[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 7, Volume 4]

[Revised as of January 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 7CFR275.7]



[Page 843-844]

 

                          TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE

 

    CHAPTER II--FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

 

PART 275_PERFORMANCE REPORTING SYSTEM--Table of Contents

 

              Subpart B_Management Evaluation (ME) Reviews

 

Sec. 275.7  Selection of sub-units for review.



    (a) Definition of sub-units. Sub-units are the physical locations of 

organizational entities within project areas responsible for operating 

various aspects of the Food Stamp Program, exclusive of Post Offices 

which may issue coupons. Sub-units shall be classified based upon 

functional responsibility as one or more of the following.

    (1) Certification office. Any sub-unit which has the responsibility 

for accepting applications, conducting interviews, determining 

eligibility, maintaining (or having easy access to) casefiles, and 

transmitting information



[[Page 844]]



to the data management unit shall be designated as a certification 

office.

    (2) Issuance office. Any sub-unit which has the responsibility for 

issuing coupons to participating households and storing coupons shall be 

designated as an issuance office.

    (3) Data management unit (DMU). Any sub-unit which has the 

responsibility for maintaining the household issuance record (HIR) 

masterfile shall be designated as a DMU.

    (4) Bulk storage point. Any sub-unit which has the responsibility 

for accepting and storing supplies of coupons prior to shipment to 

issuance sites shall be designated as a bulk storage point.

    (5) Reporting point. Any sub-unit which has the responsibility for 

preparation and submittal of Form FNS-250 for more than one issuance 

unit shall be designated as a reporting point, regardless of whether or 

not the unit actually issues coupons.

    (b) Reviewing Issuance Offices and Bulk Storage Points. The issuance 

office and bulk storage point review required by Sec. 274.1(c)(2) of 

this chapter may be satisfied through the ME review system.

    (c) Combined responsibilities. (1) When a sub-unit has more than one 

of the areas of functional responsibility specified in paragraph (a) of 

this section, it shall be included in each applicable classification and 

if selected for review, all functions performed shall be examined. For 

example, if a sub-unit has an organizational entity which certifies 

households and also has an entity which regularly issues coupons, the 

sub-unit shall be designated as both a certification and an issuance 

office. Thus, in an HIR issuance system, sub-units designated as 

issuance offices would usually also be designated as DMU's since the HIR 

masterfile is usually maintained at the issuance site in this system.

    (2) Certain sub-units shall not be designated as having combined 

responsibilities, even though they may perform certain functions related 

to more than one of the areas. For example, coupon issuers must maintain 

a level of coupon inventory to ensure that participants' needs are met 

on a daily basis but do not supply other issuance sites with bulk 

supplies of coupons. Such a sub-unit would not be classified as a bulk 

storage point. Certification offices may issue coupons in emergency 

situations or to meet the requirements of expedited service but do not 

routinely issue coupons to households under standard certifications. In 

these and similar situations, the sub-unit would be classified based 

upon its primary function exclusively. However, when any sub-unit is 

selected, all program requirements specified in Sec. 275.8 which the 

sub-unit has responsibility for, shall be reviewed.

    (d) Itinerant issuance and certification points. Units which certify 

households and/or issue coupons as satellites of a central sub-unit 

shall not be classified as independent sub-units. Units may be 

identified as itinerant when they do not operate on a regular basis, 

retain certification records, store coupons, transmit information 

directly to the DMU and/or develop FNS-250 reports independently. 

Examples of such units include mobile units, short term or seasonal 

operations, and units which may operate on a regular basis but do not 

meet the criteria for a sub-unit described in paragraph (a) of this 

section. However, when a sub-unit is selected for review which acts as a 

parent unit for itinerant service points, at least one itinerant point 

per sub-unit shall be reviewed if operational at the time of the review.

    (e) Selection of Sub-units for Review. State agencies shall select a 

representative number of sub-units of each category for on-site review 

in order to determine a project area's compliance with program 

standards.



[Amdt. 160, 45 FR 15900, Mar. 11, 1980; 45 FR 23638, Apr. 8, 1980; 45 FR 

46784, July 11, 1980, as amended by Amdt. 266, 52 FR 3408, Feb. 4, 1987]