[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 7, Volume 4]
[Revised as of January 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 7CFR272.10]

[Page 616-619]
 
                          TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
 
    CHAPTER II--FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 
PART 272_REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATING STATE AGENCIES--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 272.10  ADP/CIS Model Plan.

    (a) General purpose and content--(1) Purpose. All State agencies are 
required to sufficiently automate their food stamp program operations 
and computerize their systems for obtaining, maintaining, utilizing and 
transmitting information concerning the food stamp program. Sufficient 
automation levels are those which result in effective programs or in 
cost effective reductions in errors and improvements in management 
efficiency, such as decreases in program administrative costs. Thus, for 
those State agencies which operate exceptionally efficient and effective 
programs, a lesser degree of automation may be considered sufficient 
than in other State agencies. In order to determine a sufficient level 
of automation in each State, each State

[[Page 617]]

agency shall develop an ADP/CIS plan. FNS may withhold State agency 
funds under Sec. 276.4(a) for failure to submit an ADP/CIS plan in 
accordance with the deadlines for submission, for failure to make 
appropriate changes in their ADP/CIS plan within 60 days of their 
receipt of FNS comments, or for failure to implement the approved ADP/
CIS plan in accordance with the dates specified therein, unless 
extensions of time or deviations from the plan or schedules have been 
approved by FNS.
    (2) Content. In developing their ADP/CIS plans, State agencies shall 
use one of the following three formats:
    (i) State agencies which are sufficiently automated in each area 
specified in Sec. 272.10(b) may provide a single certification 
statement that they are sufficiently automated in each area.
    (ii) State agencies which are sufficiently automated in some, but 
not all, areas specified in Sec. 272.10(b) shall submit an ADP/CIS plan 
which consists of two parts. The first part would be the State agency's 
certification as to the areas in which they are sufficiently automated. 
The second part would describe the areas of Sec. 272.10(b) which the 
State agency has not automated or, in its opinion, has not automated 
sufficiently and include the State agency's plans for sufficiently 
automating these areas. State agencies shall include a description of 
how they intend to automate each area and a timetable for each planned 
activity, including a consideration of transfers as discussed in 
paragraph (a)(3) of this section. State agencies which are not planning 
to automate each of the areas specified Sec. 272.10(b) or which are not 
already automated in these areas shall provide justification. Any such 
justification shall include a cost-effectiveness analysis.
    (iii) State agencies which are not sufficiently automated in any of 
the areas specified in Sec. 272.10(b) shall submit an ADP/CIS plan 
which describes their plans for sufficiently automating each area, 
including a timetable for each planned activity, and including a 
consideration of transfers as discussed in paragraph (a)(3) of this 
section. State agencies which are not planning to automate each of the 
areas specified in Sec. 272.10(b) or which are not, in their opinion, 
sufficiently automated in these areas shall provide justification. Any 
such justification shall include a cost-effectiveness analysis.
    (3) Transfers. (i) State agencies planning additional automation 
shall consult with other State agencies and with the appropriate 
Regional Office to determine whether a transfer or modification of an 
existing system from another jurisdiction would be more efficient and 
cost effective than the development of a new system. In assessing the 
practicability of a transfer, State agencies should consult with other 
State agencies that have similar characteristics such as whether they 
are urban or rural, whether they are county or State administered, the 
geographic size of the States and the size of the caseload.
    (ii) State agencies that plan to automate operations using any 
method other than transfers will need to be able to justify why they are 
not using transfers. The justification will need to include the results 
of the consultations with other State agencies, the relative costs of 
transfer and the system the State agency plans to develop, and the 
reasons for not using a transfer. Common reasons for not using transfers 
include: The State agency is required to use a central data processing 
facility and the (otherwise) transferable system is incompatible with 
it; the State agency's data base management software is incompatible 
with the transferable system; the State agency's ADP experts are not 
familiar with the software/hardware used by the transferable system and 
acquiring new expertise would be expensive; the transferable system is 
interactive or uses ``generic'' caseworkers, the receiving State agency 
does not and it would be expensive to modify the existing system and/or 
procedures; and transfer would provoke disputes with the State agency's 
personnel union. State agencies that cite any of these reasons shall not 
automatically receive approval to develop non-transferred systems. State 
agencies shall show what efforts were considered to overcome the 
problems and that those efforts are cost ineffective. This justification 
will need to be included as part of the Advance Planning Document that 
the State agency must

