risk landscape associated veterinary service shortages 
within a State may require consideration of many qualitative and 
quantitative factors. In addition, each shortage situation will be 
characterized by a different array of subjective and objective 
supportive information that must be developed into a cogent case 
identifying, characterizing, and justifying a given geographic or 
disciplinary area as deficient in certain types of veterinary capacity 
or service. To accommodate the uniqueness of each shortage situation, 
the nomination form provides opportunities to present a case using both 
supportive metrics and narrative explanations to define and explain the 
proposed need.
    While NIFA anticipates some arguments made in support of a given 
shortage situation will be qualitative, respondents are encouraged to 
present verifiable quantitative and qualitative evidentiary information 
wherever possible. Absence of sufficient data to support a shortage 
such as animal and veterinarian census data for the proposed shortage 
area(s), or sufficient information regarding the characteristics of the 
shortage so that applicants may prepare successful applications and 
panelists are able to fully evaluate the fit of the applicant to the 
shortage area, may lead the panel to recommend revision of the shortage 
nomination to address these issues. If the revisions are not addressed, 
the shortage nominations will not be approved.

    Done in Washington, DC, this day of May 24, 2022.
Dionne Toombs,
Acting Director, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. 
Department of Agriculture.
[FR Doc. 2022-13321 Filed 6-21-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-22-P