§ 226.16 - Sponsoring organization provisions.

§ 226.16 Sponsoring organization provisions.

Cross Reference

Link to an amendment published at 88 FR 57856, Aug. 23, 2023.

(a) Each sponsoring organization shall comply with all provisions of § 226.15.

(b) Each sponsoring organization must submit to the State agency with its application all information required for its approval, and the approval of the facilities under its jurisdiction, as set forth in §§ 226.6(b) and 226.6(f). The application must demonstrate that the institution has the administrative and financial capability to operate the Program in accordance with the Program regulations. In addition to the information required in §§ 226.6(b) and 226.6(f), the application must include:

(1) A sponsoring organization management plan and administrative budget, in accordance with §§ 226.6(b)(1)(iv), 226.6(b)(1)(v), 226.6(b)(2)(i), 226.6(f)(2)(i), and 226.7(g), which includes information sufficient to document the sponsoring organization's compliance with the performance standards set forth at § 226.6(b)(1)(xviii) and 226.6(b)(2)(vii). As part of its management plan, a sponsoring organization of day care homes must document that, to perform monitoring, it will employ the equivalent of one full-time staff person for each 50 to 150 day care homes it sponsors. As part of its management plan, a sponsoring organization of centers must document that, to perform monitoring, it will employ the equivalent of one full-time staff person for each 25 to 150 centers it sponsors. It is the State agency's responsibility to determine the appropriate level of staffing for monitoring for each sponsoring organization, consistent with these specified ranges and factors that the State agency will use to determine the appropriate level of monitoring staff for each sponsor. The monitoring staff equivalent may include the employee's time spent on scheduling, travel time, review time, follow-up activity, report writing, and activities related to the annual updating of children's enrollment forms. Sponsoring organizations that were participating in the Program on July 29, 2002, were to have submitted, no later than July 29, 2003, a management plan or plan amendment that meets the monitoring staffing requirement. For sponsoring organizations of centers, the portion of the administrative costs to be charged to the Program may not exceed 15 percent of the meal reimbursements estimated or actually earned during the budget year, unless the State agency grants a waiver in accordance with § 226.7(g). A sponsoring organization of centers must include in the administrative budget all administrative costs, whether incurred by the sponsoring organization or its sponsored centers. If at any point a sponsoring organization determines that the meal reimbursements estimated to be earned during the budget year will be lower than that estimated in its administrative budget, the sponsoring organization must amend its administrative budget to stay within the 15 percent limitation (or any higher limit established pursuant to a waiver granted under § 226.7(g)) or seek a waiver. Failure to do so will result in appropriate fiscal action in accordance with § 226.14(a).

(2) An application for participation, or renewal materials, for each child care and adult day care facility accompanied by all necessary supporting documentation;

(3) Timely information concerning the eligibility status of child care and adult day care facilities (such as licensing/approval actions);

(4) For sponsoring organizations applying for initial participation on or after June 20, 2000, if required by State law, regulation, or policy, a bond in the form prescribed by such law, regulation, or policy;

(5) A copy of the sponsoring organization's notice to parents, in a form and, to the maximum extent practicable, language easily understandable by the participant's parents or guardians. The notice must inform them of their facility's participation in CACFP, the Program's benefits, the name and telephone number of the sponsoring organization, and the name and telephone number of the State agency responsible for administration of CACFP;

(6) If the sponsoring organization chooses to establish procedures for determining a day care home seriously deficient that supplement the procedures in paragraph (l) of this section, a copy of those supplemental procedures. If the State agency has made the sponsoring organization responsible for the administrative review of a proposed termination of a day care home's agreement for cause, pursuant to § 226.6(l)(1), a copy of the sponsoring organization's administrative review procedures. The sponsoring organization's supplemental serious deficiency and administrative review procedures must comply with paragraph (l) of this section and § 226.6(l);

(7) A copy of their outside employment policy. The policy must restrict other employment by employees that interferes with an employee's performance of Program-related duties and responsibilities, including outside employment that constitutes a real or apparent conflict of interest; and

(8) For sponsoring organizations of day care homes, the name, mailing address, and date of birth of each provider; and

(9) For sponsoring organizations of unaffiliated centers, the name and mailing address of each center.

(c) Each sponsoring organization shall accept final administrative and financial responsibility for food service operations in all child care and adult day care facilities under its jurisdiction.

