[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 247 (Wednesday, December 24, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74546-74547]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-31685]



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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food and Nutrition Service


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request--Food Stamp Program--Food Stamp Application for Meal 
Services (Form FNS-252-2) and New Addendum for Corporations (Form FNS-
252-C)

AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has revised its Food 
Stamp Program Application for Meal Services, Form FNS-252-2. The form 
was revised to make it easier to read and to simplify information 
collected from meal services during the application process. In 
addition, FNS has developed a new, abbreviated addendum to the revised 
retailer application for corporations (chain stores). We are soliciting 
public comments on the content, format and design of the revised Form 
FNS-252-2 and the new Form FNS-252-C. We will begin using both forms 
when the new Store Tracking and Redemption Subsystem (STARS II) is in 
operation, approximately the fourth quarter of 2004.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before February 23, 
2004.

ADDRESSES: Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection 
of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions 
of the agency, including whether the information has practical utility; 
(b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed 
collection of information, including the validity of the methodology 
and assumptions used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and 
clarity of the information to be collected; (d) ways to minimize the 
burden of the collection of information of those who are to respond, 
including the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or 
other technological collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.
    Comments are invited on the content, format and design of the 
revised Form FNS-252-2, Food Stamp Program Application for Meal 
Services, and the addendum for corporations, Form FNS-252-C. Comments 
should be sent to Karen Walker, Chief, Retailer Management Branch, 
Benefit Redemption Division, Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. 
Department of Agriculture, 3101 Park Center Drive, Room 404, 
Alexandria, VA 22302; FAX number (703) 305-1863; E-mail: [email protected]. All submitted comments should refer to the title of 
this notice and/or the OMB approval number.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The public can download copies of the 
revised Form FNS-252-2 or Form FNS-252-C from the FNS public Web site 
at http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/retailers. Readers may also request 
copies of these forms, or make requests for additional information, by 
contacting Karen Walker at (703) 305-2418 or via e-mail at [email protected]. Requests submitted over e-mail should refer to the 
title of this notice and/or the OMB approval number in the subject 
line.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Food Stamp Program: Food Stamp Program Application for Meal 
Services, Form FNS-252-2, and the new addendum to the revised retailer 
application for corporations, Form FNS-252-C.
    OMB Number: 0584-0008.
    Expiration Date: May 31, 2004.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Abstract: Section 9 of the Food Stamp Act of 1977, as amended (7 
U.S.C. 2018) requires retail food stores to submit applications to FNS 
for approval prior to participating in the Food Stamp Program. This 
includes meal services and corporations. FNS field offices review 
applications to ensure that the firm is eligible and then authorize or 
deny a firm to accept and redeem Food Stamp Program benefits.

Revised Meal Service Application (Form FNS-252-2)

    We know many applicant meal services have submitted incomplete or 
erroneous applications to field offices. This may be attributed to the 
ambiguity of the current meal service application and the technical 
language used. It is our belief that a simpler Form FNS-252-2 will 
result in fewer mistakes upfront and will reduce the time it takes for 
a field office to process it. Meal services will also benefit from a 
simplified application because they will better understand what 
information is being asked of them initially, and it is more likely a 
meal service will submit a complete application the first time.
    To begin the revision process for the meal service application, a 
workgroup of FNS regional and field office staff were charged with 
identifying areas where the current Form FNS-252-2 could be improved to 
reduce and streamline information collected on the application. While 
the revised Form FNS-252-2 has more pages than the current meal service 
application, it is a significant improvement over the current 
application in many ways. First, the language on the revised meal 
service application is clearer. We have provided applicants with a 
detailed explanation of the eligibility requirements for different 
types of meal services, specified which documentation is required for 
each type and asked better targeted questions. Secondly, we have 
increased the font size to aid in the readability of the form. Third, 
the form supports the President's E-GOV efforts and conforms to the 
requirements of the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA) (Pub. 
L. 105-277, 44 U.S.C. 3504) by making the form compatible with current 
technology; it can easily be converted into an online application. A 
few questions have also been added to enable us to better determine the 
business integrity of the applicant.

