Summer EBT RFA 01-19-17 Final Rev.pdf

OMB BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0584-0512. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 150 hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICE

SUMMER ELECTRONIC BENEFITS TRANSFER FOR CHILDREN (SUMMER EBT)

DEMONSTRATIONS

FISCAL YEAR 2017

REQUEST FOR APPLICATIONS

CFDA# 10.559

ANTICIPATED SIGNIFICANT DEMONSTRATION DATES FOR NEW GRANTEES

January 13, 2017 Letter of Intent (LOI) to Apply Due to FNS

January 13, 2017 Written Questions From Applicants Due to FNS

January 18, 2017 Conference Call with all States Submitting LOI

February 28, 2017 Application Due to FNS

April 2017 Awards Announced - subject to availability of funds; award date may be delayed

April 2017 Award Funding in Place and Funds Available

May 2017 Orientation Conference Calls for all Awardees

June 2017 Lessons-Learned Conference Call for all Awardees

End of 2017/2018 School Year Preparation Phase Complete

Start of Summer 2018 Benefit Delivery Phase of Demonstration Begins (3 months)

End of Summer 2018 Benefit Delivery Stops

ANTICIPATED SIGNIFICANT DEMONSTRATION DATES FOR EXPERIENCED GRANTEES

January 27, 2017 Application Due to FNS

February 2017 Awards Announced - subject to availability of funds; award date may be delayed

March 2017 Award Funding in Place and Funds Available

Start of Summer 2018 Benefit Delivery Phase of Demonstration Begins (3 months)

End of Summer 2018 Benefit Delivery Stops

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

I. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION 3

a. Information for Experienced Applicants 6

b. Information for New Applicants 41

II. FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

a. Information for Experienced Applicants 16

b. Information for New Applicants 52

III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

a. Information for Experienced Applicants 17

b. Information for New Applicants 53

IV. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

a. Information for Experienced Applicants 20

b. Information for New Applicants 56

V. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION

a. Information for Experienced Applicants 27

b. Information for New Applicants 63

VI. FEDERAL AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION

a. Information for Experienced Applicants 28

b. Information for New Applicants 67

VII. FEDERAL AWARDING AGENCY CONTACTS

a. Information for Experienced Applicants 33

b. Information for New Applicants 72

VIII. OTHER INFORMATION

a. Information for Experienced Applicants 33

b. Information for New Applicants 72

ATTACHMENT A-LETTER OF INTENT TO APPLY 80

ATTACHMENT B-1-APPLICATION TEMPLATE FOR NEW APPLICANTS 81

ATTACHMENT B-2-APPLICATION TEMPLATE FOR EXPERIENCED APPLICANTS 88

ATTACHMENT C-EVALUATION COOPERATION AGREEMENT 96

ATTACHMENT D-SAMPLE TIMELINE 97

ATTACHMENT E-DATA NEEDS FOR SUMMER EBT EVALUATION 100

ATTACHMENT F-SERVICE AREA INFORMATION FOR EXPERIENCED

APPLICANTS

I. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

BACKGROUND

The Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Agriculture Appropriations Act (P.L. 111-80) provided authority and funding for USDA to demonstrate and rigorously evaluate methods of reducing or preventing food insecurity and hunger among children in the summer months. In response, the Summer

Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children (Summer EBT) demonstrations are testing a household-based method of delivering nutrition assistance to low-income children during the summer. FNS awarded five “proof-of-concept” demonstrations of Summer EBT for the summer of 2011 and an additional five grantees were selected to participate in 2012 and 2013. In 2014, due to funding constraints, the demonstration was scaled back to three grantees. USDA received additional appropriations in Fiscal Years 2015 and 2016 to continue the demonstrations and, as a result, awarded funds to eight States and Indian Tribal Organizations (ITOs) to continue their projects in summers 2015 and 2016. The Further Continuing and Security Assistance

Appropriations Act of 2017 (P.L. 114-254) provided additional funds to continue Summer EBT in summer 2017.

The purpose of this solicitation is to award funds to experienced applicants to continue their demonstrations in summer 2017, and to award funds to new applicants to expand the Summer

EBT demonstrations to additional States or ITOs during the summer of 2018. Together, these demonstrations are intended to test strategies for creating and operating successful Summer EBT programs, and to consider the effectiveness of Summer EBT in areas that are difficult to serve through existing summer meal programs such as rural areas or areas where transportation options are limited.

FNS’ intent is to support demonstrations in summer 2017 across two EBT models – a debit card model (SNAP-model), through which Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) EBT systems are used to allow participants to redeem benefits for SNAP-eligible foods at SNAP-authorized retailers; and a food package model (WIC-model), through which Special

Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) EBT systems are used to allow participants to redeem benefits for a prescribed set of foods at WIC-authorized retailers.

The two EBT models will be supported in experienced States and ITOs that successfully implemented the program in prior years, and FNS intends to award funds to one or more new

State(s) or ITO(s) to begin providing Summer EBT benefits through these models in summer

2018.

