[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 45 (Thursday, March 7, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8295-8300]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-04090]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food and Nutrition Service


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comments Request--Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) Integrity Study

AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 
notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment 
on this proposed information collection. This collection is a new 
collection. The primary purpose of this study is to provide FNS with 
information about how the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) is 
administered and monitored by State agencies and SFSP sponsors and 
sites, and identify common SFSP integrity challenges.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before May 6, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent to: Chanchalat Chanhatasilpa, Food and 
Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 3101 Park Center 
Drive, Room 1000, Alexandria, VA 22302. Comments may also be submitted 
via fax to the attention of Chanchalat Chanhatasilpa at 703-305-2576 or 
via email to [email protected]. Comments will also 
be accepted through the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to http://www.regulations.gov, and follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments electronically.
    All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the 
request for Office of Management and Budget approval. All comments will 
be a matter of public record.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or

[[Page 8296]]

copies of this information collection should be directed to Chanchalat 
Chanhatasilpa at 703-305-2115.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 shall have 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 
that were used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity 
of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden 
of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including 
use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other 
technological collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.
    Title: Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) Integrity Study.
    Form Number: Not applicable.
    OMB Number: 0584-NEW.
    Expiration Date: Not Yet Determined.
    Type of Request: New collection.
    Abstract: Congress created the SFSP in 1968 to ensure that low-
income children continue to receive nutritious meals when school is not 
in session and they do not have access to free or low-cost meals 
through the National School Lunch (NSLP) and School Breakfast Programs 
(SBP). The SFSP provides free meals and snacks in congregate settings 
to children in areas with high concentrations of low-income households 
with children, primarily in the summer months from May to September. 
USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) administers SFSP at the Federal 
level. State agencies administer the program through agreements with 
sponsors, including school food authorities (SFAs), local government 
agencies, camps, and private nonprofit organizations. Sponsors oversee 
the program at one or more eligible sites that serve the meals. Sites 
are located in a variety of settings such as schools, churches, parks, 
playgrounds, community and recreation centers, and camps.
    Several laws aim to improve the integrity of the Federal 
government's payments and the efficiency of its programs and 
activities. The Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010 
(Pub. L. 111-204) and the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery 
Improvement Act of 2012 (Pub. L. 112-248) require Federal agencies to 
review programs and activities every three years to identify those that 
may be vulnerable to significant improper payments. If results identify 
any programs as high risk, agencies are required to provide valid 
annual estimates of improper payments, following guidance in Office of 
Management and Budget Circular A-123.
    FNS's assessments of SFSP in April 2014 and May 2017 concluded that 
it is at low risk for improper payments. However, recent efforts to 
address summer food insecurity through improving access to SFSP have 
increased program expenditures, which may lead to increased risk of 
improper payments. Additionally, SFSP presents unique challenges to 
ensuring program integrity and measuring improper payments. In most 
cases, eligibility and reimbursement in SFSP are not based on the 
household income of the individual children participating in the 
program, but rather on the aggregate socioeconomic status of the area 
around the site (open sites) or of the children enrolled in the program 
(closed enrolled sites).\1\ By their nature, many SFSP sites are much 
less structured than other meal programs,\2\ which may make training 
and monitoring more challenging. Finally, the Office of Inspector 
General recently reviewed SFSP to determine whether its controls were 
sufficient and found several areas for improvement.\3\
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    \1\ Camps receive Federal reimbursement only for meals and 
snacks served to children eligible for free or reduced price meals.
    \2\ SFSP offers flexibility with regard to where meals may be 
served (e.g., schools, parks, churches, apartment complexes), how 
meals are prepared (e.g., sites receive meals from a vendor, from 
their sponsor, or the sponsor prepares meals on-site), and other 
factors. Furthermore, sponsors may oversee different types of sites 
(e.g., open, restricted open, closed enrolled), and may follow 
different procedures to train and monitor each site type.
    \3\ FNS Controls Over Summer Food Service Program, Audit Report 
27601-0004-41. This audit is the first phase of a three-phase audit 
on controls over SFSP.
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    FNS is conducting a study, the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) 
Integrity Study, to provide information about how State agencies and 
SFSP sponsors and sites administer and provide effective oversight of 
the SFSP to ensure program integrity, and to identify common SFSP 
integrity challenges. The key research objectives are to: (1) Describe 
how State agencies administer and provide SFSP oversight and why they 
believe it is effective; (2) identify SFSP integrity challenges; and 
(3) identify existing or State-recommended resources, training, or 
technical assistance that would better support the effective 
administration and monitoring of the SFSP.
    The study approach includes a survey and key informant interviews. 
Data will be collected via a web-based survey of the 54 State Child 
Nutrition Directors that oversee SFSP, followed by in-depth telephone 
interviews with 18 selected State Child Nutrition Directors and 36 
State-level key staff. Following the State-level data collection, we 
will conduct telephone interviews with 48 sponsor directors and 48 
sponsor key staff, and 48 Site Supervisors.
    Affected Public: Respondent groups identified include: (1) State, 
Local and Tribal Government (State Child Nutrition (CN) agencies and 
SFSP sponsors and sites); and (2) Profit/Non-Profit Businesses (SFSP 
sponsors and sites). The burden for all respondents is broken down in 
the table below.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: The total estimated number of 
respondents is 570 (258 respondents and 312 non-respondents). The study 
includes 54 State Child Nutrition Agency directors, 36 State Child 
Nutrition Agency key staff involved in SFSP oversight, 192 SFSP sponsor 
directors, 48 sponsor key staff, and 240 SFSP site supervisors. These 
estimates assume that 132 respondents from among the SFSP sponsor 
directors and 180 respondents among the SFSP sites will either not be 
reachable or will decline to participate.\4\
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    \4\ Based on our experience with recruitment for a similar 
study, we expect to recruit significantly more sponsors and sites 
than we will ultimately interview. To determine the number of 
respondents we need to recruit we multiplied our target number of 
SFSP sponsors by a factor of four, and our target number of SFSP 
sites by a factor of five.
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    Estimated Frequency of Response: The estimated frequency of 
response is 4.03 annually for respondents and 1.24 annually for non-
respondents.
    Estimated Total Annual Responses: The total estimated number of 
responses for data collection is 1,427. This includes 1,040 for 
respondents and 387 for non-respondents.
    Estimated Time per Respondent: The estimated time of response 
varies from 1 minute to 1 hour, depending on the respondent group and 
activity, as shown in the table below. The average estimated response 
is 0.17 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: The total public 
reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated at 238 
hours (annually). The estimated burden for each type of respondent is 
provided in the Estimated Respondent Table (Table 1) below:

