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 is the first of a series of annual reports which will assess the administrative error associated with school food authorities’ approval of applications for free and reduced-price school meals. More than 95 percent of students who were approved for benefits on the basis of an application were receiving correct benefits, based on the information in the application files. In school year 2004-05, 3.5 percent of all students who submitted an application for free/reduced-price meal benefits had an administrative error in the processing of their applications,

The Analysis of the Summer Food Service Program and Food Needs of Non-participating Children was designed to determine why children who attended elementary school during the 2003-2004 school year and were eligible for free or reduced-price meals did not participate in SFSP. For the purposes of this report, children who are eligible for free or reduced-priced meals will be referred to as "SFSP-eligible children." 

This study compares the nutrients provided in school meals and the nutrients consumed by students with several standards. Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) are the daily intake levels of essential nutrients that are adequate to meet the nutrient needs of practically all healthy persons. The RDA are used to plan school meals.

The Child Nutrition Program Operations Study was designed to collect data from States and participating SF As through annual telephone surveys during School Years (SY) 1988-89, 1989-90, and 1990-91 and through on-site visits during SY 1989-90 and 1991-92, with specific information needs for each data collection effort defined by FNS staff.

To manage the Child Nutrition programs effectively, FNS collects and analyzes information from annual State-level management reports. However, because these State-level reports vary considerably in both format and content, FNS is unable to rely on this source for all of its ongoing information needs.

The study collected data on-site on food, labor, and other meal production costs for a five day period. A major goal was to test the feasibility of identifying meal production costs that were not charged to the SFA account (to obtain full costs) and directly allocating costs to different SFA activities.