Agency Information Collection Activities: Assessment of Administrative Costs of Electronic Healthy Incentives Projects (eHIP), 23545-23550 [2024-07163]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
• Food and Nutrition Service

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 66 (Thursday, April 4, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23545-23550]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-07163]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food and Nutrition Service


Agency Information Collection Activities: Assessment of 
Administrative Costs of Electronic Healthy Incentives Projects (eHIP)

AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 
notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment 
on this proposed information collection. This is a new collection for 
the study ``Assessment of Administrative Costs of Electronic Healthy 
Incentives Projects (eHIP).'' This study will calculate costs incurred 
by eHIP, which will provide incentives through EBT integration to 
increase purchase of healthy foods (e.g., fruits and vegetables) by 
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before June 3, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent to: Kathleen Patton, Food and Nutrition 
Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1320 Braddock Place, 5th 
Floor, Alexandria, VA 22314. Comments may also be submitted via email 
to [email protected]. 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 responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the 
request for Office of Management and Budget approval. All comments will 
be a matter of public record.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of this information collection should be directed Kathleen 
Patton at [email protected] or 703-305-2813.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the 
proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper 
performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the 
information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the 
agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions 
that were used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity 
of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden 
of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including 
use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other 
technological collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.
    Title: Assessment of Administrative Costs of Electronic Healthy 
Incentives Projects (eHIP).
    Form Number: Not Applicable.
    OMB Number: 0584-NEW.
    Expiration Date: Not Yet Determined.
    Type of Request: New Collection.
    Abstract: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), 
administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), 
Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), distributes benefits to eligible low-
income households through Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card 
technology. In fiscal year 2023 FNS awarded grants to three States, 
Colorado, Louisianna, and Washington for implementing Electronic 
Healthy Incentives Projects (eHIP) to leverage EBT integration to 
deliver financial incentives at point of purchase to SNAP households 
when they purchase qualifying foods (e.g., fruits and vegetables). The 
aim of this study is to calculate the costs of eHIP in the three States 
to determine the startup and ongoing costs of administering incentives 
to SNAP households through EBT integration and to estimate the cost of 
administering eHIP at scale. The study will quantify startup and 
ongoing administrative costs to State grantees, retailers, and other 
eHIP stakeholders. It will also compare administrative costs to the 
amount of funding distributed as incentives.
    Data will be collected from the three project States and multiple 
entities working with these States, including retailers, EBT 
processors, third-party processors (TPPs). These data will include both 
cost data, collected through cost data templates submitted to the 
States/entities, as well as interviews with State and other project 
representatives to contextualize the cost data. In addition, existing 
national data (such as SNAP caseloads and SNAP-authorized retailers) 
and State data from non-project States (such as State wage rates) will 
be examined in order to estimate the cost of nationwide expansion of 
eHIP. Lastly, data from select Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive 
Program (GusNIP) grantees--that do not use EBT integration for 
delivering incentives to SNAP households for purchasing fruits and 
vegetables will be examined to estimate the costs and return on 
investment (ROI) of GusNIP and compare these to the eHIP costs and ROI, 
in order to provide information on how these two incentive delivery 
modalities differ in costs and economic impact.
    Data collection is expected to occur beginning in March 2025 with 
an approximate end date of May 2026. Data collection activities will be 
designed to address the three main objectives for the study:
    1. Quantify, to the extent possible, the cost of administering 
eHIP;
    2. Estimate the cost of nationwide expansion of eHIP; and
    3. Compare the cost of administering eHIP with other incentive 
programs for SNAP households that do not use EBT integration.
    Design consists of building and populating a central cost model for 
estimating the costs of implementing and administering eHIP. This model 
will then be expanded, through the use of publicly available State and 
national data, to estimate the nationwide costs of implementation and 
administration. Finally, existing data on GusNIP programs will be used 
to compare costs between eHIP and GusNIP.
    Affected Public: State respondents are eHIP project staff. For-
profit and not-for-profit business respondents are eHIP-participating 
EBT vendor staff, TPP staff, and retailer staff.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: The estimated number of 
respondents is 38. Within each State, the study expects responses from 
4 State staff (4 staff x 3 States = 12 State staff). In addition, the 
study expects to have responses from 6 retailer staff for each eHIP 
State (6 staff x 3 States = 18 retailer staff), as well as 2 TPP staff 
for each eHIP State (2 staff x 3 States = 6 TPP staff). Finally, the 
study expects responses from 2 EBT processor staff, 1 each from the two 
EBT processor firms working with the three eHIP States.
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: Across all 
respondents, the average number of responses is 7.3 (277 responses 
across 38 respondent). The number of responses will vary by respondent 
group and the specific data collection activity.
    For the State SNAP agency staff:
    [ssquf] One staffer within each State will be asked to respond once 
to the pre-test of the cost templates and three times to the cost data 
templates data collection.
    [ssquf] Two staffers in each State will be asked to respond twice 
to the phone interview data collection. Staff will receive an 
electronic letter (i.e., email)

[[Page 23546]]

for inviting them to participate and for scheduling the interview. They 
will also receive an email reminder for the interview, as well as a 
thank you email.
    For the EBT processors, one staff from each of the two EBT 
processors will be asked to respond two times to phone interview data 
collection (including invitation to schedule, reminder, interview, and 
thank you note). For the retailer staff, 6 retailer staff from each 
State will be asked to respond two times to phone interview data 
collection (including invitation to schedule, reminder, interview, and 
thank you note). For the TPP staff, two staff from each State will be 
asked to respond two times to phone interview data collection 
(including invitation to schedule, reminder, interview, and thank you 
note).
    We expect a 100 percent response rate from all categories of 
respondents.
    Estimated Total Annual Responses: The estimated number of total 
annual responses is 277 (38 respondents and no nonrespondents).
    Estimated Time per Response: The estimated time of response varies 
from 0.083 hours to 7 hours depending on the instrument, as shown in 
the table below. The average estimated time per response is 0.644 
hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: The estimated total 
annual burden on respondents 178.315 hours. See the table below for 
estimated total annual burden for each type of respondent.
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Tameka Owens,
Assistant Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.
[FR Doc. 2024-07163 Filed 4-3-24; 8:45 am]
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