This solicitation is divided into two sections. The first section, beginning on page 6, includes information and requirements for experienced applicants (i.e., applicants that successfully administered a Federally-funded demonstration providing EBT benefits to children during the summer months in a prior year). The second section, beginning on page 40, includes information and requirements for new applicants (i.e., applicants that have not been awarded a grant to administer a Federally-funded demonstration providing EBT benefits to children during the summer months in a prior year, or applicants that have experience but are unable to begin providing benefits until summer 2018).

Under this solicitation:

FNS seeks to award food benefit and administrative funds to experienced States and ITOs that have operated Summer EBT in prior years to continue providing Summer EBT benefits in summer 2017. Experienced applicants are asked to apply for administrative funds as two-year grants to support the demonstrations through the 2018 project year.

Subject to the availability of funding, FNS will award administrative funds as two-year grants. Food benefits will only be awarded as one-year grants through this solicitation.

Awardees will apply for an additional one-year grant of food benefit funds for program year 2018 in FY2018.

FNS seeks 1-2 new States or ITOs to begin providing Summer EBT benefits in summer

2018. Applicants will propose the program model (i.e., Debit card or Food package) that they will use.

New applicants will be awarded administrative funds as two-year grants to prepare for and support program year 2018. Awardees will apply in FY2018 for one-year grants of food benefit funds for benefits to be provided in summer 2018.

New demonstrations will not be statewide, but will operate in one or more School Food

Authorities (SFAs) within the State or ITO and will serve approximately 5,000 children each. All grades (K-12) may be included.

New demonstration service areas proposed by experienced or new applicants can be rural

(e.g., SFAs in sparsely populated areas), or other areas of extreme need, for example areas experiencing a Presidentially declared emergency. Proposed service areas may vary in geographic size according to population density.

Across all demonstration service areas, USDA is interested in variation in:

o Region of the country, o Urban/rural status, and o Concentration of children eligible for free or reduced price meals.

The approximate benefit level is $30/month per eligible child throughout the summer, which is consistent with prior years. At the approximate $30 level, about $385,650 to

$432, 450 in food benefits would be redeemed by eligible participants in summer 2018 in each new applicant service area.

The amount of benefits expended in areas served by experienced applicants will be contingent on the number of eligible children approved to serve.

1 The actual monthly benefit levels may differ from this estimate based on the benefits delivery model used (i.e., debit card model or food package model). The total value of food benefits provided in a service area will be contingent on the rates at which households of eligible children use their benefits.

SUMMER EBT FOR CHILDREN CONCEPT

The vision for the demonstrations is the following:

State agencies, including ITOs, administering the demonstration (i.e., the agency that administers SNAP, WIC, or School Meal Programs) will work with SFAs, EBT processors, and other partners to arrange for the families of children eligible to receive free or reduced-price school meals to receive an electronic benefits card valid for use in the summer. If feasible, States or ITOs may choose to integrate summer food benefits onto existing SNAP or WIC EBT cards for those families also participating in SNAP or

WIC while providing non-SNAP or non-WIC families a separate Summer EBT card.

However, Summer EBT funds are NOT SNAP or WIC funds. As a result, tracking of the

Summer EBT benefits must remain separate from SNAP or WIC benefits and EBT processors may need to make system changes in order to participate in the demonstration.

In demonstrations using the Debit card model, parents use the card at SNAP authorized food retailers to purchase SNAP-eligible food for their children to fill the gap that occurs when school meals are not readily available during the summer. In demonstrations using the Food package model, parents use the card at WIC authorized food retailers to purchase foods prescribed in the Summer EBT food package. The Summer EBT food package is based on the State agency’s WIC food package so no additional categories/subcategories and no additional Universal Product Codes/Price Look Up’s

(UPCs/PLUs) will be needed for demonstrations using the Food package model. Ideally, benefits would be paid through the existing SNAP or WIC EBT redemption system.

FNS will continue assessing effective strategies for creating and operating successful

Summer EBT programs, and the effectiveness of Summer EBT in areas that are difficult to serve through existing summer meals programs such as rural areas or areas where transportation options are limited.

The ultimate objective is to efficiently and effectively provide benefits to households of low-income children for the purchase of additional food in the summer months.

For households that participate in SNAP or WIC, this hybrid model would allow folding the summer benefit into the SNAP or WIC allotment and following all SNAP or WIC rules regarding issuance use of benefits. Households that are not SNAP or WIC participants would receive a separate card.

REQUEST FOR APPLICATION FOR EXPERIENCED APPLICANTS

Overview. FNS invites experienced States and ITOs that have administered Federally-funded demonstrations providing EBT benefits to children during the summer months in prior years to apply to continue their programs in summer 2017, and to propose program expansion in 2017.