Addendum to Revised Retailer Application for Chain Stores (Form FNS-
252-C)

    Form FNS-252-C is a shortened version of the revised retailer 
application, Form FNS-252, which was described in the 60-day notice 
published in the Federal Register on January 2, 2003 at 68 FR 79. All 
chain stores that participate in the Food Stamp Program will benefit 
from using Form FNS-252-C because it eliminates the need for each store 
to complete its own application. Instead, the corporation only 
completes one retailer application (Form FNS-252) for all of its chain 
stores and an abbreviated Form FNS-252-C for each store. The retailer 
application, Form FNS-252, will collect information that is universal 
to all of the chain's stores while the addendum, Form FNS-252-C, will 
collect information that is unique to each store such as the location 
and telephone number. This is a tremendous timesaving, especially to 
large corporations as it takes an average of 27 minutes to complete one 
Form FNS-252 as compared to 5 minutes to complete one Form FNS-252-C.
    STARS I is in the process of being upgraded to STARS II to meet the 
growing needs of the field offices. The FNS contractor who is 
developing STARS II has developed a screen in STARS II for the new Form 
FNS-252-C that corporations can access online and enter information on 
each store under the corporation. With the online version, the 
information provided on Form FNS-252-C can be uploaded directly into 
STARS II. As such, corporations can easily enter

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information for new stores or make updates on current stores on an as 
needed basis. In addition, we have developed a hard copy version of 
Form FNS-252-C for corporations that choose to submit a paper version 
to FNS. If a corporation submits a hard copy of Form FNS-252-C to the 
field office, field office staff will enter the data manually into 
STARS II.
    Burden Estimates: As noted above, we will evaluate the revised Form 
FNS-252-2 and Form FNS-252-C on the appropriateness and clarity of the 
form's content, format and design. Before making final changes to these 
forms, we will consider feedback from the public. If the results of the 
evaluation are positive, we will finalize the revised Form FNS-252-2 
and the addendum to the revised retailer application, Form FNS-252-C. 
We will begin using both forms when the new STARS II system is 
operational, approximately the fourth quarter of 2004. We will continue 
to use the current Form FNS-252-2 until we are ready to use the revised 
meal service application.
    Reauthorization figures have not been calculated into the burden 
estimates for meal services and corporations because it is extremely 
rare that a meal service or corporation is asked to complete a new 
application at the time of reauthorization. Like traditional retail 
food stores, meal services and corporations are reauthorized at least 
once every five years. During the reauthorization process of these 
firms, however, information on the application is confirmed over the 
telephone or through some other means. Updates are then made by field 
office staff in the STARS database. Both meal services and corporations 
are routinely exempt from a visit prior to authorization and during 
reauthorization.
    The burden associated with the revised Form FNS-252-2 has been 
determined from information available in the current STARS database on 
initial authorizations for meal services. We have used end-of-year 
Fiscal Year (FY) 2002 data as the base number for current estimates. 
Because of current economic conditions, we believe this number will 
increase or remain constant for the present year. We will use 219 as 
the base number for all newly authorized meal services. We have further 
increased this number by 3% (7) to account for meal service 
applications that are processed by field offices but are not 
authorized. As such, we expect to receive and process 226 initial meal 
service applications in the upcoming year.
    The hourly burden rate per response for the current Form FNS-252-2, 
as approved by OMB, is 12 minutes. We estimate the burden rate per 
response for the revised meal service application to be an average of 
11 minutes (.18 hour)--a reduction of one minute per response from the 
current meal service application. Hourly burden time per response 
varies and includes the time to review instructions, search existing 
data resources, gather and copy records, complete and review the 
application and submit the form and documentation to FNS. We estimate 
the burden rate per response for the addendum to the revised retailer 
application, Form FNS-252-C, to be an average of 5 minutes (.08 hour). 
According to end-of-year FY 2002 data, chain stores accounted for 12.8 
percent of all authorized stores (146,423), but only 4 percent were new 
authorizations (750).
    The estimated burden computation is provided below:
    New Authorizations 226; Reauthorizations NA; Total Responses = 226. 
We estimate the annual burden hours to be 41 hours for the revised Form 
FNS-252-2. The computation is provided below:
    FNS-252-2:
    Affected Public: Meal service providers.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 226.
    Estimated Annual Number of Responses Per Respondent: 1.
    Estimated Total Annual Responses: 226.
    Estimated Time Per Response: .18 hours.
    Estimate of Burden: (226 x .18) = 41 hours.
    We estimate the annual burden hours to be 60 hours for the addendum 
to the revised retailer application, Form FNS-252-C. The computation is 
provided below:
    Addendum to Revised Retailer Application, Form FNS-252-C:
    Affected Public: Retail food stores under a corporation.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 750.
    Estimated Annual Number of Responses Per Respondent: 1.
    Estimated Total Annual Responses: 750.
    Estimated Time Per Response: .08 hours.
    Estimate of Burden: (750 x .08) = 60 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: (60 + 41) = 101 hours.

    Dated: December 2, 2003.
Roberto Salazar,
Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.
[FR Doc. 03-31685 Filed 12-23-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-30-P