Request for Information: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Data Exchange Standardization, 33199-33200 [2016-12262]
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Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 101 / Wednesday, May 25, 2016 / Notices
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Summary Of Collection: The Food
and Nutrition Service (FNS), as part of
its continuing effort to reduce
paperwork and respondent burden,
invites the general public to comment
on the ‘‘Generic Clearance for the
Collection of Qualitative Feedback on
Agency Service Delivery ’’ for approval
under the Paperwork Reduction Act
(PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et. seq.). This
collection is being developed as part of
a Federal Government-wide effort to
streamline the process for seeking
feedback from the public on service
delivery. This notice announces our
intent to submit this ‘‘fast track’’
collection to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) for approval and to
solicit comments on specific aspects for
the proposed information collection.
Need And Use Of The Information:
The proposed information collection
activity provides a means to garner
qualitative customer and stakeholder
feedback in an efficient and timely
manner. By qualitative feedback we
mean, information that provides useful
insights on perceptions and opinions,
but are not statistical surveys that yield
quantitative results that can be
generalized to the population. This
feedback will, (1) provide insights into
customer or stakeholder perceptions,
experiences and expectations, (2)
provide an early warning of issues with
service and, (3) focus attention on areas
where communication, training or
changes in operations might improve
delivery of products or services. This
collection will allow for ongoing,
collaborative and actionable
communications between the Agency
and its customers and stakeholders. It
will also allow feedback to contribute
directly to the improvement of program
management.
Description of Respondents:
Individuals and Households, Businesses
and Organizations, State, Local or Tribal
Government.
Number of Respondents: 30,000.
Frequency of Responses:
Recordkeeping; Reporting: Annually.
Total Burden Hours: 30,000.
Ruth Brown,
Departmental Information Collection
Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2016–12259 Filed 5–24–16; 8:45 am]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food and Nutrition Service
Request for Information: Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
Data Exchange Standardization
Food and Nutrition Service
(FNS), USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
Section 4016 of the
Agricultural Act of 2014 amended
Section 11 of the Food and Nutrition
Act of 2008 to require FNS to designate
data exchange standards to govern both
(1) necessary categories of information
that SNAP State agencies operating
related programs are required under
applicable law to electronically
exchange with another State agency,
and (2) federal reporting and data
exchange requirements under applicable
law. The Act also directs FNS to consult
with an interagency workgroup
established by the Office of Management
and Budget, which no longer exists, and
to consider State government
perspectives. As a result, FNS is issuing
this Request for Information in order to
obtain State government and other
stakeholder perspectives as it considers
how to best to proceed with establishing
data exchange standards.
DATES: Written comments must be
received on or before July 25, 2016.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent to
Jane Duffield, Chief, State
Administration Branch, Program
Accountability and Administration
Division, Food and Nutrition Service
(FNS), U.S. Department of Agriculture,
3101 Park Center Drive, Room 818,
Alexandria, VA 22302. Comments may
also be emailed to SNAPSAB@
fns.usda.gov. Comments will also be
accepted through the Federal
eRulemaking Portal. Go to https://
www.regulations.gov and follow the
online instructions for submitting
comments electronically.
All written comments will be open for
public inspection at the FNS office
located at 3101 Park Center Drive,
Alexandria, Virginia, 22302, Room 800,
during regular business hours (8:30 a.m.
to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday).
All responses to this notice will be
summarized and included in the request
for Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) approval. All comments will be
a matter of public record.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Requests for additional information or
copies of this request for information
should be directed to Jane Duffield at
(703) 605–4385.
SUMMARY:
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33199
Data
standardization can enhance the ability
of States and the federal government to
administer the SNAP program more
effectively by strengthening oversight,
improving decision-making by program
administrators, and fostering innovation
through the greater use of data analytics.
Data standardization may also help
States and the federal government to
reduce improper benefit payments, as
well as to improve the detection and
prevention of fraud, waste, and abuse by
allowing for easier data sharing. Greater
use of data sharing may improve
program integrity by increasing the
accuracy of payments, improving
efficiency and case management
through increased automation,
improving decision-making by
expanding verification, and by allowing
for better-targeted efforts through data
analysis of trends across States and
populations served by the program.