The ongoing purpose of these demonstrations is to evaluate strategies for creating and operating successful Summer EBT programs, and to consider the effectiveness of Summer EBT is areas that are difficult to serve through existing summer meal programs such as rural areas or areas where transportation options are limited. FNS anticipates awarding funds to experienced States and ITOs to conduct demonstrations in 2017.

2017 Continuation of Existing Demonstrations. Those experienced States and ITOs that operated Federally-funded demonstrations in prior years may propose to continue serving the same number of children in the same service areas that they were approved to serve in their largest prior program year. Experienced applicants may also propose to increase the number of children served in existing service areas, or to expand to new service areas. Given the difficulty in reaching children during the summer who live in rural areas, FNS is prioritizing Summer EBT expansion to rural areas facing severe hardship, or other areas of extreme need. FNS will consider expansion requests on a case-by-case basis and make awards subject to the availability of funding. Experienced applicants may request administrative funds as a two-year grant to cover expenses through the 2018 program year. This will provide grantees with access to administrative funds year-round which will enable them to more efficiently operate their

Summer EBT programs.

In summary, FNS requests that experienced grantees include food benefit costs as one-year grants (for 2017) and administrative costs as two-year grants (for use through the 2018 program year) in their request. Food benefits costs for 2018 will be awarded in FY2018 and not through this solicitation. In addition, experienced applicants may propose any programmatic changes that they think will enhance the implementation of the demonstration and FNS will consider such requests on a case-by-case basis. Experienced applicants may be awarded funds without additional competition.

Evaluation. FNS will conduct research projects on various aspects of the Summer EBT demonstrations and may contract with outside firms to assist with Summer EBT research in the future. As a condition of award, the applicants and its partner State and local-level agencies will be required to cooperate fully with FNS or its designees to provide data and other qualitative and quantitative information on their demonstrations before, during, and after Summer EBT operations.

DEMONSTRATION DETAILS

Timeline and Activities. The applicant shall propose a schedule for all of the activities necessary to complete this demonstration. Activities should be scheduled so that food purchasing by households may begin as near as possible to the first day after the last day of the

2016/2017 school year. The applicant should plan for the following activities to occur before the end of the school year:

for Food package model programs, programming and retailer system changes necessary to accommodate the food package for the Summer EBT demonstration (no new foods, categories/subcategories, or UPC/PLUs will be needed);

design and acquisition of the EBT-based summer benefit cards that will respond to a second or different letter of credit from the SNAP or WIC benefits if necessary;

reprogramming of relevant EBT-related code by EBT staff and/or contractors, including changes needed to track funding from separate letters of credit;

working with local SFAs to initially contact potential demonstration households and obtain their consent to participate in the demonstration;

working with local SFAs to notify and train households to use their benefits;

notification and training of retailers;

reprogramming of retailer register systems or WIC Management Information Systems, if necessary for benefit issuance; and distribution of the cards to consenting households.

Ideally, final benefits shall expire as near as possible to the day before the first day of the

2017/2018 school year. After benefits expire, the applicant should plan for the following activities to occur:

Expunging and return of any unused funds on a schedule agreeable to FNS.

Preparation of a progress report and other required deliverables (see Demonstration

Deliverables on page 13).

Benefit Levels. For grantees operating a Food package model demonstration, FNS has created a

Summer EBT food package containing reduced-fat milk (or allowable substitutes), cereal, eggs, whole wheat bread, beans or peanut butter, and an $8 voucher for fresh fruits and vegetables

(limited to foods on the Approved Product List). Each household selected to participate in a Food

The goal is for the summer benefit to be transparent to retailers and require no or minimal effort on their part.

package model demonstration will receive a monthly Summer EBT food package for each eligible child in the household. For grantees operating a Debit card model demonstration, each household selected to participate in the demonstration will receive benefits for each eligible child in the household. The benefit level is $30 per month per eligible child, including pro-rated benefits for partial months if necessary.

If a consenting household contains more than one eligible child, that household will receive one

Summer EBT card loaded with the total benefits for all eligible children. Please note that

Summer EBT benefits are exempt from State and local sales tax.

Benefit Delivery. The applicant shall propose which entity(ies) will be responsible for developing, securing, and distributing the Summer EBT cards and how data from consenting households necessary to create and track the cards shall be collected and maintained. The applicant shall describe the household data required to create a case file for Summer EBT recipients. The applicant shall propose the method of card distribution (e.g. home delivery by

U.S. mail or other means, pick-up at school or SNAP or WIC office) and the issuance cycle for benefits. The applicant should bear in mind the need to maintain confidentiality of students’ free or reduced-price status when considering how to deliver benefits. Because a social security number is not required for school meals eligibility, applicants must propose a method for handling cases for which there is no social security number. Households receiving Summer EBT cards must be able to redeem them for SNAP approved foods at any SNAP authorized retailer, or

WIC approved foods at any WIC authorized retailer, respectively. Benefits should be provided or loaded onto the EBT cards on a monthly or more frequent basis rather than in one lump sum at the beginning of the summer. Applicants should describe their proposed issuance method and cycle, as well as how partial months’ benefits will be loaded, and, if necessary, how unused prior month benefits will be made available for continued use.

