United States Department of Agriculture
Washington, D.C. 20250
July 23, 2025
Dear State agency Directors,
On May 6, 2025, state agencies were advised of the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) intent to implement President Trump’s March 20, 2025, Executive Order 14243, Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos through state data sharing to the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). In the May 6, 2025, memo, states were advised that the USDA/FNS was working with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payment processors to assist with data collection. As requested by state agencies, states are welcome to determine the most appropriate and feasible method to share the requested data with FNS. State agencies can work through their payment processor, a vendor of their own choosing, or with their State Information Technology team.
Data Elements
The requested data elements are for individuals who have received, are currently receiving, or have applied to receive SNAP benefits from Jan. 1, 2020, through present date. Requested data elements shall include records sufficient to identify individuals as applicants for, or recipients of, SNAP benefits, including but not limited to all household group members names, dates of birth, social security numbers, residential and mailing addresses used or provided, as well as all data records used to determine eligibility or ineligibility. It is understood that these data records will vary household to household, and may include earned and unearned income, absent parent(s), and other data used in the determination process. Please do not include supporting documents or case comments.
Additionally, transactional records from each household are also requested, and must be sufficient to calculate the total dollar value of SNAP received by recipients over time, with the ability to filter benefits received by date ranges, as well as SNAP usage and retailer data.
Data Transmission
Each state agency shall transmit data to FNS via the platform called Box. Once you identify the individual who will be responsible for transmitting the data for your state agency, please send their name, title, and email address to SNAPDatabase@usda.gov. The state agency identified contact will then receive an email for account creation and access for data transmission.
Box is a secure platform which employs various security measures, including encryption, access controls, and compliance features to handle the sensitive data that States will be transmitting.
Data shall be transmitted to FNS no later than Wednesday, July 30, 2025.
Follow-Up Steps
Upon completion of data analysis, FNS will follow up with state agencies in respect to any applicable next steps of reconciliation. For questions related to the required data elements and/or assistance with the transmission of data, please send inquiries to SNAPDatabase@usda.gov. We look forward to expanding this partnership with our state partners to ensure and enhance program integrity.
Sincerely,
Gina Brand
Senior Policy Advisor for Integrity
United States Department of Agriculture
Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services