Child and Adult Care Food Program; Implementing Legislative Reforms To Strengthen Program Integrity

This rule incorporates in the Child and Adult Care Food Program regulations the changes mandated by the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 and the Grain Standards and Warehouse Improvement Act of 2000. The changes made by these laws that affect the Child and Adult Care Food Program were enacted due to concerns resulting from the findings of State and Federal Program reviews and from audits and investigations conducted by the Department's Office of Inspector General. The changes made by this rule are in several broad Program areas: the basic eligibility criteria for participation by institutions; procedures for denying institutions' applications and for terminating agreements with institutions and day care homes that do not meet Program requirements; administrative review procedures for institutions and day care homes; State agency and sponsoring organization monitoring requirements; limits on the amount of reimbursable administrative costs for sponsors of centers; and State agency controls on day care home participation. The changes are designed to improve Program operations and monitoring at the State agency and institution levels.