Debit card model programs: Applicants will make note, and inform their EBT processors, that

SNAP and Summer EBT are two different programs with different sources of funding.

Therefore, two different Letter of Credit (LOC) accounts will be required and must be tracked separately within the EBT system and facilitate monthly funding authorizations through the

Federal Reserve Bank’s Account Management Agent (AMA). Similarly, distinct Net Retailer

Credit reports, one for each program, will need to be produced.

Food package model programs: Applicants should note that Summer EBT shall not have a negative impact on WIC clinic operations. Many Summer EBT recipients will not be WIC recipients. FNS encourages applicants to find alternatives to WIC clinics in regard to distribution of cards and training, at least for non-WIC participating families.

Service Areas and Populations Served. Experienced applicants may propose to continue serving the same number of children in the same service areas that they were approved to serve in their largest prior program year, and may also propose to serve additional children in existing or new service areas. Unlike earlier years of the demonstration, grantees will not need to identify children for a control group. All children approved to serve through this RFA may be provided

Summer EBT benefits.

For the purposes of this demonstration “Eligible Child” means a child that meets all of the following criteria:

1. The child is eligible to receive free/reduced price school meals;

2. The child’s household lives in the approved Summer EBT service area;

3. For experienced grantees, any returning child who previously received benefits still lives in the household, and;

4. The child was school-aged during the 2016-2017 school year.

For the purposes of this demonstration, FNS will permit States or ITOs to provide benefits to otherwise eligible children attending Community Eligibility Program (CEP) schools as follows:

1. Allow schools/districts with an Identified Student Percentage (ISP) above 62.5% to serve all otherwise eligible children;

2. For schools/districts with an ISP below 62.5%, only allow directly certified children who are otherwise eligible to receive benefits;

3. For experienced applicants, allow otherwise eligible children in households that were previously served to continue receiving benefits even if they’re in a CEP school and are not directly certified (i.e., grandfather in previously served households); and

4. Allow schools to use a group ISP. States or ITOs that choose to use a group ISP must use the same grouping as is used in NSLP/SBP and should consult with FNS to confirm that the grouping is permissible and in keeping with the intent of the

Summer EBT program.

Application Requirements. In the process of identifying the population to be served through this demonstration, the applicant shall:

Identify and secure the cooperation of SFAs and specific schools under the jurisdiction of an SFA to be included in the demonstration service area.

Propose how the households in the demonstration service area will be contacted initially.

Propose how the applicant would request and obtain household participation and confidentiality waivers for use by demonstration partners (e.g., the EBT agency, FNS) to contact consenting households.

Applicants choosing active consent (opt-in) must describe how they will obtain it.

Applicants choosing passive consent (opt-out) must describe the process for confirming contact information.

Propose how contact data of those consenting to participate will be transferred to partners including FNS or its designees. Describe any agreements/memorandums of understanding that will need to be in place to facilitate data sharing.

Administrative Structure. These demonstrations will require close cooperation among local

SFAs, schools, State agencies overseeing School Meal Programs, SNAP or WIC, and EBT processors. Applicants should propose and justify the most appropriate administrative structure for the demonstration, determining which division or agency should lead the project and how partners will communicate and coordinate.

Retailer Participation and Training. All SNAP authorized retailers in Debit card model States and all WIC authorized retailers in Food package model states must participate in Summer EBT.

Summer EBT cards will be valid for the same items as are SNAP benefits for Debit card model demonstrations, or the foods prescribed in the Summer EBT food package for Food package model demonstrations. Proposals should take into account the need for interoperability of

Summer EBT benefits, should participants need to use their benefits outside of the demonstration area. Retailers throughout the State, not just in the demonstration area, must be able to redeem

Summer EBT demonstration food benefits. Proposals should attempt to offer the simplest, most seamless process to food retailers as possible. Applicants shall propose adequate training to food retailers as required by their proposed system of using and processing Summer EBT benefits. At a minimum, retailers in selected States must be informed of the demonstration project, notified about the amounts and types of foods in the Summer EBT food package for Food package model demonstrations, and provided information about the appearance of the Summer EBT cards.

Integration with Current EBT System. Summer EBT will utilize the existing EBT system currently in place for SNAP in Debit card model States or WIC in Food package model states.

However, a new Letter of Credit (LOC) is needed to separate the Summer EBT funding from the

SNAP or WIC funding. This does not mean that the State is required to treat summer demonstration cards exactly the same as regular SNAP or WIC cards. Rather, applicants should propose how the SNAP or WIC infrastructure will be used in the most efficient way to provide summer demonstration benefits, provide user support, and track the redemptions from individual households.