With these general interests in mind,
FNS is seeking information from
stakeholders on the following particular
questions:
1. Legislation requires FNS to propose
a rule to identify federally required data
exchanges, including the specification
and timing of the exchanges to be
standardized. FNS is also required to
address the factors used to determine
whether and when to standardize data
exchanges, specify State
implementation options, and to describe
future milestones. Please provide your
input on the following questions:
a. Should FNS consider requiring
additional data exchanges that are not
currently required by SNAP regulations?
If so, what additional data exchanges
would improve communication between
the States and FNS?
b. What frequency should be
considered for any data exchange that is
currently required by regulation, or any
data exchange that is not currently
required and is being proposed in
response to the preceding question?
c. What implementation options
should be available to States in enacting
a standardized data exchange?
d. What constraints, if any, would the
technologies used to operate existing
SNAP eligibility systems have on
meeting data exchange requirements?
e. If FNS were to standardize a data
exchange, how much time would be
required for States to adapt processes
and systems to comply?
2. The Act specifies that FNS should
not require a change to an existing data
exchange standard for Federal reporting
if that standard has already been found
to be effective and efficient. What
criteria should FNS consider to
determine whether an existing data
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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25MYN1
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33200
Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 101 / Wednesday, May 25, 2016 / Notices
exchange standard is effective and
efficient?
3. State agencies already have focused
efforts on integrating case management
initiatives in order to better coordinate
assistance for families with complex
service needs across multiple program
areas. What factors should FNS consider
in a future rule to address SNAP data
standardization so as not to adversely
impact ongoing or planned initiatives?
4. In promulgating rules, what Federal
or State laws should FNS be aware of
that either hinder or promote data
exchange standards?
5. What factors should FNS consider
as part of the data exchange
standardization effort to further
strengthen client confidentiality? For
example, should FNS mandate industry
standard security protocols, such as
requirements that Social Security
Numbers (SSN) be encrypted and that
States utilize data masking, or that
States may not use SSN as a unique
client identifier? If so, how can FNS
promote further data interoperability
while maintaining data security?
6. Are there any data standardization
practices in your current data
management process that could apply
here, such as standardizing your data
field names and definitions, including
security classification, and
implementing access policies to ensure
input data cleansing and output data
consistency?
7. Do States provide training to
workers involved in the administration
and enforcement of SNAP about data
sharing?
8. Do States conduct security training
with all staff involved in the
administration and enforcement of the
program that covers the client
confidentiality requirements of the Food
and Nutrition Act of 2008, as well as the
SNAP regulations? If so, please address
additional questions below:
a. What is the frequency of the
training?
b. Does the State maintain a record of
each individual worker’s security
training history?
c. Does the training cover additional
security topics?
9. What factors should FNS consider
regarding the impact data exchange
standards would have on States that
integrate data sources external to the
SNAP State agency?
10. What barriers, if any, should FNS
consider in implementing federally
required data exchanges for SNAP
program administration?
11. What factors should FNS consider
for States that utilize an enterprise data
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warehouse for reporting and analyzing
data in SNAP as well as across
programs?
12. Efforts to promote data
interoperability to improve oversight,
data analysis, and decision-making are
only as good as the quality of the data
itself. What factors should FNS consider
to strengthen SNAP data integrity in
support of data exchange standards?
13. In addition to data exchange
standards, should FNS consider
additional steps related to this effort,
such as providing standardized data
sharing agreements for SNAP data?
14. What other concerns or barriers, if
any, exist in successfully implementing
data exchanges that were not addressed
by any of the previous questions that
FNS should consider?
Dated: May 10, 2016.
Audrey Rowe,
Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.
[FR Doc. 2016–12262 Filed 5–24–16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410–30–P
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Foreign Agricultural Service
WTO Agricultural Quantity-Based
Safeguard Trigger Levels
Foreign Agricultural Service,
U.S. Department of Agriculture.
ACTION: Notice of product coverage and
trigger levels for safeguard measures
provided for in the World Trade
Organization (WTO) Agreement on
Agriculture.
