In this letter, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service urges state agencies to strengthen program integrity in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) by implementing robust oversight, training, and monitoring measures to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse.
We are committed to supporting WIC state agency efforts to combat vendor fraud, waste and abuse. State agencies should make every effort to increase oversight of WIC vendors through the strategies outlined in this memo.
This agenda provides summary descriptions of significant and not significant regulations being developed in agencies of the USDA in conformance with Executive Orders 12866, “Regulatory Planning and Review,” 13563, “Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review,” 14192, “Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation,” and 14219, “Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President's “Department of Government Efficiency” Deregulatory Initiative.”
We are committed to upholding Secretary of Agriculture Rollins’ priority to take swift action to minimize instances of fraud, waste, and program abuse, and to ensure American taxpayer dollars are spent with integrity and accountability. We are issuing this memo, both in support of that priority and in response to requests from SNAP state agencies and FDPIR administering agencies, for additional guidance on preventing dual participation and ensuring comparable disqualifications are applied in SNAP and FDPIR.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack issued a letter today encouraging all governors to invest in SNAP EBT cards with chip technology for their states.
USDA is aware of increased reports of EBT theft due to card skimming, cloning, and similar fraudulent methods. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 includes provisions for the replacement of stolen EBT benefits with federal funds.
USDA's FNS and ACF at the Department of Health and Human Services are aware of increasing reports of benefit theft by criminal actors through EBT card skimming schemes. After discussions with EBT processors and fraud prevention stakeholders, FNS and ACF have identified prevention measures that can be adopted to improve card security while we work towards longer-term strategies.
FNS is issuing this affirmation of a final rule, without change, of an interim rule that amended SNAP regulations, to require state agencies to monitor electronic benefit transfer card replacement requests and send notices to those clients who have requested four cards within a 12-month period.
The rule entitled Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Trafficking Controls and Fraud Investigations was published on August 21, 2013. The ICR for this rule approved the creation of a new information collection, which has been assigned the OMB Control Number 0584-0587. The Office of Management and Budget cleared the associated ICR on Sept. 23, 2013. This document announces the approval of the ICR.
In February, 2013, FNS published final regulations revising the definition of trafficking. It subsequently came to our attention that some states were not clear that upon its effective date, federal law takes precedence and states were expected to implement the new federal trafficking definition.