When planning the EBT process for this demonstration, the applicant should consider the needs of the user and retailers. The system should be as simple as possible for retailers to manage and the cards should be intuitively easy to use by recipient households. The Summer EBT process developed by the applicant should address concerns including, but not limited to:

identification of benefits as “Summer EBT for Children” demonstration benefits;

branding to encourage and emphasize benefit use for the household’s school age children;

the potential impact on household acceptance and ease-of-use of integrating summer benefits onto SNAP or WIC cards, versus providing separate summer benefit cards for

SNAP or WIC households;

communicating to households about expiration of benefits monthly, and that the benefits are only provided for the summer months;

interoperability of EBT cards among States for Debit card model demonstrations;

training and support of users;

potential for stigma felt by treatment households resulting from the appearance of or wording on the card; and expunging or expiration of benefits and return of expunged or expired funds to FNS.

The awardee, in collaboration with its State and local partners, will need to make adjustments to its SNAP or WIC EBT systems and procedures to ensure that SNAP or WIC and Summer EBT transactions are recorded separately. Such adjustments may call for EBT contract modifications.

Applicants should think carefully about the time and effort needed to modify contracts.

Applicants must discuss whether, why, when, and how contract modifications will be made. If no contract modifications are necessary, the applicant should discuss why not.

Food package model programs: Applicants must discuss whether and, if so, how they will establish new bank identification numbers (BINs) for this demonstration so that EBT processors can differentiate Summer EBT transactions from WIC transactions. Proposals also should discuss why the chosen design was selected.

Debit card model programs: Summer EBT and SNAP funds cannot be comingled by FNS because Summer EBT and SNAP funds come from separate Federal appropriations. Therefore, the EBT system must be designed so that it provides the necessary accounting to draw funding from separate Letters of Credit (LOCs) for each program, and to report outstanding liabilities through separate accounts in the Account Management Agent (AMA) system. Applicants should discuss how the EBT processor will differentiate Summer EBT funds from SNAP funds, for example by the use of separate bank identification number (BINs), accounts, cards or benefit identifiers. Proposals also should discuss why the chosen design was selected. Applicants may wish to consider, as a template, their State’s plan for providing SNAP in the event of pandemic

(P-SNAP) or disaster (D-SNAP).

In addition to the changes required to support separate draws and AMA accounts, for Debit card model demonstrations, FNS must ensure that other data files submitted by EBT processors can continue to support the needs of the SNAP program:

1. The STARS file, also known as the Net Retailer Credit File, contains data on the total value of SNAP benefits redeemed by each retailer each day. FNS continues to need that data broken down by program funding source. Therefore, the EBT processor must create two separate STARS files for the duration of the pilot, one showing SNAP redemptions and one showing Summer EBT redemptions at the retailer level.

2. The daily ALERT EBT transaction file will require modifications to identify benefit program type. FNS will develop new EBT Program Type codes to be used for Summer

EBT transactions and transactions that may be a mixture of SNAP and Summer EBT benefits. FNS will require that mixed transactions be broken down into two separate

ALERT records. SNAP Benefit Redemption Division staff will work closely with States and EBT processors to provide guidance on these changes early in the design process.

Use and Confidentiality of Household Information. Awardees must identify and ultimately contact households with children eligible for free and reduced-price school meals in the SFAs and/or schools participating in the demonstration project. In addition, FNS or its designee may request access to this information for research purposes. The first priority of the awardee with respect to this information is protecting household confidentiality. The law governing the School

Meals Programs, the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, places limits on the disclosure of free and reduced-price eligibility information. While an individual child’s free or reduced-price status may be shared with other Federal nutrition program administrators (such as

SNAP or WIC), the law does not authorize release of household contact information for these children without first obtaining the consent of the child’s parent or guardian. Therefore, for purposes of the Summer EBT, the SFA or school(s) participating in the demonstration project must be the entity that makes the first contact about the demonstration project with the households of children certified for free and reduced-price meals. Once the SFA receives consent from the households to release information, the future involvement of the SFA in the demonstration project can vary.

Applicants must thoroughly describe the role of SFAs in the demonstration project, including safeguards to ensure that household confidentiality is protected. Proposals should discuss how household data is maintained at the school level, how accurate the parent/guardian contact data are, how the school will obtain the necessary confidentiality waivers, how they will provide translated materials and translation services for non-English speaking households and how they will attempt to locate families they may not have been able to locate with their existing data.

FNS strongly encourages applicants to consider additional uses for initial household contacts such as explanation of the demonstration, program reminders or other updates.

Household Support and Training. Nationally, a relatively small proportion of all National

School Lunch Program children also participate in SNAP or WIC. Therefore, while some of the demonstration participants will be familiar with the use of an EBT card, many will not. In addition, problems, such as lost cards or forgotten PIN numbers, may arise over the course of the demonstration. Proposals should discuss how, when and by whom (e.g. school staff, local SNAP or WIC staff, State staff, EBT contractors) they will train demonstration families on card use and what type of user support will be provided. For Food package model programs, current WIC households should receive information on how they can manage both accounts at the store.

