NCJ Number
71084
Date Published
1980
Length
122 pages
Annotation
Corrective actions taken in response to General Accounting Office (GAO) recommendations for reducing fraud, abuse, and waste in domestic food assistance programs are described.
Abstract
In 1977, GAO told the Department of Agriculture (DOA) that New York City's school lunches were falling short of the types and quantities of food DOA required. Also, the summer food service program for children has had a long history of fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. Although DOA has initiated some corrective actions in this area, progress has been slow. GAO recommended improvements in bidding and contracting procedures; criteria and standards for selecting, monitoring, evaluating, and terminating program sponsors and feeding sites; funding of State and of sponsors for administrative costs; and standards for advancing cash to States and sponsors. Changes in recordkeeping, staffing, and other aspects of the program's administration were also suggested. Although legislation and regulations have been revised as recommended, problems remain in the areas of funding State and of sponsor administrative costs, obtaining feeding sites with adequate facilities, and monitoring programs. While significant improvements have been made in the regulation of retailers accepting food stamps and food stamps accountability, action is still needed to correct weak efforts to identify and recover food stamps that are issued erroneously, poor implementation of food stamp work registration requirements, and food stamp fraud and abuse in disaster situations. Although DOA agreed with most of the draft report, it disputed certain statements, emphasized positive actions, and noted difficulties in implementing certain recommendations. The Labor Department generally concurred with the report's findings on food stamp work registration activities. Reports containing original GAO recommendations are appended, along with copies of letters detailing agency responses to this report.