[[Page 618]]

submit for approval of its proposed system.
    (iii) FNS will assist State agencies that request assistance in 
determining what other States have systems that should be considered as 
possible transfers.
    (b) Model Plan. In order to meet the requirements of the Act and 
ensure the efficient and effective administration of the program, a food 
stamp system, at a minimum, shall be automated in each of the following 
program areas in paragraphs (b)(1), Certification, and (b)(2), Issuance 
Reconciliation and Reporting of this section. The food stamp system must 
further meet all the requirements in paragraph (b)(3), General, of this 
section.
    (1) Certification. (i) Determine eligibility and calculate benefits 
or validate the eligibility worker's calculations by processing and 
storing all casefile information necessary for the eligibility 
determination and benefit computation (including but not limited to all 
household members' names, addresses, dates of birth, social security 
numbers, individual household members' earned and unearned income by 
source, deductions, resources and household size). Redetermine or 
revalidate eligibility and benefits based on notices of change in 
households' circumstances;
    (ii) Identify other elements that affect the eligibility of 
household members such as alien status, presence of an elderly person in 
the household, status of periodic work registration, disqualification 
actions, categorical eligibility, and employment and training status;
    (iii) Provide for an automatic cutoff of participation for 
households which have not been recertified at the end of their 
certification period;
    (iv) Notify the certification unit (or generate notices to 
households) of cases requiring Notices of:
    (A) Case Disposition,
    (B) Adverse Action and Mass Change, and
    (C) Expiration;
    (v) Prior to certification, crosscheck for duplicate cases for all 
household members by means of a comparison with food stamp records 
within the relevant jurisdiction;
    (vi) Meet the requirements of the IEVS system of Sec. 272.8. 
Generate information, as appropriate, to other programs.
    (vii) Provide the capability to effect mass changes: Those initiated 
at the State level, as well as those resulting from changes at the 
Federal level (eligibility standards, allotments, deductions, utility 
standards, SSI, TANF, SAA benefits);
    (viii) Identify cases where action is pending or follow-up must be 
pursued, for example, households and verification pending or households 
containing disqualified individuals or a striker;
    (ix) Calculate or validate benefits based on restored benefits or 
claims collection, and maintain a record of the changes made;
    (x) Store information concerning characteristics of all household 
members;
    (xi) Provide for appropriate Social Security enumeration for all 
required household members; and
    (xii) Provide for monthly reporting and retrospective budgeting as 
required.
    (2) Issuance, reconciliation and reporting. (i) Generate 
authorizations for benefits in issuance systems employing ATP's, direct 
mail, or online issuance and store all Household Issuance Record (HIR) 
information including: name and address of household, household size, 
period of certification, amount of allotment, case type (PA or NA), name 
and address of authorized representative, and racial/ethnic data;
    (ii) Prevent a duplicate HIR from being established for presently 
participating or disqualified households;
    (iii) Allow for authorized under- or over-issuance due to claims 
collection or restored benefits;
    (iv) Provide for reconciliation of all transacted authorization 
documents to the HIR masterfile. This process must incorporate any 
manually-issued authorization documents, account for any replacement or 
supplemental authorization documents issued to a household, and identify 
cases of unauthorized and duplicate participation;
    (v) Provide a mechanism allowing for a household's redemption of 
more than

[[Page 619]]

one valid authorization document in a given month;
    (vi) Generate data necessary to meet Federal issuance and 
reconciliation reporting requirements, and provide for the eventual 
capability of directly transmitting data to FNS including:
    (A) Issuance:
    (1) FNS-259--Summary of mail issuance and replacement;
    (2) FNS-250--Reconciliation of redeemed ATPs with reported 
authorized coupon issuance.
    (B) Reconciliation: FNS-46--ATP Reconciliation Report.
    (vii) Generate data necessary to meet other reporting requirements 
and provide for the eventual capability of directly transmitting data to 
FNS, including:
    (A) FNS-101--Program participation by race;
    (B) FNS-209--Status of claims against households; and
    (C) FNS-388--Coupon issuance and participation estimates.
    (viii) Allow for sample selection for quality control reviews of 
casefiles, and for management evaluation reviews;
    (ix) Provide for program-wide reduction or suspension of benefits 
and restoration of benefits if funds later become available and store 
information concerning the benefit amounts actually issued;
    (x) Provide for expedited issuance of benefits within prescribed 
timeframes;
    (xi) Produce and store a participation history covering three (3) 
year(s) for each household receiving benefits.
    (xii) Provide for cutoff of benefits for households which have not 
been recertified timely; and
    (xiii) Provide for the tracking, aging, and collection of recipient 
claims and preparation of the FNS-209, Status of Claims Against 
Households report.
    (3) General. The following functions shall be part of an overall 
State agency system but need not necessarily be automated:
    (i) All activities necessary to meet the various timeliness and data 
quality requirements established by FNS;
    (ii) All activities necessary to coordinate with other appropriate 
Federal and State programs, such as TANF or SSI;
    (iii) All activities necessary to maintain the appropriate level of 
confidentiality of information obtained from applicant and recipient 
households;
    (iv) All activities necessary to maintain the security of automated 
systems to operate the Food Stamp Program;
    (v) Implement regulatory and other changes including a testing phase 
to meet implementation deadlines, generally within 90 days;
    (vi) Generate whatever data is necessary to provide management 
information for the State agency's own use, such as caseload, 
participation and actions data;
    (vii) Provide support as necessary for the State agency's management 
of Federal funds relative to Food Stamp Program administration, generate 
information necessary to meet Federal financial reporting requirements;
    (viii) Routine purging of case files and file maintenance, and
    (ix) Provide for the eventual direct transmission of data necessary 
to meet Federal financial reporting requirements.

[Amdt. 284, 52 FR 35226, Sept. 18, 1987, as amended by Amdt. 356, 59 FR 
29713, June 9, 1994]