§277.16. Suspension, disallowance and program closeout. — Inbound Citations

(b) A suspension of funds is an action by FNS to temporarily withhold all or a portion of the Federal share of one or more of the cost categories of a State agency's budget for administration of SNAP. Suspensions of funds shall remain in effect until FNS determines that a State agency has taken adequate corrective action to correct the problem causing the suspension, in which event the suspension will be rescinded, or until FNS decides to disallow the suspended funds. FNS shall suspend funds in accordance with § 277.16.

(e) Payments for proper charges incurred by State agencies will not be withheld unless such payments are suspended or disallowed pursuant to § 277.16. When a payment is withheld, payment adjustments will be made in accordance with § 277.16. When FNS collects an indebtedness, whether due to a disallowance or an offset for amounts which the State agency has been billed but which it has failed to pay without cause acceptable to FNS, FNS shall provide reasonable notice to the State agency, and shall require appropriate accounting adjustment to cash balances for which the State agency is accountable to the Federal government to liquidate the indebtedness.

(3) Records which identify unallowable costs and offsets resulting from FNS or other determinations as specified in § 277.16 and the disposition of these amounts. Accounting procedures must be in effect to prevent a State agency from claiming these costs under ongoing program administrative cost reports.

(c) The case review process and the arbitration of all difference cases shall be completed by May 31 following the end of the fiscal year. FNS shall determine and announce the national average payment and negative case error rates for the fiscal year by June 30 following the end of the fiscal year. At the same time FNS shall notify all State agencies of their individual payment and negative case error rates and payment error rate liabilities, if any. FNS shall provide a copy of each State agency's notice of potential liability to its respective chief executive officer and legislature. FNS shall initiate collection action on each claim for such liabilities before the end of the fiscal year following the reporting period in which the claim arose unless an appeal relating to the claim is pending. Such appeals include administrative and judicial appeals pursuant to Section 14 of the Food and Nutrition Act. While the amount of a State's liability may be recovered through offsets to their letter of credit as identified in § 277.16(c) of this chapter, FNS shall also have the option of billing a State directly or using other claims collection mechanisms authorized under the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 (Pub. L. 104-134) and the Federal Claims Collection Standards (31 CFR Parts 900-904), depending upon the amount of the State's liability. FNS is not bound by the time frames referenced in paragraph (c) of this section in cases where a State fails to submit QC data expeditiously to FNS and FNS determines that, as a result, it is unable to calculate the State's payment error rate and payment error rate liability within the prescribed time frame.

(d) State agencies shall be billed for the exact amount of losses specified in this section. If a State agency fails to pay the billing, FNS shall offset the amount of loss from the State agency's Letter of Credit in accordance with § 277.16(c).

(4) Failure by the State agency to remit payment upon demand, within the specified time period, may result in FNS recovering the lost funds through offsets to the State agency's Letter of Credit, in accordance with § 277.16(c).