FNS Documents & Resources

The primary purpose of the rule was to strengthen the requirements for adequate testing and pilot before rolling out a new management information system or major system changes. The rule also made changes to the SNAP regulations to provide clarifications and revisions since the last update which occurred in 1996.

As required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on the proposed information collection for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program's Regulations, Part 275--Quality Control.

On Aug. 10, 2011, we announced a time-limited, specific exception to the cost allocation requirements set forth in OMB Circular A-87 that requires benefiting programs to pay their share of the costs associated with building state-based information technology systems. This letter provides additional guidance on how states may take advantage of this exception to leverage these investments to serve multiple programs and needs.

This rule proposes to amend Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)--formerly the Food Stamp Program) regulations to implement the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (the Farm Bill), which requires adequate system testing before and after implementation of a new state automatic data processing (ADP) and information retrieval system, including the evaluation of data from pilot projects in limited areas for major systems changes, before the Secretary approves the system to be implemented more broadly.