FNS Awards $537,504 to the Colorado Department of Human Services to Improve Recipient Fraud Prevention, Detection and Investigation Efforts

Denver, Colo., Sept. 15, 2023 – The Mountain Plains Regional Office of USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service has awarded the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) $537,504 to help improve recipient fraud prevention, detection and investigation efforts by implementing principles from the SNAP Fraud Framework. The award is designed to support Colorado as officials develop new efforts or improve on existing ones.

“There is no simple solution to combat fraud and each state may require a different approach to improve program integrity,” said Cheryl Kennedy, USDA Food and Nutrition Service regional administrator. “The SNAP Fraud Framework provides states with a toolkit designed to help them prevent and detect SNAP recipient fraud and sharpen their investigative techniques.”

FNS is committed to expanding and improving efforts to combat fraud in the delivery of these critical nutrition assistance benefits. The SNAP Fraud Framework provides states tools and options they can implement in order to improve program operations and outcomes.

“The SNAP Fraud Framework grant will support our efforts in continuing SNAP fraud prevention and response,” said Karla Maraccini, CDHS Food and Energy Assistance division director. “It’s critical that we continue to ensure Coloradans have the information to help prevent fraud before it occurs, and the grant will allow us to continue these efforts.”

Using the grant dollars, CDHS will develop a database that contains all transaction information from EBT cards to provide state EBT staff and all 64 counties with data for analytic-driven decision making. Reports, dashboards, and alerts will be made available accordingly for the state EBT investigation team and county workers. These reporting features will be used by staff to identify, prioritize, and investigate potential client fraud. The features will also allow staff to track outcomes of investigations to confirm prioritization.

The awards will support new projects under any of the seven components of the SNAP Fraud Framework, which include organizational management, performance measurement, recipient integrity education, fraud detection, investigations and dispositions, analytics and data management, and learning and development.

Grantees plan to use their funds in a variety of ways. For example, states will:

• Utilize media campaigns to educate recipients about the security of their Electronic Benefit Transfer, or EBT, cards.
• Establish trainings for county offices to proactively prevent and recognize fraud during the application stages.
• Implement new features in EBT technology to reduce the impacts of stolen SNAP benefits through electronic methods, including card skimming, card cloning and other similar methods.

USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service works to end hunger and improve food and nutrition security through a suite of more than 16 nutrition assistance programs, such as the school breakfast and lunch programs, WIC and SNAP. Together, these programs serve 1 in 4 Americans over the course of a year, promoting consistent and equitable access to healthy, safe, and affordable food essential to optimal health and well-being. FNS also provides science-based nutrition recommendations through the co-development of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. FNS’s report, “Leveraging the White House Conference to Promote and Elevate Nutrition Security: The Role of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service,” highlights ways the agency will support the Biden-Harris Administration’s National Strategy, released in conjunction with the historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in September 2022. To learn more about FNS, visit www.fns.usda.gov and follow @USDANutrition.

###

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.