AGENCY:
This notice lists the updated
quantity-based trigger levels for
products which may be subject to
additional import duties under the
safeguard provisions of the WTO
Agreement on Agriculture. This notice
also includes the relevant period
applicable for the trigger levels on each
of the listed products.
DATES: May 25, 2016.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Safeguard Staff, Import Policies and
Export Reporting Division, Office of
Trade Programs, Foreign Agricultural
Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Stop 1020, 1400 Independence Avenue
SW., Washington, DC 20250–1020; by
telephone (202) 720–0638; or by fax
(202) 720–0876.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Article 5
of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture
provides that additional import duties
may be imposed on imports of products
subject to tariffication as a result of the
Uruguay Round, if certain conditions
SUMMARY:
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Fmt 4703
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are met. The agreement permits
additional duties to be charged if the
price of an individual shipment of
imported products falls below the
average price for similar goods imported
during the years 1986–88 by a specified
percentage. It also permits additional
duties to be imposed if the volume of
imports of an article exceeds the average
of the most recent 3 years for which data
are available by 5, 10, or 25 percent,
depending on the article. These
additional duties may not be imposed
on quantities for which minimum or
current access commitments were made
during the Uruguay Round negotiations,
and only one type of safeguard, price or
quantity, may be applied at any given
time to an article.
Section 405 of the Uruguay Round
Agreements Act requires that the
President cause to be published in the
Federal Register information regarding
the price and quantity safeguards,
including the quantity trigger levels,
which must be updated annually based
upon import levels during the most
recent 3 years. The President delegated
this duty to the Secretary of Agriculture
in Presidential Proclamation No. 6763,
dated December 23, 1994, 60 FR 1005
(Jan. 4, 1995). The Secretary of
Agriculture further delegated this duty,
which lies with the Administrator of the
Foreign Agricultural Service (7 CFR
2.43(a)(2)). The Annex to this notice
contains the updated quantity trigger
levels.
Additional information on the
products subject to safeguards and the
additional duties which may apply can
be found in subchapter IV of Chapter 99
of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of
the United States (2016) and in the
Secretary of Agriculture’s Notice of
Uruguay Round Agricultural Safeguard
Trigger Levels, published in the Federal
Register at 60 FR 427 (Jan. 4, 1995).
Notice: As provided in Section 405 of
the Uruguay Round Agreements Act,
consistent with Article 5 of the WTO
Agreement on Agriculture, the safeguard
quantity trigger levels previously
notified are superceded by the levels
indicated in the Annex to this notice.
The definitions of these products were
provided in the Notice of Safeguard
Action published in the Federal
Register, at 60 FR 427 (Jan. 4, 1995).
Issued at Washington, DC, this 25th day of
April 2016.
Suzanne Palmieri,
Administrator, Foreign Agricultural Service.
Annex
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[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 101 (Wednesday, May 25, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33199-33200]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-12262]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food and Nutrition Service
Request for Information: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program (SNAP) Data Exchange Standardization
AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Section 4016 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 amended Section
11 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to require FNS to designate
data exchange standards to govern both (1) necessary categories of
information that SNAP State agencies operating related programs are
required under applicable law to electronically exchange with another
State agency, and (2) federal reporting and data exchange requirements
under applicable law. The Act also directs FNS to consult with an
interagency workgroup established by the Office of Management and
Budget, which no longer exists, and to consider State government
perspectives. As a result, FNS is issuing this Request for Information
in order to obtain State government and other stakeholder perspectives
as it considers how to best to proceed with establishing data exchange
standards.
DATES: Written comments must be received on or before July 25, 2016.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent to Jane Duffield, Chief, State
Administration Branch, Program Accountability and Administration
Division, Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), U.S. Department of
Agriculture, 3101 Park Center Drive, Room 818, Alexandria, VA 22302.
Comments may also be emailed to SNAPSAB@fns.usda.gov. Comments will
also be accepted through the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to https://www.regulations.gov and follow the online instructions for submitting
comments electronically.