(d) Each sponsoring organization must provide adequate supervisory and operational personnel for the effective management and monitoring of the program at all facilities it sponsors. Each sponsoring organization must employ monitoring staff sufficient to meet the requirements of paragraph (b)(1) of this section. At a minimum, Program assistance must include:

(1) Pre-approval visits to each child care and adult day care facility for which application is made to discuss Program benefits and verify that the proposed food service does not exceed the capability of the child care facility;

(2) Training on Program duties and responsibilities to key staff from all sponsored facilities prior to the beginning of Program operations. At a minimum, such training must include instruction, appropriate to the level of staff experience and duties, on the Program's meal patterns, meal counts, claims submission and review procedures, recordkeeping requirements, and reimbursement system. Attendance by key staff, as defined by the State agency, is mandatory;

(3) Additional mandatory training sessions, as defined by the State agency, for key staff from all sponsored child care and adult day care facilities not less frequently than annually. At a minimum, such this training must include instruction, appropriate to the level of staff experience and duties, on the Program's meal patterns, meal counts, claims submission and review procedures, recordkeeping requirements, and reimbursement system. Attendance by key staff, as defined by the State agency, is mandatory;

(4)

(i) Review elements. Reviews that assess whether the facility has corrected problems noted on the previous review(s), a reconciliation of the facility's meal counts with enrollment and attendance records for a five-day period, as specified in paragraph (d)(4)(ii) of this section, and an assessment of the facility's compliance with the Program requirements pertaining to:

(A) The meal pattern;

(B) Licensing or approval;

(C) Attendance at training;

(D) Meal counts;

(E) Menu and meal records; and

(F) The annual updating and content of enrollment forms (if the facility is required to have enrollment forms on file, as specified in §§ 226.15(e)(2) and 226.15(e)(3)).

(ii) Reconciliation of meal counts. Reviews must examine the meal counts recorded by the facility for five consecutive days during the current and/or prior claiming period. For each day examined, reviewers must use enrollment and attendance records (except in those outside-school-hours care centers, at-risk afterschool care centers, and emergency shelters where enrollment records are not required) to determine the number of participants in care during each meal service and attempt to reconcile those numbers to the numbers of breakfasts, lunches, suppers, and/or snacks recorded in the facility's meal count for that day. Based on that comparison, reviewers must determine whether the meal counts were accurate. If there is a discrepancy between the number of participants enrolled or in attendance on the day of review and prior meal counting patterns, the reviewer must attempt to reconcile the difference and determine whether the establishment of an overclaim is necessary.

(iii) Frequency and type of required facility reviews. Sponsoring organizations must review each facility three times each year, except as described in paragraph (d)(4)(iv) of this section. In addition:

(A) At least two of the three reviews must be unannounced;

(B) At least one unannounced review must include observation of a meal service;

(C) At least one review must be made during each new facility's first four weeks of Program operations; and

(D) Not more than six months may elapse between reviews.

(E) The timing of unannounced reviews must be varied so that they are unpredictable to the facility; and

(F) All types of meal service must be subject to review and sponsoring organizations must vary the meal service reviewed.

(iv) Averaging of required reviews. If a sponsoring organization conducts one unannounced review of a facility in a year and finds no serious deficiencies (as described in paragraph (l)(2) of this section, regardless of the type of facility), the sponsoring organization may choose not to conduct a third review of the facility that year, and may make its second review announced, provided that the sponsoring organization conducts an average of three reviews of all of its facilities that year, and that it conducts an average of two unannounced reviews of all of its facilities that year. When the sponsoring organization uses this averaging provision, and a specific facility receives two reviews in one review year, its first review in the next review year must occur no more than nine months after the previous review.

(v) Follow-up reviews. If, in conducting a facility review, a sponsoring organization detects one or more serious deficiency, the next review of that facility must be unannounced. Serious deficiencies are those described at paragraph (l)(2) of this section, regardless of the type of facility.

(vi) Notification of unannounced reviews. Sponsoring organizations of centers must provide each center with written notification of the right of the sponsoring organization, the State agency, the Department, and other State and Federal officials to make announced or unannounced reviews of its operations during the center's normal hours of operation, and must also notify sponsored centers that anyone making such reviews must show photo identification that demonstrates that they are employees of one of these entities. For sponsored centers participating on July 29, 2002, the sponsoring organization was to have provided this notice no later than August 29, 2002. For sponsored centers that are approved after July 29, 2002, the sponsoring organization must provide the notice before meal service under the Program begins. Sponsoring organizations must provide day care homes notification of unannounced visits in accordance with § 226.18(b)(1).

