FNS Documents & Resources

This webinar provides USDA Foods recipients, USDA FNS regional offices, and state agencies a refresher on the FNS Instruction 709-5: Shipment and Receipt of USDA Foods. The webinar highlights the five key areas involved with the shipment and receipt of USDA Foods: arranging shipment and delivery, guidance on inspecting the shipment, accepting and receipting the shipment, unloading the shipment, and disposition and replacement of USDA Foods. In addition, E-invoicing in WBSCM and filing complaints is covered.

In this webinar focused on the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), Tony Wilkins and Matthew Martin from the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, Food Distribution Division, discuss warehousing, explain the USDA Foods feedback process, and provide instructions on how to formally enter a complaint into the Web-Based Supply Chain Management System (WBSCM).

In this webinar for state distributing agencies and recipient agencies, Tony Wilkins of the Food Distribution Division reviews best practices for using WBSCM in resolving complaints, provides analysis of USDA Foods complaint trends, shares 2016 complaint successes, and discusses what’s in the complaint pipeline.

This White Paper examines whether any additional means-tested programs might be feasible for use in the direct certification of school-age children participating in school meals or for verification of household income on meal applications.

To ensure program integrity, school districts must sample household applications certified for free or reduced-price meals, contact the households, and verify eligibility. This process (known as household verification) can be burdensome for both school officials and households. Direct verification uses information from certain other means-tested programs to verify eligibility without contacting applicants. Potential benefits include: less burden for households, less work for school officials, and fewer students with school meal benefits terminated because of nonresponse to verification requests.

This report is the final product of a study designed to learn about state Food Stamp Program policy choices and local implementation of these policies after the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. The report presents examples of policies and practices that may have affected client service in the FSP in terms of program accessibility, quality of service and availability of employment and training services, particularly for food stamp recipients that do not receive cash assistance (non-TANF food stamp households).

This report responds to PL 105-379, which mandated the USDA  examine options for the design, development, implementation and operation of a national database to track participation in federal means-tested public assistance programs.