# Technical Assistance

**Agency:** Agriculture (USDA)  
**Account:** Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC)  
**Source document:** Food and Nutrition Service · p. 56  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/budget/agriculture/technical-assistance  

> **Trust:** parsed from the agency Congressional Justification. Approximate, **not summable**, verify at the cited page.

## Funding ($M)

| Fiscal year | Basis | Amount |
| --- | --- | --- |
| FY2026 | enacted | 0.4 |
| FY2027 | request | 0.4 |

## Agriculture (USDA) discretionary budget authority (OMB PBDB — authoritative)

FY2027 $20.40B, FY2026 $33.40B. This is the agency total, not a sum of the parsed lines.


## What this funds

FNS provides ongoing technical assistance in many forms to State agencies, school districts, and industry. To ensure effective use of USDA Foods in schools and improve knowledge of best practices for USDA Foods utilization, FNS provided a virtual four-part training series for State agency staff that included hands-on training and practical activities. FNS staff also offered in-person USDA Foods training sessions at the USDA/State Agency meeting and the American Commodity Distribution Association (ACDA) Conference. Additionally, FNS continued to release monthly updates of the USDA Foods Database, a resource that provides stakeholders with vendor-specific nutrition, allergen, and ingredient information for direct delivered USDA Foods for Child Nutrition Programs. To ensure this resource is most useful for USDA Foods recipients, FNS provided one-on-one technical assistance to vendors to ensure their product information was complete and accurate prior to including it in the Section 7 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, 42 USC 1776, authorizes funds to the States for program administration and for supervision and technical assistance in local school districts and child and adult care institutions. In 2025, $497.4 million was appropriated for State Administrative Expenses (SAE). SAE funds are available to States for obligation over a 2-year period. The State agency may carry over an amount equivalent to 20 percent of the initial SAE allocation, reallocated funds, and transferred funds. Each fiscal year, carryover exceeding the 20 percent limit is recovered by FNS and these funds are available for reallocation to States with demonstrated need for additional funds. Ensuring the integrity of the Child Nutrition Programs by minimizing improper payments and other errors is a key priority for FNS. As stewards of the Federal funds that support these programs, the Agency has a responsibility to maintain the public's trust while guaranteeing that program benefits are available to the eligible households who rely on them. FNS's efforts to enhance program integrity in the Child Nutrition Programs fall under three categories: research, process improvements, and FNS is engaged in research to estimate and report improper payment rates in each of its largest Child Nutrition Programs (CNP). This work allows FNS to satisfy its requirements under the Payment By the end of 2025, the agency was near completion of the fourth Access, Participation, Eligibility, and Certification Study (APEC-IV). APEC-IV will provide updated, nationally representative estimates of program errors and improper payments in the school meal programs. The APEC findings help direct the agency's integrity work in the school meal programs. While APEC relies on traditional methods and contract support to collect and analyze program data, the agency also is developing alternate methods to conduct additional analysis which are being used for CNPs, two most recent improper payment studies. In both cases, these methods seek to reduce taxpayer costs. The first relies entirely on Child Nutrition program staff to develop an improper payment estimate for the SFSP. FNS work on that effort began in 2023. Work continued in 2025 and the agency plans to report an interim SFSP improper payment estimate in 2026. The second method combines contracted data collection with in-house analysis to develop certification and area eligibility error estimates, two components of Child Nutrition improper program payments. Unlike APEC, which focuses on the school meal programs alone, FNS conceived and designed this new study to produce estimates that can be applied across programs. The study takes advantage of the fact that the process of certifying individual children for program benefits or establishing a local area's eligibility for community-wide benefits, relies on similar methods and data regardless of program. FNS and State agencies conduct reviews to assess the operation of the Child Nutrition Programs, evaluate the accuracy of local meal service data, and provide training and technical assistance to help ensure Programs are operated in line with Federal requirements. Funds allocated for these activities support the identification of errors that threaten Program integrity and may result in improper claims. When reviews identify errors, corrective action plans are developed to assist State agencies and Program operators with compliance and to improve the implementation of Program regulations and operations. Implementation of corrective action plans results in more accurate and efficient distribution of Program benefits to eligible children and helps ensure public trust in the Programs. State agencies are required by regulations to review Programs to evaluate compliance with requirements. To evaluate compliance, State agencies will review, but are not limited to, the following: certification and benefit issuance, meal counting and claiming to ensure the accuracy of reimbursements and records, and Program meal requirements. Review and oversight activities are not only helpful in recovering Federal funds but also can inform technical assistance and other initiatives FNS creates to improve Program compliance and operations. Based on information gleaned from State agencies and findings discovered, FNS develops technical assistance on Program regulations and provides guidance to State agencies and Program operators As required by statute, for the school meal programs, FNS developed a unified accountability system for State agency oversight, referred to as the Administrative Review. Through the Administrative Review, State agencies conduct comprehensive evaluations of Program operations by SFAs participating in NSLP and SBP and other Federal meal programs. FNS provides forms, instructions, and guidance to State agencies to standardize the review process. If State agencies identify any errors during the Administrative Review, they must provide technical assistance, require corrective action, and when applicable, assess fiscal action to recover Federal funds that have been paid In 2025, State agencies continued to implement provisions from the final Child Nutrition Program Integrity Rule published in 2023, which strengthens the monitoring and oversight activities in Child Nutrition Programs. These provisions impact oversight processes such as the timing of reviews, how they are conducted, and the ability for State agencies to issue fines for severe Program mismanagement. Based on these provisions, FNS has provided new guidance and is updating existing guidance and technical assistance to assist State agencies in their oversight activities. FNS is responsible for managing and conducting oversight for the nutrition assistance programs administered through State and local agencies. FNS conducts management evaluations, which assess State agency implementation and oversight of the Child Nutrition Programs. In 2025, FNS Regional Offices conducted 42 management evaluations of states that operate CN Programs. FNS provides ongoing technical assistance regarding Program regulations and guidance to State agencies in a variety of formats such as the development of guidance and handbooks, fact sheets, webinars, conference calls, and in-person training and presentations. FNS also provides technical assistance through the review process, during assisted local level reviews, and during management evaluations. Through both competitive and non-competitive grants to States administering the Child Nutrition Programs, FNS provides funding for States implementing technology improvements that demonstrate an ability to decrease administrative and operational errors and improve program integrity. Since 2011, FNS has convened a workgroup made up of State agencies and FNS representatives to assist in identifying State agency technical assistance needs related to technology systems and software used to operate and manage the Child Nutrition Programs. Based on i


**Where it sits:** Civilian / Non-Defense › Agriculture (USDA) › Food and Nutrition Service › Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) › Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC): Discretionary Appropriations


*HitchAI is an independent intelligence service, not affiliated with the U.S. government. Civilian line dollars are parsed from agency Congressional Justifications and are approximate.*