Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO assessed the reliability of the Food and Nutrition Service's (FNS) statistics on households applying for, approved for, and denied food stamp benefits, focusing on: (1) FNS instructions and requirements regarding states' reports on application, approval, and denial information; (2) the definitions and procedures states used to aggregate, record, and report application information; (3) the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and states' oversight of recordkeeping and reporting practices; and (4) how states and USDA used application information.
GAO found that: (1) states used different definitions of what constituted an application in its reports to FNS, since FNS instructions through 1986 failed to specifically define reporting procedures; (2) a 1987 FNS revision of its report format helped it to obtain additional details but did not solve the problem of inconsistent state application definitions; (3) additional instructions FNS issued in 1988 helped to clarify reporting requirements, but did not fully address all variations among states; (4) within their automated or manual recordkeeping systems, states generally had procedures to ensure information accuracy according to their own definitions; (5) states primarily used the information to monitor local office food stamp application work loads and ensure prompt application processing; (6) FNS did not assess reported information for accuracy or use it for budgeting and program planning, although it did informally use some data in policy development; (7) FNS did not automate states' reported data until 1987; and (8) FNS lacked plans for monitoring and using reported information to assess states' performance.