    Dated: February 28, 2019.
Brandon Lipps,
Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.

[[Page 8297]]



                                                                                                  Table 1--Estimated Respondent Burden
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                                                                                                                                  Responsive                                                    Non-Responsive
                                                                                                         -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Grand
                                                                                                  Sample                                                               Number of                                       Annual    total
          Respondent category                Type of respondents             Instruments           size    Number of    Frequency     Total    Hours per    Annual       non-       Frequency     Total    Hours per   burden    annual
                                                                                                          respondents      of        annual     response    burden    respondents      of        annual     response  (hours)    burden
                                                                                                                        response    responses              (hours)        \b\       response    responses               \a\     estimate
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                (hours)
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State Child Nutrition (CN) Agency......  State Director............  Electronic Study                 54           54           1          54     0.0501        2.7             0           0           0      0.000      0.0        2.7
                                                                      Notification Letter from
                                                                      FNS.
                                                                     Electronic Letter of             54           54           1          54     0.0501        2.7             0           0           0      0.000      0.0        2.7
                                                                      Support from Regional
                                                                      Office.
                                                                     Electronic Letter with           54           40           1          40     0.0501        2.0            14           1          14     0.0501      0.7        2.7
                                                                      Link to Online Survey.
                                                                     Electronic Survey Reminder       40           30           1          30     0.0167        0.5            10           1          10     0.0167      0.2        0.7
                                                                      Letter #1.
                                                                     Electronic Survey Reminder       30           20           1          20     0.0167        0.3            10           1          10     0.0167      0.2        0.5
                                                                      Letter #2.
                                                                     Electronic Survey Reminder       20           10           1          10     0.0167        0.2            10           1          10     0.0167      0.2        0.3
                                                                      Letter #3.
                                                                     Electronic Survey Reminder       10            5           1           5     0.0167        0.1             5           1           5     0.0167      0.1        0.2
                                                                      Letter #4.
                                                                     Phone Calls to                    5            5           1           5     0.1670        0.8             0           0           0      0.000      0.0        0.8
                                                                      Nonrespondent State
                                                                      Directors.
                                                                     Online survey.............       54           54           1          54     0.3340       18.0             0           0           0      0.000      0.0       18.0
                                                                     Electronic thank you note        54           54           1          54     0.0167        0.9             0           0           0      0.000      0.0        0.9
                                                                      following survey
                                                                      completion.
                                                                     Electronic Letter from           20           18           1          18     0.1670        3.0             2           1           2     0.1670      0.3        3.3
                                                                      Westat with Request to
                                                                      Schedule Phone Interview.
                                                                     In-Depth Phone Interview         18           18           1          18     1.0000       18.0             0           0           0      0.000      0.0       18.0
                                                                      (includes consent).
                                                                     In-Depth Interview Follow        18           18           1          18     0.0501        0.9             0           0           0      0.000      0.0        0.9
                                                                      Up and Thank You Note.
                                                                     Electronic Notification          18           18           1          18     0.0501        0.9             0           0           0      0.000      0.0        0.9
                                                                      Letter from Westat
                                                                      Regarding SFSP Sponsor
                                                                      Selection.
                                                                     Electronic Letter from           18           18           1          18     0.1670        3.0             0           0           0      0.000      0.0        3.0
