Request for Information: The Serious Deficiency Process in the CACFP

This is a request for information to gather detailed comments from stakeholders about the serious deficiency process in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). The serious deficiency process provides a systematic way to correct serious management problems and, when that effort fails, protect the program through due process.

Integrity is essential to achieving the mission of all FNS nutrition assistance programs. FNS works in close collaboration with State and local partners to facilitate the promotion, practice, and improvement of integrity-focused efforts while ensuring the delivery of excellent customer service. To that end, State agencies are responsible for monitoring CACFP institutions—independent child and adult care centers and sponsoring organizations of family day care homes and centers—to ensure compliance with program requirements.

Serious deficiencies, as provided for in Sec. 17 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, as amended (42 USC 1766), and the serious deficiency process, as codified in 7 CFR part 226, offer a means to address severe and pervasive issues of program non-compliance, with a structured set of steps that provide all institutions and day care home providers the opportunity for corrective action and due process. The intent of the serious deficiency process is to correct non-compliance issues in a timely fashion. As such, the process incorporates critical deadlines for the completion of corrective actions, and milestones for monitoring progress towards meeting those deadlines.