The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Fraud and the Electronic Disqualified Recipient System (eDRS) Christine Daffan Program Analyst Program Administration and Accountability Division State Administration Branch

Fraud State agencies are responsible for fraud prevention and for investigating intentional program violations (IPVs) by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients. Intentional Program Violations (IPVs) are those in which clients provide false statements or withhold facts in order to obtain benefits and/or violate the Food and Nutrition Act, regulations or State statues to use or traffic benefits We have a division dedicated to the retailer side of fraud, which is monitored from the National level.

Fraud In order to help prevent fraud States perform data matches. SNAP law and regulations require States to perform matches against the Social Security Administration (SSA) Death Master File and the SSA Prisoner Verification System (PVS) States have the option of performing numerous other Federal and State; additional matches available to States include: Internal Revenue Service for information on income; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for information on immigration status; Health and Human Services (HHS) National Directory of New Hires provides wage and employment data on new hires, quarterly wage data and unemployment insurance; HHS Public Assistance Reporting Information System (PARIS) which contains 3 parts: Department of Defense/Office of Personal Management (active or retired military and Federal employees), the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Interstate match which detects duplicate payments made to the same client and is used by Federal programs such as Medical Assistance, Medicaid, TANF and SNAP. FNS does reimburse 50 percent of the State matching costs.

Fraud Fraud investigations are broken into pre-certification investigations and post-certification investigations. Pre-certification investigations are cases referred for investigation and completed prior to certification. Front-end detection in suspicious cases Discrepancies in information provided   In Fiscal Year 2010 States conducted more than 357,000 pre-certification investigations, 126,000 of them positive. Positive pre-certification investigations prevent fraud from occurring at intake before there is any dollar loss to the Program. Fraud Investigators assist in front-end detection by acting on referrals in suspicious cases. Many referrals result from discrepancies between information provided by clients and that obtained from the data matches. There is no way of accurately assessing the dollar amount since the certification process is never completed

Fraud Post-certification investigations are conducted after an individual has been certified to receive benefits. Data matches Whistleblower complaints from the public Positive investigations of retail operations indicating the possible involvement of recipients.   In Fiscal Year 2010 States conducted over 361,000 post-certification investigations Resulted in the disqualification of 44,408 individuals. Post-certification investigations and successful prosecutions resulted in the establishment of $34 million in fraud claims against Program violators. Over 98% of those who receive SNAP benefits are eligible.

Fraud States can pursue cases of fraud administratively or criminally, depending on the nature of the IPV Those found guilty will receive the appropriate disqualification as prescribed by law: 1st offense = 12 month disqualification 2nd offense = 24 month disqualification 3rd offense = Permanent disqualification The penalty assigned varies depending on the type and number of offenses committed. Exceptions to these basic penalties are Trafficking over $500.00 Controlled substances Firearms Duplicate participation. The exceptions carry greater penalties and/or the possibility of jail time. IPV disqualifications apply nationally Once a State has determined there is enough evidence to pursue fraud cases, they can pursue it through an administrative hearing or turn it over to their local prosecutors to be pursued criminally. This may depend on the severity of the offense. IPV’s apply nationally, so if someone is disqualified for 12 months in Virginia, they cannot participate in SNAP in ANY other State during that 12 month period.

Electronic Disqualified Recipient System (eDRS) Individuals disqualified for participation in SNAP are tracked through the FNS operated Electronic Disqualified Recipient System (eDRS). eDRS is a centralized national database, utilizing data submitted each month by all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. eDRS allows States a quick and efficient way to determine if a person has been disqualified elsewhere. Prevents disqualified individuals from crossing State lines and participating in another State.

eDRS Once the State has determined a client is guilty of an IPV, they are responsible for accessing eDRS in order to view any past violations so that the State assigns the correct penalty to individuals being disqualified. Each State agency is required to report to FNS information via eDRS when individuals are disqualified for IPVs No later than 30 days after the date the disqualification took effect States are responsible for keeping eDRS current and for editing and resubmitting any erroneous entries. FNS maintains an eDRS help desk that can answer questions for States that run into difficulty performing these tasks.

Summary States are responsible for the investigation and prosecution of suspected intentional Program violations States use various Federal and State data matches to help in fraud prevention States are required to report all disqualifications to eDRS States must use eDRS to: Determine whether individual has had any prior disqualifications in order to assign the correct penalty whenever they disqualify an individual Determine eligibility of an applicant if suspected of being in a disqualified status

Please send questions to: Christine.daffan@fns.usda.gov