All written comments will be open for public inspection at the FNS
office located at 3101 Park Center Drive, Alexandria, Virginia, 22302,
Room 800, during regular business hours (8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday
through Friday). All responses to this notice will be summarized and
included in the request for Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
approval. All comments will be a matter of public record.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or
copies of this request for information should be directed to Jane
Duffield at (703) 605-4385.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Data standardization can enhance the
ability of States and the federal government to administer the SNAP
program more effectively by strengthening oversight, improving
decision-making by program administrators, and fostering innovation
through the greater use of data analytics. Data standardization may
also help States and the federal government to reduce improper benefit
payments, as well as to improve the detection and prevention of fraud,
waste, and abuse by allowing for easier data sharing. Greater use of
data sharing may improve program integrity by increasing the accuracy
of payments, improving efficiency and case management through increased
automation, improving decision-making by expanding verification, and by
allowing for better-targeted efforts through data analysis of trends
across States and populations served by the program.
With these general interests in mind, FNS is seeking information
from stakeholders on the following particular questions:
1. Legislation requires FNS to propose a rule to identify federally
required data exchanges, including the specification and timing of the
exchanges to be standardized. FNS is also required to address the
factors used to determine whether and when to standardize data
exchanges, specify State implementation options, and to describe future
milestones. Please provide your input on the following questions:
a. Should FNS consider requiring additional data exchanges that are
not currently required by SNAP regulations? If so, what additional data
exchanges would improve communication between the States and FNS?
b. What frequency should be considered for any data exchange that
is currently required by regulation, or any data exchange that is not
currently required and is being proposed in response to the preceding
question?
c. What implementation options should be available to States in
enacting a standardized data exchange?
d. What constraints, if any, would the technologies used to operate
existing SNAP eligibility systems have on meeting data exchange
requirements?
e. If FNS were to standardize a data exchange, how much time would
be required for States to adapt processes and systems to comply?
2. The Act specifies that FNS should not require a change to an
existing data exchange standard for Federal reporting if that standard
has already been found to be effective and efficient. What criteria
should FNS consider to determine whether an existing data
[[Page 33200]]
exchange standard is effective and efficient?
3. State agencies already have focused efforts on integrating case
management initiatives in order to better coordinate assistance for
families with complex service needs across multiple program areas. What
factors should FNS consider in a future rule to address SNAP data
standardization so as not to adversely impact ongoing or planned
initiatives?
4. In promulgating rules, what Federal or State laws should FNS be
aware of that either hinder or promote data exchange standards?
5. What factors should FNS consider as part of the data exchange
standardization effort to further strengthen client confidentiality?
For example, should FNS mandate industry standard security protocols,
such as requirements that Social Security Numbers (SSN) be encrypted
and that States utilize data masking, or that States may not use SSN as
a unique client identifier? If so, how can FNS promote further data
interoperability while maintaining data security?
6. Are there any data standardization practices in your current
data management process that could apply here, such as standardizing
your data field names and definitions, including security
classification, and implementing access policies to ensure input data
cleansing and output data consistency?
7. Do States provide training to workers involved in the
administration and enforcement of SNAP about data sharing?
8. Do States conduct security training with all staff involved in
the administration and enforcement of the program that covers the
client confidentiality requirements of the Food and Nutrition Act of
2008, as well as the SNAP regulations? If so, please address additional
questions below:
a. What is the frequency of the training?
b. Does the State maintain a record of each individual worker's
security training history?
c. Does the training cover additional security topics?
9. What factors should FNS consider regarding the impact data
exchange standards would have on States that integrate data sources
external to the SNAP State agency?
10. What barriers, if any, should FNS consider in implementing
federally required data exchanges for SNAP program administration?
11. What factors should FNS consider for States that utilize an
enterprise data warehouse for reporting and analyzing data in SNAP as
well as across programs?
12. Efforts to promote data interoperability to improve oversight,
data analysis, and decision-making are only as good as the quality of
the data itself. What factors should FNS consider to strengthen SNAP
data integrity in support of data exchange standards?
13. In addition to data exchange standards, should FNS consider
additional steps related to this effort, such as providing standardized
data sharing agreements for SNAP data?
14. What other concerns or barriers, if any, exist in successfully
implementing data exchanges that were not addressed by any of the
previous questions that FNS should consider?
Dated: May 10, 2016.
Audrey Rowe,
Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.
[FR Doc. 2016-12262 Filed 5-24-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-30-P