                                                                      State CN Agency to
                                                                      Selected SFSP Sponsors.
                                         State Key Staff...........  In-Depth Phone Interview         36           36           1          36     1.0000       36.0             0           0           0      0.000      0.0       36.0
                                                                      (includes consent).
                                                                     In-Depth Interview Follow        36           36           1          36     0.0501        1.8             0           0           0      0.000      0.0        1.8
                                                                      Up and Thank You Note.
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    State Government Sub-Total.........  ..........................  ..........................       90           90        5.42         488     0.1883       91.9         \e\ 0        0.00          51     0.0318      1.6       93.5
SFSP Sponsor...........................  Director..................  Electronic Study             \c\ 96           30           1          30     0.0501        1.5            66           1          66     0.0501      3.3        4.8
                                                                      Notification Letter from
                                                                      State CN Agency.

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                                                                     Electronic Study                 30           24           1          24     0.0501        1.2             6           1           6     0.0501      0.3        1.5
                                                                      Notification Letter from
                                                                      Westat, incl. Request to
                                                                      Schedule Phone Interview.
                                                                     In-Depth Phone Interview         24           24           1          24     0.7500       18.0             0           0           0     0.0000      0.0       18.0
                                                                      (includes consent).
                                                                     In-Depth Interview Thank         24           24           1          24     0.1670        4.0             0           0           0     0.0000      0.0        4.0
                                                                      You Note and Request for
                                                                      Assistance with SFSP Site
                                                                      Recruitment.
                                                                     Electronic Letter from           24           24           1          24     0.0835        2.0             0           0           0     0.0000      0.0        2.0
                                                                      SFSP Sponsor to Selected
                                                                      SFSP Site.
                                         Key Staff.................  In-Depth Phone Interview         24           24           1          24     0.7500       18.0             0           0           0     0.0000      0.0       18.0
                                                                      (includes consent).
                                                                     In-Depth Interview Thank         24           24           1          24     0.1670        4.0             0           0           0     0.0000      0.0        4.0
                                                                      You Note and Request for
                                                                      Assistance with SFSP Site
                                                                      Recruitment.
SFSP Site..............................  Supervisor................  Electronic Study            \d\ 120           30           1          30     0.0501        1.5            90           1          90     0.0501      4.5        6.0
                                                                      Notification Letter from
                                                                      State CN Agency.
                                                                     Electronic Study                 30           24           1          24     0.0501        1.2             6           1           6     0.0501      0.3        1.5
                                                                      Notification Letter from
                                                                      Westat, incl. Request to
                                                                      Schedule Phone Interview.
                                                                     In-Depth Phone Interview         24           24           1          24     0.5000       12.0             0           0           0     0.0000      0.0       12.0
                                                                      (includes consent).
                                                                     In-Depth Interview Thank         24           24           1          24     0.0167        0.4             0           0           0     0.0000      0.0        0.4
                                                                      You Note.
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    Local Government Sub-Total.........  ..........................  ..........................      240           84        3.29         276     0.2313       63.8           156        1.08         168     0.0501      8.4       72.2
        State, Local, and Tribal         ..........................  ..........................      330          174        4.39         764     0.2038      155.7           156        1.40         219     0.0458     10.0      165.8
         Government Sub-Total.
                                                                                                ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SFSP Sponsor...........................  Director..................  Electronic Study             \c\ 96           30           1          30     0.0501        1.5            66           1          66     0.0501      3.3        4.8
                                                                      Notification Letter from
                                                                      State CN Agency.

