Periodically, we receive questions concerning the procurement requirements of 7 CFR Parts 3016 and 3019 and certain procurement procedures used by public and nonprofit school food authorities. Attached are a number of these recent questions and their corresponding answers.
The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 requires school districts to directly certify for free school meals any child who is a member of a household receiving assistance under the Food Stamp Program.
This action provides interim and final rulemaking for a proposed rule. It revises Food Stamp Program rules affecting the standards for approval and operation of Food Stamp Electronic Benefit Transfer systems.
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 notice announces the surplus and purchased commodities that USDA expects to make available for donation to states for use in providing nutrition assistance to the needy under TEFAP in FY 2005.
This memorandum concerns an option we are providing to state agencies to comply with the third requirement, relating to whether the normal hours of care and meals received while in care are included on the annual enrollment form.
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 Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 amended sections of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act affecting the eligibility determination process for free and reduced price benefits under the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program and the Special Milk Program for Children.
Most discussion of payment accuracy in the Food Stamp Program focuses on the overall level and cost of payment errors. Rarely does the discussion focus on the impact of payment errors on individual households affected. This analysis – based on 2003 food stamp quality control data – leads to two broad conclusions. First, virtually all households receiving food stamps are eligible. Thus, the problem of erroneous payments is not so much one of determining eligibility, but rather one of attempting to finely target benefits to the complicated and changing circumstances of low-income households. Second, most overpayments to eligible households are small relative to household income and official poverty standards. As a result, most food stamp households are poor, and they remain poor even when overpaid.
This report is the latest in a series presenting estimates of the percentage of eligible persons, by state, who participate in the Food Stamp Program. The participation rate – a ratio of the number of participants to the number of people eligible for benefits – is an important measure of program performance.