Food and Nutrition Service August 8, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has revised its Food Stamp Program Application for Stores, Form FNS-252 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2004. The form was revised to simplify and streamline information collected from retailers on the application and make it easier to read. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) granted a one year approval of the use of this form. FNS did not begin to use the new form until the fourth quarter of FY 2004 when the new Store Tracking and Redemption Subsystem (STARS II) became operational. We are soliciting public comments on the content, format and design of the revised Form FNS-252. As conditions of clearance for the revised retailer application, OMB is requiring that FNS translate the Form FNS-252 into Spanish and have it in active use within the year. OMB is also requiring FNS to track and report on the completion rates for questions 14c, 15b, 16, and 17b. FNS translated the Form FNS-252, into Spanish and is in the process of working with a contractor to post this information on the FNS website. We expect to have the Spanish version of Form FNS-252 in active use by the end of the fourth quarter of FY 2005. FNS is also in the process of tracking the completion rate of those questions identified by OMB, and referenced above. We will report the results upon resubmission to OMB for approval. Finally, a question asking retailers to provide the number of check-out registers that are in the store was omitted from the revised Form FNS-252 in error. FNS needs this information for program management purposes, and it impacts our ability to accurately provide point-of-sale information to third party processors and State contractors. As a result of this finding, FNS intends to add this question to the revised Form FNS-252.