Sneak Preview: FNS Aims To Help Agencies Meet WIC EBT Deadline

(The following was excerpted from a recent article in the Single Audit Information Service.) U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), in response to a recent audit recommendation by the USDA Office of Inspector General (OIG), plans to develop a technical assistance plan early this year to help state agencies that are at risk of not complying with a federal requirement to implement by Oct. 1 statewide electronic benefits transfer (EBT) for participants in the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program.

The WIC program supports federal grants to 90 state agencies (i.e., 50 states, the District of Columbia, five U.S. territories and 34 Indian tribal organizations) to provide supplemental foods, health care referrals and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding and postpartum women, and for infants and children up to the age of 5 who are at nutritional risk. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 1751 §352(d)) required that WIC participants be able to obtain their benefits electronically through EBT, and each state agency is required to convert their use of WIC paper checks and vouchers to a statewide EBT delivery method by Oct. 1, unless the USDA secretary grants an exemption for a state agency facing unusual barriers to implementation.

As of July 2019, 49 of the 90 state agencies have implemented statewide EBT for WIC. To be eligible for an exemption to the Oct. 1 requirement, a state agency must demonstrate to USDA that either: (1) there are unusual technological barriers to implementation, (2) operational costs are not affordable within the state agency’s nutrition services and administration grant, or (3) it is in the best interest of the program to grant the exemption. The exemption would grant an extension for implementing statewide EBT for up to three years from the date the exemption was granted.

The 2016 Appropriations Act (Pub. L. 114-113) provided $220 million to FNS under WIC to help fund management information systems, including EBT activities. To receive these funds, state agencies must submit an advance planning document (APD) that explains the state’s intended activities and projected expenditures for planning and implementing a management information system.

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