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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 154 / Friday, August 13, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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16a of the FNA, which authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to pay each State agency 50 percent of all administrative costs involved in each State agencys operation of SNAP. The memorandum also stipulated that FNS
be allowed attend any training sessions or meetings that discussed individual QC cases and required that the State document any discussions about individually sampled cases within the QC record for subsequent review and auditing purposes.
Subsequent to the issuance of this guidance, the 2018 Farm Bill directed the Department to issue interim final regulations to provide for the oversight of contracts entered into by a State agency for the purpose of improving payment accuracy. As a result, the Department is codifying at 275.2c the requirements on the oversight of contracts previously set forth by FNS in the 2016 policy memorandum. This paragraph at 275.2c will also codify the 2018 Farm Bill requirement at Section 4013b that any person who knowingly submits, or causes submittal of, false information in carrying out the QC system be debarred in accordance with procedures outlined in 2 CFR part 417. This particular provision regarding debarment, codified through this interim final rule, was self-executing upon enactment of the 2018 Farm Bill.
These provisions associated with third party contractors under 7 CFR
275.2c1 will be effective upon OMBs approval of the information collection associated with this activity.
State Systems Access Section 4013a of the 2018 Farm Bill required that all State agency records and the systems in which those records are contained be made available to the Department for QC purposes. To ensure the accuracy of data collected in SNAP
QC and to allow for independent oversight of program administration, FNS must have access to State agency records and the systems in which those records are contained; this includes remote access. While mandatory FNS
access to State computer systems for QC
purposes has existed since the current QC system was implemented, it is necessary to specifically include remote access in this requirement to ensure Federal staff has the tools necessary to conduct thorough QC re-reviews from their duty stations. While some State agencies have already provided remote access to their systems, it has been difficult to gain access in some states due to technological and security challenges. These challenges include issues concerning equipment and firewalls as well as the fact that some
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State systems do not include a user role that allows access only to SNAP
information.4 A new paragraph at 275.2d will require FNS have access, including remote access, to all State agency records and systems in which those records are contained. The Department believes this provision will enable State agencies to make the necessary changes to allow remote access to State computer systems for SNAP QC purposes, and therefore help ensure the accuracy of the collected data through the QC system. FNS will continue to work with States collaboratively to establish data sharing and system integrity agreements to facilitate the required systems access.
This provision is effective upon publication of this rule.
Federal MonitoringReviews of State Agencys Quality Control System The 2018 Farm Bill further requires FNS to ensure that the integrity of the QC system is reviewed in at least two State agencies per fiscal year to the maximum extent practicable. As a result, the Department is adding a new paragraph at 275.3c to use the existing management evaluation process to provide for the review of at least two State agency QC systems per year. The paragraphs currently located at 275.3c and d are being appropriately re-designated as 275.3d and e, respectively. This provision is effective upon publication of this rule.
Social Security Administration SSA
Processed Cases This rule will also ensure statistically valid results and improve the accuracy of QC data collected by State agencies by requiring that cases processed by the Social Security Administration SSA
are included in the error rate. Currently, SSA processes applications for around 50,000 SNAP cases a year. Less than one-tenth of a percent of cases sampled for QC review are processed by SSA.
Current regulations require SNAP cases that are processed by SSA to be reviewed according to standard procedures; longstanding FNS policy exempts these cases from inclusion in the error rates. SNAP regulations at 273.2kl provide two options for SSA
involvement in the certification process for SNAP beneficiaries, which are designed to simplify the SNAP
4 State systems contain information on participants in a multitude of different programs, each of which can have as some currently do statutory and regulatory language prohibiting the disclosure of such information outside of said program. As such, the State systems must be able to limit user access to SNAP information only before sharing the system with FNS for SNAP QC
purposes to ensure compliance with federal law.

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application process for households applying for and receiving Supplemental Security Income. The first option is for the SSA office itself to complete and forward applications to the local SNAP office, and the second is for the local SNAP agency to outstation a worker at the SSA office. Both processes require the SNAP agency to make the final determination on the application, meaning that even when SSA participates in completing the application, the State agency must clarify unclear information and ensure the benefit determination and allotment amount are correct. Since the SNAP
agency is responsible for finalizing and processing applications received at SSA
offices, including these cases in the error rate would ensure this population of households is part of the improper payment measurement. This would improve the accuracy of QC data collection and reporting methods. FNS
believes that excluding these cases from the error rate is inconsistent with current Federal improper payment requirements and intends to correct this inconsistency by requiring SSA
processed cases be included in the SNAP error rate. For these reasons, the Department is amending the following sections in 7 CFR to clarify that SSA
processed cases shall be treated in the same manner as other SNAP cases for QC purposes: newly redesignated 275.11g; and 275.12h, 275.13f, 275.21d, and 275.23b1. This provision is effective upon publication of this rule.
Record Retention To further ensure the accuracy of QC
data collected by State agencies, this interim final rule will also provide more detail on what records must be retained for QC case files. Past QC integrity management evaluation reviews conducted by FNS found that many State agencies misunderstood SNAP QC
record retention requirements, including the essential document types that must be reported and retained. In addition to these FNS reviews, the OIG
audit of the QC error rate process and the FNS completion rate study 5 each discovered intentional and unintentional instances of State agencies leaving documentary evidence out of the case file. As a result, Federal QC reviewers had insufficient information to review such cases and determine whether the information used 5 On January 11, 2016, FNS published a study, Enhancing SNAP Quality Control Completion Rates, that examined the factors contributing to incomplete reviews of cases and described best practices associated with high SNAP QC
completion rates.

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