(vii) Other requirements pertaining to unannounced reviews. Unannounced reviews must be made only during the facility's normal hours of operation, and monitors making such reviews must show photo identification that demonstrates that they are employees of the sponsoring organization, the State agency, the Department, or other State and Federal agencies authorized to audit or investigate Program operations.

(viii) Imminent threat to health or safety. Sponsoring organizations that discover in a facility conduct or conditions that pose an imminent threat to the health or safety of participating children or the public, must immediately notify the appropriate State or local licensing or health authorities and take action that is consistent with the recommendations and requirements of those authorities.

(5) For sponsoring organizations, as part of their monitoring of facilities, compliance with the household contact requirements established pursuant to § 226.6(m)(5) of this part.

(e) Each sponsoring organization shall comply with the recordkeeping requirements established in §§ 226.10(d) and 226.15(e) and any recordkeeping requirements established by the State agency in order to justify the administrative payments made in accordance with § 226.12(a). Failure to maintain such records shall be grounds for the denial of reimbursement.

(f) The State agency may require a sponsoring organization to enter into separate agreements for the administration of separate types of facilities (child care centers, day care homes, adult day care centers, emergency shelters, at-risk afterschool care centers, and outside-school-hours care centers).

(g) Each sponsoring organization electing to receive advance payments of program funds for day care homes shall disburse the full amount of such payments within five working days of receipt from the State agency. If the sponsor requests the full operating advance to which it is entitled, the advances to day care homes shall be the full amount which the sponsor expects the home to earn based on the number of meals projected to be served to enrolled children during the period covered by the advance multiplied by the applicable payment rate as specified in § 226.13(c). If a sponsor elects to receive only a part of the operating advance to which it is entitled, or if the full operating advance is insufficient to provide a full advance to each home, the advance shall be disbursed to its homes in a manner and an amount the sponsor deems appropriate. Each sponsor shall disburse any reimbursement payments for food service due to each day care home within five working days of receipt from the State agency. Such payment shall be based on the number of meals served to enrolled children at each day care home, less any payments advanced to such home. However, the sponsoring organization may withhold from Program payments to each home an amount equal to food service operating costs incurred by the sponsoring organization in behalf of the home and with the home provider's written consent. If payments from the State agency are not sufficient to provide all day care homes under the sponsoring organization's jurisdiction with advance payments and reimbursement payments, available monies shall be used to provide all due reimbursement payments before advances are disbursed.

(h) Sponsoring organizations shall make payments of program funds to child care centers, adult day care centers, emergency shelters, at-risk afterschool care centers, or outside-school-hours care centers within five working days of receipt from the State agency, on the basis of the management plan approved by the State agency, and may not exceed the Program costs documented at each facility during any fiscal year; except in those States where the State agency has chosen the option to implement a meals times rates payment system. In those States which implement this optional method of reimbursement, such disbursements may not exceed the rates times the number of meals documented at each facility during any fiscal year.

(i) Disbursements of advance payments may be withheld from child and adult day care facilities which fail to submit reports required by § 226.15(e).

(j) A for-profit organization shall be eligible to serve as a sponsoring organization for for-profit centers which have the same legal identity as the organization, but shall not be eligible to sponsor for-profit centers which are legally distinct from the organization, day care homes, or public or private nonprofit centers.

(k) Before sponsoring organizations expend administrative funds to assist family day care homes in becoming licensed, they shall obtain the following information from each such home: a completed free and reduced price application which documents that the provider meets the Program's income standards; evidence of its application for licensing and official documentation of the defects that are impeding its licensing approval; and a completed CACFP application. These funding requests are limited to $300 per home and are only available to each home once.

(l) Termination of agreements for cause —

(1) General. The sponsoring organization must initiate action to terminate the agreement of a day care home for cause if the sponsoring organization determines the day care home has committed one or more serious deficiency listed in paragraph (l)(2) of this section.

(2) List of serious deficiencies for day care homes. Serious deficiencies for day care homes are:

(i) Submission of false information on the application;

(ii) Submission of false claims for reimbursement;

(iii) Simultaneous participation under more than one sponsoring organization;

(iv) Non-compliance with the Program meal pattern;

(v) Failure to keep required records;

(vi) Conduct or conditions that threaten the health or safety of a child(ren) in care, or the public health or safety;

(vii) A determination that the day care home has been convicted of any activity that occurred during the past seven years and that indicated a lack of business integrity. A lack of business integrity includes fraud, antitrust violations, embezzlement, theft, forgery, bribery, falsification or destruction of records, making false statements, receiving stolen property, making false claims, obstruction of justice, or any other activity indicating a lack of business integrity as defined by the State agency, or the concealment of such a conviction;

(viii) Failure to participate in training; or

(ix) Any other circumstance related to non-performance under the sponsoring organization-day care home agreement, as specified by the sponsoring organization or the State agency.

