Summary (158.96 KB)
Volume 1: Final Report (2.73 MB)
Volume 2: Report on Qualitative Analyses (1.26 MB)
Volume 3: Estimation Models (981.55 KB)
Volume 4: Appendices (5.27 MB)
The Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 (PIIA) requires that the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) identify and reduce improper payments in their programs. Programs with improper payment rates above 10 percent are considered out of compliance with the Act, which triggers increased scrutiny and reporting.
FNS relies upon the Access, Participation, Eligibility and Certification (APEC) study series to provide reliable, statistically valid estimates of improper payments made to school districts operating the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP).
In addition, the APEC studies help identify sources of program error for integrity-focused policy and technical assistance. In addition to their financial implications to the federal government, errors in the school meals programs may have other implications to program operators and participants. For example, certification errors may result in students missing out on free or reduced-price meal benefits for which they are eligible.
FNS conducted previous iterations of the study in school years (SY) 2005-06 (APEC-I) and 2012-13 (APEC-II). Since the last iteration, FNS created the Child Nutrition Office of Program Integrity and greatly expanded direct certification and the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which were found to contribute to lower error rates.
Key findings from APEC-III include:
- Estimated improper payments in SY 2017-18 were 8.02 percent of total reimbursements in NSLP and 8.40 percent in SBP. This is within the 10-percent threshold required to comply with PIIA.
- An estimated 20.0 percent of certifications in schools that did not elect the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) were in error. On the other hand, the overall certification error rate for CEP schools was very low at 2.7 percent.
- Students that were directly certified had a much lower error rate than those certified by application.