Applicants should consider issues such as participant confidentiality and languages other than

English spoken at home with respect to training (e.g., to recognize WIC retailers and foods) as well.

Food Costs. Proposals should assume that food costs will be paid in the same way as SNAP or

WIC benefits are paid, utilizing the SNAP or WIC redemption infrastructure (e.g., funds maintained by the State Agency bank for Food package model programs). For Food package model programs, if the WIC State agency is not the lead for the project, the proposal needs to indicate if a separate grant is being requested, to be awarded to the WIC State agency for the food costs.

Experienced applicants must include a request for food benefit costs for summer 2017 in their application. Although applicants may be awarded administrative funds as a two-year grant, food benefit funds for 2018 will be awarded in FY2018. These requests should be based on the number of children expected to participate, the expected benefit redemption rates, the length of the Summer EBT benefit period, and any other relevant factors.

Administrative Costs.

Administrative costs will be awarded as two-year grants to support Summer EBT projects through the 2018 program year. FNS understands that having access to administrative funds year-round enables grantees to more efficiently operate their Summer EBT programs.

Administrative funds for 2018 may be awarded through this RFA subject to the availability of funds.

Evaluation. FNS will continue to evaluate the Summer EBT demonstrations and may contract with an outside firm for assistance. Primarily, FNS will examine strategies for creating and operating successful Summer EBT programs, and the effectiveness of Summer EBT in areas that are difficult to serve through existing summer meal programs such as rural areas or areas where transportation options are limited. Other analyses on topics related to Summer EBT may also be conducted.

To accomplish these objectives, FNS will need to plan, design, and carry out a strategy to collect and analyze information on:

The process of establishing, launching, and operating the Summer EBT, including schedule, roles and responsibilities, and implementation issues;

Data for the entire summer period and for each benefit period on the numbers of households and children that: consented to participate in the program, received cards, participated by using their cards at least once, participated in Summer EBT in a prior year, and that also participated in SNAP or WIC. This information must be available for the entire project and specific to each service area.

Data for the entire summer period and for each benefit period on: the total value of benefits issued, the total value of benefits redeemed, and the number of households that exhausted all available benefits for the period.

Household benefit transaction data as provided by the EBT processor to the State SNAP agency in the daily activity or history file for Debit card model programs, or redemptions associated with each card (i.e., from the EBT transaction data) for Food package model programs;

The costs of start-up and on-going operations, benefits, and any other costs of the

Summer EBT that are incurred by Federal, State and local governments, providers, and retailers.

As a condition of award, the Awardee and its partners will be required to cooperate fully with FNS or its designees to ensure the quality of the data provided before, during, and after demonstration operations. The Awardee shall retain all information required to operate the demonstrations for a period of at least 5 years and shall make such information available to

FNS upon request. To demonstrate readiness to facilitate research and evaluations, applicants must identify a single point of contact who will work as a liaison with FNS for research and evaluation.

DEMONSTRATION DELIVERABLES

The Summer EBT awardee shall participate in periodic conference calls with FNS to discuss implementation progress. In addition, the Summer EBT awardee shall submit certain deliverables to FNS. These deliverables include, but are not limited to:

Quarterly Progress Reports. Quarterly progress reports must provide a description of the activities conducted during all phases of the demonstration, major accomplishments with completion dates and budget deviations from the proposed plan, difficulties encountered, solutions developed to overcome difficulties, and major planned activities for the next quarter. The Summer EBT awardee is responsible for obtaining the necessary information from its partners to complete this report. These reports are due 5 business days after the end of each quarter. FNS will return and require resubmission of any quarterly progress reports that do not provide sufficient information to document all activities, challenges, accomplishments, or deviations from the approved project plan during the reporting period.

Quarterly Financial Reports. Financial reports should provide information on demonstration expenditures for the quarter and totals to date, broken down into the same categories as the original budget using SF-425. Financial reports shall be submitted via the

Food Programs Reporting System (FPRS). Data must be entered and/or certified by a staff person with USDA Level 2 eAuthentication.

EBT Issuance and Transaction Data. The Summer EBT awardee shall provide FNS or designee with benefit issuance and transaction data equivalent to daily activity or history file data. At a minimum, awardees must be able to provide data with household and store identifiers, date, time, benefit type and amount of each purchase made with Summer EBT cards. Reports should include daily and monthly data. Summer EBT and SNAP or WIC transaction data must be separated.

Annual Financial Reports. An annual/final financial report on form SF-425 will be due 90 days after the close of the demonstration (unless otherwise noted and justified in the application). Financial reports shall be submitted via FPRS. Data must be entered and/or certified by a staff person with USDA Level 2 eAuthentication.

