Finding Text
Food Distribution Cluster - ALN 10.565, 10.569 2021-01: Eligibility: Condition and Criteria: During the year, there was an increase in demand for food assistance in the community due to COVID-19. Due to staffing shortages and social distancing, the Organization implemented a simplified process to determine TEFAP eligibility for drive-through no-touch food distribution sites that distributed food from both governmental and other (donated or purchased) sources. Cause: The Organization has procedures in place to determine eligibility for TEFAP food recipients, however, the simplified application was not required for each participant receiving food from the drive through sites, and in some instances may not have collected enough information to determine eligibility in accordance with the income eligibility criteria established by the state agency. Effect: There is a risk that TEFAP food commodities were distributed to recipients who were not eligible to receive TEFAP foods. Recommendation: We recommend that the Organization implement a control process to ensure that the Organization?s forms contain sufficient information to determine eligibility in accordance with the criteria established by the state agency. Management?s Response: Drive through food recipients who did not declare TEFAP eligibility information or provided incomplete eligibility information on the simplified applications were provided food from other non-governmental sources. During fiscal year 2022, approximately 52 million of the 64 million pounds of food distributed was donated or purchased food. Effective October 2022, access to TEFAP food under the CARES Act was eliminated and the territories currently assigned to the Organization for TEFAP that contained mass distributions were also eliminated. This will remain the case for fiscal year 2023 and beyond.