Food Stamp Program

Progress and Problems in Using 75-Percent Funding for Automation Gao ID: RCED-88-58 April 28, 1988

In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service's (FNS) Food Stamp Program to determine: (1) what state information retrieval systems FNS had approved for 75-percent funding from fiscal year (FY) 1981 through FY 1986; and (2) whether the approved systems or projects complied with legislative mandates and met general functional requirements.

GAO found that: (1) FNS approved 51 requests, totalling $66 million, from 33 states from FY 1981 through FY 1986; (2) FNS policy and approval of requests from 17 state agencies differed from requirements; (3) FNS policy allowed funding for all planning, design, development, or installation of the systems at the 75-percent level when the system was the state's initial attempt, or an upgrade or modification of existing systems for the Food Stamp Program; (4) USDA regulations allowed 75-percent funding to develop automated program systems that did not achieve integration with the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program, as mandated; (5) FNS approved funding for systems not expressly permitted in USDA regulations because it believed that they would eventually become part of the total automated system; and (6) there were no requirements for documenting system compliance.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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