Annual Progress Reports. A final written progress report, no more than 20 pages in length, will be due 90 days after the close of the demonstration each summer. FNS will return and require resubmission of any reports that do not sufficiently address the required elements detailed below. It must be composed of a short Executive Summary and the following:

o A project description which includes a description of the demonstration service areas, the process of developing the EBT system, providing households with EBT cards, training households, redeeming benefits and how the State dealt with adverse events or circumstances during the demonstration operations;

o A summary of major accomplishments, difficulties encountered and solutions developed to resolve the difficulties;

o A discussion of lessons learned;

o Data for the entire summer period and for each benefit period on the numbers of households and children that: consented to participate in the program, received cards, participated by using their cards at least once, participated in Summer EBT in a prior year, and that also participated in SNAP or WIC. This information must be available for the entire project and specific to each service area;

o Data for the entire summer period and for each benefit period on: the total value of benefits issued, the total value of benefits redeemed, and the number of households that exhausted all available benefits for the period; and, o Recommendations for future operational and policy consideration.

Other reports as requested by FNS.

II. FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

ANTICIPATED AWARD LEVELS AND PERFORMANCE PERIODS

In February 2017, FNS expects to award funds to experienced applicants to continue their projects in 2017. Contingent upon the availability of funds, FNS expects to award up to $32 million dollars in grants through this RFA to new and experienced applicants. The period of performance will be approximately March 2017 to March 2019 unless otherwise justified in the application.

Experienced applicants that submit acceptable applications through this RFA may be awarded funds to continue their projects in summer 2017. Subject to the availability of funds, these grantees may also be awarded funds to serve additional children and/or expand to new service areas in 2017. Administrative funds may be awarded as two-year grants to support the demonstrations through the 2018 project year. FNS expects to award funds to approximately eight experienced grantees. The amount awarded to each experienced awardee is expected to be between $1.2 million and $9 million.

USE OF DEMONSTRATION FUNDS

The Summer EBT awardee must use demonstration funds solely for allowable, allocable, necessary and reasonable costs in accordance with 2 CFR Part 200. Awardees must account for

Summer EBT funds separately from all other funds and establish financial and management reporting and controls, a separate and distinct audit trail, and a strict accounting system to ensure that Summer EBT funds and other Federal funds, e.g. SNAP or WIC, are not comingled or used inappropriately. Allowable use of funds includes, but is not limited to, personnel costs; EBT programming; development and manufacture of EBT cards; training; translation services;

printing, duplication, and dissemination of materials; and, technology (hardware and software both internal and external to the demonstration) necessary for operating the demonstration and/or participating in any evaluation of the demonstration. SNAP, WIC, NSLP and other partner program funds may not be used for this demonstration. Summer EBT funds may not be used for any non-Summer EBT related SNAP, WIC, or partner costs. Payment of administrative costs to partners will be handled by the awardee. For Debit card model demonstrations, State or local funds used to support the demonstration are not eligible for SNAP matching funds.

If existing SNAP, WIC or NSLP staff will work on the Summer EBT demonstration, the proposal should clearly specify how salaries and any fringe benefits will be allocated among

SNAP, WIC or NSLP and Summer EBT funds.

Awards will be governed by amendments to State agency Plans of Operation or Federal/State

Agreements.

III. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

1. Experienced Eligible Applicants

State agencies eligible to serve as lead agency for the demonstration are State agencies that have agreements with FNS to administer the NSLP and the School Breakfast Program, SNAP, or

WIC, including ITOs operating WIC. FNS will accept applications from only one eligible State agency per State or ITO. Any State or ITO applying to use a WIC EBT system to distribute benefits must be operating WIC EBT statewide by January 1, 2017 to be eligible for an award.

To apply as an experienced applicant, the State agency or ITO must have successfully administered a Federally-funded demonstration providing EBT benefits to children during the summer months in a prior year. Applicants meeting the eligibility requirements for experienced applicants may submit separate applications for both the new and experienced applicant opportunities. However, only one project may be funded per applicant. It is expected that applicants carefully consider readiness for summer 2017 when choosing to apply as experienced.

Experienced applicants must demonstrate the ability to operate a successful demonstration in summer 2017 in order to be considered in the experienced category.

2. Cost Sharing or Matching Considerations

The award does not have a cost sharing or matching requirement.

3. Other Eligibility Criteria

State Agency Coordination.

These demonstrations will require close coordination among State agencies involved in delivery of Federal food benefits. This RFA is being sent to experienced State agencies. FNS expects that State agencies responsible for overseeing School Meal Programs and SFAs delivering these programs, as well as SNAP and WIC State agencies and those with a role in SNAP or WIC EBT functions including EBT processors will be involved.

