FNS-46 & FNS-388 e-cfr reg citation

erowe on DSK5CLS3C1PROD with CFR

§ 274.4

7 CFR Ch. II (1–1–10 Edition)

issuance file to ensure that the household is not currently participating in,
or disqualified from, the Program. If an
authorization document is issued under
the expedited service requirements of
§§ 273.2(i) and 274.2(b), the State agency
shall complete as much of the master
issuance file review as possible prior to
issuing the authorization document.
Any uncompleted reviews shall be completed after issuance and appropriate
corrective action shall be taken to recover overissuance.
(2) State agencies should divide
issuance responsibilities between at
least two persons to prevent any single
individual from having complete control over the authorization of issuances
and the issuances themselves. Responsibilities to be divided include maintenance of inventory records, assembly of
benefits and preparation of envelopes
for mailing. If issuance functions in an
office are handled by one person, a second-party review shall be made to
verify coupon inventory, the reconciliation of the mail log, and the number
of mailings prepared.
(3) State agencies shall establish controls to prevent a household from concurrently receiving benefits through
more than one issuance system.
(4) State agencies shall clearly identify issuances in their accountability
systems as initial, supplemental, replacement, or restored benefits.
(5) State agencies shall establish a
Statewide
record
of
replacement
issuances granted to households to prevent a household from receiving more
than
two
countable
replacement
issuances as defined in § 274.6(b) in a
six-month period.
(6) State agencies which issue benefits by mail shall, at a minimum, use
first class mail and sturdy nonforwarding envelopes or packages to send
benefits to households.
(e) Validity periods. (1) State agencies
shall establish validity periods for
issuances made in both authorization
document and direct access systems. A
validity period is the time frame during which a household may obtain benefits by transacting an authorization
document, or receiving the benefits directly at an issuance point. Generally,
the validity period coincides with the
issuance month or the period of in-

tended use, which may or may not be a
calendar month. However, in instances
in which authorization documents are
distributed, or benefits become available for ongoing households late in the
issuance month, the State agency shall
extend the validity or availability period for either twenty (20) additional
days, or until the end of the following
issuance month, at the State agency’s
option. The State agency may also
choose one of two dates which will initiate this extension of the validity or
availability period. The State agency
may choose to extend the period for authorization documents distributed or
for benefits made available, on or after
the 20th day of the issuance month or
after the 15th day of the issuance
month. Whichever date the State agency chooses to initiate the required extension, the State agency must use the
date consistently for all extensions in
this category. A household which does
not transact its authorization document, or obtain the benefits directly
from an issuance point during the
issuance’s validity period, shall lose its
entitlement to the benefits, and the
State agency shall not issue benefits to
such a household for such a period.
(2) State agencies experiencing excessive issuance losses may develop systems that have authorization documents that expire in shorter time
frames than those set forth in paragraph (e) of this section. However, such
systems shall include methods that
allow households the opportunity to
obtain their benefits for the full validity period of a month’s issuance.
[54 FR 7004, Feb. 15, 1989, as amended at 54
FR 51351, Dec. 15, 1989; 57 FR 11249, Apr. 1,
1992; 60 FR 20183, Apr. 25, 1995; Amdt. 390, 65
FR 59110, Oct. 4, 2000]

§ 274.4 Reconciliation and reporting.
(a) Reconciliation. State agencies
shall account for all issuance through a
reconciliation process. The manner in
which this is done varies depending on
the type of issuance system being used.
(1) Described below are the required
reconciliation procedures for each type
of system.
(i) In all issuance systems coupon
issuers shall reconcile their issuances
daily using daily tally sheets, cashiers’
daily reports, tapes or printouts.

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erowe on DSK5CLS3C1PROD with CFR

Food and Nutrition Service, USDA

§ 274.4

(ii) In systems where a record-forissuance is used, all issuances authorized for the month shall be merged into
one record-for-issuance at the end of
each month. All issuances made during
the month shall then be posted to the
record-for-issuance. The record-forissuance shall then be compared with
the master issuance file. Findings from
this comparison shall be reported on
the Form FNS–46 as prescribed in paragraph (b)(2) of this section.
(iii) In systems where no record-forissuance is used, issuances made during
each month shall be reconciled to the
master issuance file. Findings from
this reconciliation shall be reported on
the Form FNS–46 as prescribed in paragraph (b)(2) of this section.
(iv) In addition to the reconciliation
activity prescribed in the paragraphs
(a)(1)(i), (a)(1)(ii) and (a)(1)(iii) of this
section, the following steps shall be
followed in authorization document
systems:
(A) The State agency shall determine
and verify the transacted value of authorized coupon issuances.
(B) Any batches of transacted authorization documents that do not reconcile shall be maintained intact by
the State agency until the discrepancy
is resolved with the coupon issuer and/
or a review of the case files.
(C) The State agency shall compare
all transacted authorization documents
with the record-for-issuance or master
issuance file as appropriate. Any documents that do not match with the
record-for-issuance or master issuance
file shall be identified and reported as
required in paragraph (b)(2) of this section.
(b) Required reports. The State agency
shall review and submit the following
reports to FNS on a monthly basis:
(1) Form FNS–250, Food Coupon Accountability Report.
(i) This report, executed monthly by
coupon issuers and bulk storage points,
shall be signed by the coupon issuer or
appropriate official, certifying that the
information is true and correct to the
best of that person’s knowledge and belief.
(ii) Coupon issuers and bulk storage
points shall submit supporting documentation to the State agency which
will allow verification of the monthly

