(a) Opportunity for the aggrieved party after his or her review of the NCD record to state why the NCD is not valid. Upon receipt of the NCD record, the aggrieved party files a statement explaining why the NCD record is not complete, or not adequate to support the validity of the NCD under the reasonableness standard. This statement must be submitted to the Board and CMS, within 30 days (or within additional time as allowed by the Board for good cause shown) of the date the aggrieved party receives the NCD record.

(b) CMS response. CMS has 30 days, after receiving the aggrieved party's statement, to submit a response to the Board in order to defend the NCD.

(c) Board evaluation. (1) After the aggrieved party files a statement and CMS responds as described in § 426.525(a) and § 426.525(b), or the time for filing has expired, the Board applies the reasonableness standard to determine whether the NCD record is complete and adequate to support the validity of the NCD.

(2) Issuance of a decision finding the record complete and adequate to support the validity of the NCD ends the review process.

(3) If the Board determines that the NCD record is not complete and adequate to support the validity of the NCD, the Board permits discovery and the taking of evidence in accordance with § 426.532 and § 426.540, and evaluate the NCD in accordance with § 426.531.

(d) The process described in paragraphs (a), (b), and (c) of this section applies when an NCD record has been supplemented, except that discovery and the taking of evidence is not repeated. The period for the aggrieved party to file a statement begins when the aggrieved party receives the supplement.