4. Pre-application Screening Requirements

In reviewing applications in any discretionary grant competition, Federal Awarding Agencies, in accordance with 2 CFR 200.400, are required, prior to making a Federal award, to review information available through various OMB-designated repositories for eligibility qualification or financial integrity, and to have in place a framework for evaluating the risks posed by applicants before they receive Federal awards. The evaluation of the information obtained from the designated repository systems and the risk assessment may result in the Food and Nutrition

Service Agency (FNS) imposing special conditions that correspond to the degree of risk assessed. The Federal repository systems FNS will review include:

1) SAM, the System for Award Management, the Official U.S. Government system that consolidated the capabilities of CCR/FedReg, ORCA, and EPLS;

2) FAPIIS, the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System, is a database that has been established to track contractor misconduct and performance;

3) Dun and Bradstreet, the system where applicants establish a DUNS number which is used by the Federal government to better identify related organizations that are receiving funding under grants and cooperative agreements, and to provide consistent name and address data for electronic grant application systems. The Federal government requires that all applicants for Federal grants and cooperative agreements with the exception of individuals other than sole proprietors have a DUNS number.

4) U.S. Department of Agriculture, AD-3030, Representations Regarding Felony

Conviction and Tax Delinquent Status for Corporate Applicants.

Applicants must also respond to the pre-application assessment questions below to allow FNS to evaluate aspects of the applicant’s financial stability, quality of management systems, and history of performance, reports and findings from audits. A questionnaire containing these questions has been provided on page 39 to facilitate the process. Applicants must answer all the pre-application questions. While answering “yes” may be an indicator of risk, the consideration and evaluation of these questions is only an indicator of potential risk and may or may not result in an additional oversight requirements or special conditions be placed on an award should an award be made.

Decisions regarding additional oversight requirements will take into consideration the total number of risks identified.

1. Has your organization received a Federal award within the past 3 years?

Yes_____ No_____

2. Does your organization utilize accounting software to manage your financial records?

3. Does your accounting system identify the receipt and expenditure of program funds separately for each grant?

4. Does your organization have a dedicated individual responsible for monitoring organizational funds, such as an accountant or a finance manager?

5. Is there a separation of duties for staff handling the approval of transactions and the recording and payment of funds?

Yes_____ No_____ __

6. Does your organization have the ability to specifically identify and allocate employee effort to an applicable program?

7. Does your organization have a property/inventory management system in place to track the location and value of equipment purchased under the award?

8. Has your organization been audited within the last 5 fiscal years?

9. If the answer to question number 8 is yes, was this report issued under the Single Audit requirement? If no, a hyperlink or copy of the report will be required.

10. If answer to question 8 is yes, was there a “Qualified Opinion” or “Adverse Opinion”?

11. If answer to question 8 is yes, is there a material weakness disclosed?

12. If answer to question 8 is yes, is there a significant deficiency disclosed?

IV. APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

1. Applicants may request paper copy of this solicitation and required forms by contacting the FNS Grants Officer at:

Dawn Addison, Grant Officer

Grants and Fiscal Policy Division

U.S. Department of Agriculture, FNS

3101 Park Center Drive Room 740

Alexandra, VA 22302

E-mail Dawn.Addison@fns.usda.gov

2. Content and form of application submission (form and format of application submissions)

General Application Guidance for New and Experienced Applicants. The application should strongly demonstrate that the applicant and its partners are capable of working together to successfully carry out the obligations of Award in a timely, efficient, and effective manner.

Specifically, the application should clearly demonstrate:

commitment of the applicant and its partners, including schools, SFAs, partnering local and

State agencies and EBT contractors (if applicable), to cooperate closely with one another to achieve demonstration objectives;

commitment of the applicant and its partners to cooperate closely with FNS to support research objectives and methods;

sufficient technical expertise of the applicant and its partners, especially key personnel, to accomplish the goals and complete the activities described in the RFA;

sufficient project management expertise of the applicant and its partners, especially key personnel, to oversee the demonstration operations;

sufficient financial management expertise of the applicant and its partners, especially key personnel, to properly utilize and account for demonstration funds; and evidence that the demonstration service area meets all specifications designated in this RFA.

mailto:Dawn.Addison@fns.usda.gov

APPLICATION PROCESS - for Experienced Applicants Only

The application process for new applicants can be found on page 56

Application Checklist - for Experienced Applicants Only. Applications are due January 27, 2017. To be considered for award, they must include:

1. Application in accordance with Application Template (Attachment B-2): This application must include a request for a two-year grant for administrative funds, a request for a one-year grant for food benefits funds, and a narrative to support both requests.

2. Evaluation Cooperation Agreement (Attachment C)

3. Mandatory Forms:

Application for federal assistance (SF-424)

Budget information (SF-424A)

Assurances – Non-construction programs (SF-424B)

Disclosure of lobbying activities (SF-LLL)

Grant Program Accounting System & Financial Capability Questionnaire (found on page 39 of this RFA)

FNS strongly encourages eligible applicants interested in applying to this program to adhere to the following applicant format. The proposed project plan should be typed on 8 ½” X 11” white paper with at least 1 inch margins on the top and bottom. All pages should be single-spaced, in

12 point font. The project description with relevant information should be captured on no more than 25 pages, not…