Comment Request - Information Collection for the Child and Adult Care Food Program

Section 17 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (NSLA), as amended, (42 U.S.C. 1766), authorizes the CACFP to provide cash reimbursement and commodity assistance, on a per meal basis, for food service to children in nonresidential child care centers and family day care homes, and to eligible adults in nonresidential adult day care centers. The USDA, through FNS, has established application, monitoring, and reporting requirements to manage the CACFP effectively. The purpose of this submission to OMB is to obtain approval to continue the discussed information collection. States and service institutions participating in the CACFP will submit to FNS account and record information reflecting their efforts to comply with statutory and regulatory Program requirements. Examples of data collected and reported with this collection include, but are not limited to: Applications and supporting documents; records of enrollment; records supporting the free and reduced price eligibility determinations; daily records indicating numbers of program participants in attendance and the number of meals served by type and category; and receipts, invoices and other records of CACFP costs and documentation of non-profit operation of food service.

This is a revision of a currently approved information collection (ICR). Section 17 of the National School Lunch Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 1766), authorizes the Child and Adult Care Program (CACFP). Under this Program, the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to provide cash reimbursement and commodity assistance, on a per meal basis, for food service to children in nonresidential child care centers and family or group day care homes, and to eligible adults in nonresidential adult day care centers. This renewal revises reporting and recordkeeping burden and adds public disclosure burden not captured in the previous ICR.

Reporting and recordkeeping burden had to be adjusted because of decreases in the number of sponsoring organizations and facilities, and an increase in the number of enrolled participants who are required to submit information. In order to ensure that the ICR adequately represents the reporting burden associated with operating CACFP, FNS included the requirement that state agencies must comply with policy, instructions, guidance, and handbooks issued by USDA. Similarly, FNS also adjusted the burden hours associated with reviewing materials to comply with all regulations issued by USDA for institutions. In the past, reviewing policy, instructions, guidance, and handbooks were burden implied with implementing CACFP, however, it was not included in the burden table. Adding the hours it would take to review materials is important because it allows USDA to capture the burden of operating CACFP. FNS also separated out burden associated with the serious deficiency process for new, renewing, and participating institutions. Finally, in this revision, FNS included the reporting burden for state agencies and institutions associated with submitting documents of corrective action and other records related to operating the program such as administrative budget, notice of proposed suspension, and notice of corrective actions.

In this renewal, FNS added public disclosure burden associated with requirements regarding public notification about the CACFP, which have been a part of the CACFP regulations but were not included in the burden estimates for the currently approved information collection. FNS also included public disclosure burden for state agencies per policy guidance, which allows state agencies to issue media releases on behalf of the institutions. Public disclosure burden hours for state agencies were not captured in the past. However, through feedback from state agencies, FNS adjusted the burden hours because FNS learned that many state agencies issue a public notice on behalf of their institutions.