FNS Documents & Resources

The purpose of this policy memorandum is to clarify the responsibilities of the state administering agency and the state distributing agency with respect to ensuring compliance with requirements for donated foods in the National School Lunch Program, the Summer Food Service Program and the Child and Adult Care Food Program.

The Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 requires all federal agencies to calculate the amount of erroneous payments in federal programs and to periodically conduct detailed assessments of vulnerable program components. This is the third wave of a program assessment of the Family Day Care Home component of USDA's Child and Adult Care Food Program. 

FNS proposed to select a random sample of sponsoring organizations and, from each, use a random selection of the sponsor’s monitoring visits of family day care homes. Using these data, FNS would compare the number of meals claimed with the number of children observed at the time of the visit.

Program errors and the risk of erroneous payments in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) continue to be a concern. Slightly more than one in five students were certified inaccurately or erroneously denied benefits in school year (SY) 2005-06. New data estimates the gross cost of school meals erroneous payments due to certification error at about $935 million while other operational errors represent about $860 million. 

The Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 requires all federal agencies to calculate the amount of erroneous payments in federal programs and to periodically conduct detailed assessments of vulnerable program components. This program assessment of the Family Day Care Home component of USDA's Child and Adult Care Food Program provides a national estimate of the share of CACFP family day care homes that are in the wrong reimbursement tier. 

This memo is in response to requests for us to clarify what takes place when a confirmation review finds an error in the eligibility determination after a household has been initially notified of its status.

FNS published an interim rule, “Child and Adult Care Food Program; Improving Management and Program Integrity" that explains a provision in that rule requiring state agencies that administer the CACFP to share information with state agencies that administer the Food Stamp Program

This memorandum provides information about implementing requirements concerning confirmation activities, individual review of selected applications and follow-up in relation to verification of households’ eligibility for free or reduced price meals.

The changes in this interim rule are primarily designed to improve Program operations and monitoring at the state and institution levels and, where possible, to streamline and simplify Program requirements for state agencies and institutions.

This report presents the results of a case study of verification in 21 large metropolitan SFAs around the country. The study examined outcomes of the verification process and made an independent assessment of income eligibility of households with specific verification outcomes using data from in-person interviews with families.