Sneak Preview: FAQ Discusses Operational Costs Reimbursements
(The following was excerpted from a recent Thompson Grants 360 article.) State agencies administering the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program (NSLP/SBP) and the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) that are participating in special programs to provide local program operators with reimbursement for emergency operational costs during the COVID-19 pandemic must submit reports by March 31, 2022, summarizing the use of these funds, according to a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document recently released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (FNS).
Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (Pub. L. 116-260), FNS is offering additional funds to state agencies administering the NSLP/SBP and CACFP programs to provide local program operators (i.e., school food authorities (SFAs) and CACFP operators) with additional reimbursements for emergency operating costs they incurred during the public health emergency from March 2020 to June 2020. The agency is providing the additional funds through two temporary reimbursement programs ― the School Programs Emergency Operational Costs Reimbursement Program, and the CACFP Emergency Operational Costs Reimbursement Program.
The FNS FAQ answers questions the agency has received pertaining to eligibility for the two programs, application requirements, payment calculations, use of state administrative funds, reporting and monitoring requirements, availability of funds and payment dispersal methods to local program operators. SFAs are eligible to receive funds from the state under the School Program Emergency Operational Costs Reimbursement Program only if they filed valid SNLP/SBP meal claims for any month from September 2020 to December 2020 or have provided assurance to the state agency that they will file a claim during the first full semester occurring after the end of the public health emergency. Likewise, the CACFP Emergency Operational Costs Reimbursement Program eligibility is limited to institutions, day care homes and unaffiliated centers that filed valid CACFP claims for any month from September 2020 to December 2020 or have provided assurance to the state agency that they will file a claim within the first 90 days after the end of the public health emergency.
States may apply to participate in either or both of the programs. If a state opts to apply for both programs, its application must separately address the required elements of each program within the document. “State agencies seeking to distribute funds under the reimbursement programs are strongly encouraged to work proactively to ensure that necessary interagency arrangements and/or data sharing agreements are established in cases where such data is needed for the calculation and distribution of payments to program operators,” the FAQ explains, adding that state agencies receiving funds under these programs must offer the payments to all eligible program operators and must return any declined funds to FNS as unused. These funds also are separate from regular program reimbursements under the SNLP/SBP and CACFP programs.
(The full version of this story has now been made available to all for a limited time here.)
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