report. At a minimum, such documentation shall include documents
supporting coupon shipments, transfers, issuances, and destruction.
(iii) For those State agencies which
use
an
authorization
document
issuance system, coupon issuers shall
submit transacted authorization documents batched according to each day’s
activity in accordance with a schedule
prescribed by the State agency, but not
less often than monthly.
(iv) All mail issuance activity, including the value of mail issuance replacements, shall be reported. Original
allotments (first benefits issued for a
particular month to an ongoing household) subsequently recovered by the
issuance office during the current
month shall be returned to inventory
and noted on the mail issuance log.
When the original allotment is returned to inventory and the replacement issuance is issued during the current month (month in which original
benefits were issued), the ‘‘replacement’’ shall not be reported.
(v) The Form FNS–250 shall be reviewed by the State agency for accuracy, completeness and reasonableness.
The State agency shall attest to the
accuracy of these reports and shall submit the reports so they will be received
by FNS by the 45th day after the report
month. Any revisions to the Form
FNS–250 for a given month shall be submitted to FNS within 105 days after
the end of the report month.
(vi) FNS shall review each form, submitted through the State agency, for
completeness, accuracy and reasonableness and shall reconcile inventory
with shipping records, and shall review
State agency verification of coupon
issuer and bulk storage point monthly
reports. FNS may supplement the
above reviews by unannounced spot
checks of inventory levels and coupon
security arrangements at coupon
issuers and at bulk storage points.
(2) Form FNS–46, Issuance Reconciliation Report, shall be submitted by
each State agency operating an
issuance system. The report shall be
prepared at the level of the State agency where the actual reconciliation of
the record-for-issuance and master
issuance file occurs.

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§ 274.5

7 CFR Ch. II (1–1–10 Edition)

(i) The State agency shall identify
and report the number and value of all
issuances which do not reconcile with
the record-for-issuance and/or master
issuance
file.
All
unreconciled
issuances shall be identified as specified on this reporting document.
(ii) The report shall be received by
FNS no later than 90 days following
the end of the report month.
(3) Form FNS–259, Food Stamp Mail
Issuance Report.
(i) Form FNS–259 reports shall be submitted by State agencies for each unit
using a mail issuance system as specified in the Mail Issuance Loss Reporting Plan required in § 272.2(d)(1)(iv).
The State agency shall submit the
Form FNS–259 reports so that they are
received in FNS by the 45th day following the end of each quarter.
(ii) The State agency shall verify the
issuance by a comparison with issuance
on the appropriate coupon issuer’s
Form FNS–250.
(4) Form FNS–388, State Coupon
Issuance and Participation Estimates.
(i) State agencies shall telephone or
transmit by computer the Form FNS–
388 data and mail the reports to the
FNS regional office no later than the
19th day of each month. When the 19th
falls on a weekend or holiday, the
Form FNS–388 data shall be reported by
telephone or transmitted by computer
and mailed on the first work day after
the 19th. The Form FNS–388 report
shall be signed by the person responsible for completing the report or a
designated State agency official.
(ii) The Form FNS–388 report shall
provide Statewide estimated or actual
totals of issuance and participation for
the current and previous month, and
actual or final participation totals for
the second preceding month. In addition to the participation totals for the
second preceding months of January
and July, provided on the March and
September reports, non-assistance (NA)
and public assistance (PA) household
and person participation breakdowns
shall be provided. As an attachment to
the March and September Form FNS–
388 reports, State agencies shall provide project area breakdowns of the
coupon issuance and NA/PA household
and person participation data for the

second preceding months of January
and July.
(iii) State agencies shall submit any
proposed changes in their estimation
procedures to be used in determining
the Form FNS–388 data to the FNS regional office for review and comment.
FNS shall monitor the accuracy of the
estimated dollar value of coupons
issued as reported on the Form FNS–388
against the Statewide total dollar
value of coupons as reported by the
issuance agents on the Form FNS–250,
Food Stamp Accountability Report, for
the corresponding month. FNS shall
monitor the accuracy of the Statewide
estimated number of households and
persons participating as reported on
the Form FNS–388 report against the
Statewide actual total participation as
reported on succeeding Form FNS–388
reports and against the semiannual
project area participation totals attached to the March and September
Form FNS–388 reports. The FNS accuracy standards for the issuance and
participation estimates are that estimates for the current month be within
(+) or (¥) four (4) percent of actual levels, and the estimates for the previous
month be within (+) or (¥) two (2) percent of actual levels. State agencies
shall
explain
any
unusual
circumstances that cause coupon issuance
and/or participation data to not meet
these accuracy standards. If a State
agency fails to meet these accuracy
standards, FNS shall notify the State
agency and assist the State agency in
revising its estimating procedures to
improve its reporting.
(iv) A participating household is one
that is certified and has been, or will
be, issued benefits (whether or not the
benefits are used), and households that
have met the eligibility requirements,
but will receive zero benefits.
[54 FR 7004, Feb. 15, 1989, as amended at 54
FR 51351, Dec. 15, 1989]

§ 274.5

[Reserved]

§ 274.6 Replacement
households.

issuances

(a) Providing replacement issuance. (1)
Subject to the restrictions in paragraph (b) of this section, State agencies
shall provide replacement issuances to

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