Food and Nutrition Service August 2021 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on the proposed information collection for the Annual State Report of Verification of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Participation. This is a revision of a currently approved information collection request. The purpose of the Annual State Report of Verification of SNAP Participants is to ensure that no person who is deceased, or has been permanently disqualified from SNAP, improperly received SNAP benefits for the fiscal year preceding the report submission. Section 4032 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 is the basis for this collection. Section 4032 mandates that States will ``submit to the Secretary a report containing sufficient information for the Secretary to determine whether the State agency has, for the most recently concluded fiscal year preceding that annual date, verified that the State agency in that fiscal year (1) did not issue benefits to a deceased individual; and (2) did not issue benefits to an individual who had been permanently disqualified from receiving benefits.'' An email from each State agency to the corresponding Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Regional SNAP Program Director containing the answers to the above questions will be used as the mechanism for State agencies to report their compliance with the Agriculture Act of 2014.

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 collection is a Reinstatement, with change, of a previously approved collection for which approval has expired (OMB Number 0584-0530, Discontinued: 10/31/ 2020); for the Fourth Access, Participation, Eligibility, and Certification Study Series (APEC IV).

This is a Request for Information from stakeholders, including local operators, State administrators, industry and producers, about the Buy American provision in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP). The NSLP and SBP, which are administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), play a critical role in ensuring that America's children have access to nutritious food they need to learn and succeed in the classroom, in addition to supporting American agriculture, and small, minority, and women's businesses and agricultural producers. In order to claim Federal reimbursement for meals served, school food authorities (SFAs) must follow Federal procurement and program regulations. These include the Buy American provision. The purpose of this Request for Information is to help FNS gather feedback from a wide variety of stakeholders on how the Buy American provision and guidance are currently implemented, changes FNS should make to current regulations and guidance and feedback on how FNS can better support local operators as they strive to purchase domestic foods and food products.