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                                                                     Electronic Study                 30           24           1          24     0.0501        1.2             6           1           6     0.0501      0.3        1.5
                                                                      Notification Letter from
                                                                      Westat, incl. Request to
                                                                      Schedule Phone Interview.
                                                                     In-Depth Phone Interview         24           24           1          24     0.7500       18.0             0           0           0     0.0000      0.0       18.0
                                                                      (includes consent).
                                                                     In-Depth Interview Thank         24           24           1          24     0.1670        4.0             0           0           0     0.0000      0.0        4.0
                                                                      You Note and Request for
                                                                      Assistance with SFSP Site
                                                                      Recruitment.
                                                                     Electronic Letter from           24           24           1          24     0.0835        2.0             0           0           0     0.0000      0.0        2.0
                                                                      SFSP Sponsor to Selected
                                                                      SFSP Site.
                                         Key Staff.................  In-Depth Phone Interview         24           24           1          24     0.7500       18.0             0           0           0     0.0000      0.0       18.0
                                                                      (includes consent).
                                                                     In-Depth Interview Thank         24           24           1          24     0.1670        4.0             0           0           0     0.0000      0.0        4.0
                                                                      You Note and Request for
                                                                      Assistance with SFSP Site
                                                                      Recruitment.
SFSP Site..............................  Supervisor................  Electronic Study            \d\ 120           30           1          30     0.0501        1.5            90           1          90     0.0501      4.5        6.0
                                                                      Notification Letter from
                                                                      SFSP Sponsor.
                                                                     Electronic Study                 30           24           1          24     0.0501        1.2             6           1           6     0.0501      0.3        1.5
                                                                      Notification Letter from
                                                                      Westat, incl. Request to
                                                                      Schedule Phone Interview.
                                                                     In-Depth Phone Interview         24           24           1          24     0.5000       12.0             0           0           0     0.0000      0.0       12.0
                                                                      (includes consent).
                                                                     In-Depth Interview Thank         24           24           1          24     0.0167        0.4             0           0           0     0.0000      0.0        0.4
                                                                      You Note.
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    Profit/Non-Profit Business Sub-      ..........................  ..........................      240           84        3.29         276      0.231       63.8           156        1.08         168      0.050      8.4       72.2
     total.
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        Total..........................  ..........................  ..........................      570          258        4.03       1,040     0.2111      219.6           312        1.24         387     0.0477     18.5      238.0
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Footnotes:
\a\ Annual burden hours are rounded to the nearest tenth.
\b\ The number of nonrespondents at all levels is the difference between sample size and number of respondents.
\c\ Based on our experience with a similar study, we multiplied our target number of SFSP sponsors by a factor of 4 to determine the number needed to recruit
\d\ Based on our experience with a similar study, we multiplied our target number of SFSP sites by a factor of 5 to determine the number needed to recruit.
\e\ The number of State-level nonrespondents is zero because we assume that all State level respondents will participate in at least one data collection activity--either the survey or the interview.


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[FR Doc. 2019-04090 Filed 3-6-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3410-30-P