Food and Nutrition Service August 4, 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 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.