This memorandum provides regional offices with the authority, under certain circumstances, to approve state agency requests to reimburse SFSP sponsors whose applications are not approved prior to the beginning of their meal service operations.
It has come to our attention that there is still some question regarding the ability of state agencies and sponsoring organizations to use “stop payments” (suspension of all program reimbursement to institutions or providers) as a tool to enforce an institution or a provider’s compliance with program requirements.
The purpose of this memorandum is to establish that regional offices may allow state agencies to count a USDA review of an SFSP sponsor as one of their required reviews, provided that the state agency assumes all responsibilities associated with resolution of the review findings relating to the administration of the program by the sponsor, including but not limited to any and all appeals arising from the review.
We have received a request to allow states to consider Upward Bound sites to be categorically eligible to participate in the SFSP based on the eligibility criteria for the Upward Bound program.