FNS Documents & Resources

This letter transmits the FNS denial of certain requests to adjust SNAP regulations that do not meet the requirements for approval provided under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

The recently enacted Families First Coronavirus Response Act temporarily and partially suspends the time limit for Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents participation in SNAP. 

Building on best practices to date and consistent with USDA’s efforts to improve customer service and increase state flexibility within the bounds of the law, while continuing to encourage states as laboratories of innovation, FNS is once again expanding allowable activities for states seeking to use vendor/private staff in call centers

In a continuous effort to provide state agencies with opportunities for greater flexibility, FNS will provide longer approval periods for the administrative waivers listed below as these waivers have been shown to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of SNAP operations.

On Oct. 6, 2017, we issued a memo regarding SNAP applicants and households who are sending certification materials to the USDA instead of the appropriate SNAP state agency for processing.

In school year 2013-14, FNS introduced the unified administrative review and a 3-year review cycle. Since then, FNS has received feedback about the difficulties of the shorter review cycle, both for the state agencies conducting the reviews, and for school food authorities preparing for and responding to reviews.

This memorandum revises the current USDA Food and Nutrition Service process for state agencies and eligible service providers seeking a waiver of statutory or regulatory program requirements for the child nutrition programs, including the CACFP, the SFSP, the NSLP, the FFVP, the SMP, and the SBP. 

The purpose of Section 6(o) of the Food and Nutrition Act is to establish a time limit of the receipt of benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for certain able-bodied adults who are not working.

FNS has recently been reviewing its SNAP waiver processes and procedures. This memo serves to notify SNAP state agencies that FNS is no longer approving new interest income verification waivers or extending existing waivers. 

Consistent with USDA's efforts to increase state flexibility within the bounds of the law, FNS is expanding allowable activities for states seeking to use non-merit system personnel in call centers. With FNS approval, states may now use non-merit personnel to provide basic case-specific information that is readily available in the system to a SNAP applicant or participant, such as application or case status, benefit issuance date, and status of submitted verifications.