(3) Serious deficiency notification procedures. If the sponsoring organization determines that a day care home has committed one or more serious deficiency listed in paragraph (l)(2) of this section, the sponsoring organization must use the following procedures to provide the day care home notice of the serious deficiency(ies) and offer it an opportunity to take corrective action. However, if the serious deficiency(ies) constitutes an imminent threat to the health or safety of participants, or the day care home has engaged in activities that threaten the public health or safety, the sponsoring organization must follow the procedures in paragraph (l)(4) of this section instead of those in this paragraph (l)(3).

(i) Notice of serious deficiency. The sponsoring organization must notify the day care home that it has been found to be seriously deficient. The sponsoring organization must provide a copy of the serious deficiency notice to the State agency. The notice must specify:

(A) The serious deficiency(ies);

(B) The actions to be taken by the day care home to correct the serious deficiency(ies);

(C) The time allotted to correct the serious deficiency(ies) (as soon as possible, but not to exceed 30 days);

(D) That the serious deficiency determination is not subject to administrative review.

(E) That failure to fully and permanently correct the serious deficiency(ies) within the allotted time will result in the sponsoring organization proposed termination of the day care home's agreement and the proposed disqualification of the day care home and its principals; and

(F) That the day care home's voluntary termination of its agreement with the sponsoring organization after having been notified that it is seriously deficient will still result in the day care home's formal termination by the sponsoring organization and placement of the day care home and its principals on the National disqualified list.

(ii) Successful corrective action. If the day care home corrects the serious deficiency(ies) within the allotted time and to the sponsoring organization's satisfaction, the sponsoring organization must notify the day care home that it has temporarily defer its determination of serious deficiency. The sponsoring organization must also provide a copy of the notice to the State agency. However, if the sponsoring organization accepts the provider's corrective action, but later determines that the corrective action was not permanent or complete, the sponsoring organization must then propose to terminate the provider's Program agreement and disqualify the provider, as set forth in paragraph (l)(3)(iii) of this section.

(iii) Proposed termination of agreement and proposed disqualification. If timely corrective action is not taken to fully and permanently correct the serious deficiency(ies) cited, the sponsoring organization must issue a notice proposing to terminate the day care home's agreement for cause. The notice must explain the day care home's opportunity for an administrative review of the proposed termination in accordance with § 226.6(l). The sponsoring organization must provide a copy of the notice to the State agency. The notice must:

(A) Inform the day care home that it may continue to participate and receive Program reimbursement for eligible meals served until its administrative review is concluded;

(B) Inform the day care home that termination of the day care home's agreement will result in the day care home's termination for cause and disqualification; and

(C) State that if the day care home seeks to voluntarily terminate its agreement after receiving the notice of intent to terminate, the day care home will still be placed on the National disqualified list.

(iv) Program payments. The sponsoring organization must continue to pay any claims for reimbursement for eligible meals served until the serious deficiency(ies) is corrected or the day care home's agreement is terminated, including the period of any administrative review.

(v) Agreement termination and disqualification. The sponsoring organization must immediately terminate the day care home's agreement and disqualify the day care home when the administrative review official upholds the sponsoring organization's proposed termination and proposed disqualification, or when the day care home's opportunity to request an administrative review expires. At the same time the notice is issued, the sponsoring organization must provide a copy of the termination and disqualification letter to the State agency.

(4) Suspension of participation for day care homes.

(i) General. If State or local health or licensing officials have cited a day care home for serious health or safety violations, the sponsoring organization must immediately suspend the home's CACFP participation prior to any formal action to revoke the home's licensure or approval. If the sponsoring organization determines that there is an imminent threat to the health or safety of participants at a day care home, or that the day care home has engaged in activities that threaten the public health or safety, and the licensing agency cannot make an immediate onsite visit, the sponsoring organization must immediately notify the appropriate State or local licensing and health authorities and take action that is consistent with the recommendations and requirements of those authorities. An imminent threat to the health or safety of participants and engaging in activities that threaten the public health or safety constitute serious deficiencies; however, the sponsoring organization must use the procedures in this paragraph (l)(4) (and not the procedures in paragraph (l)(3) of this section) to provide the day care home notice of the suspension of participation, serious deficiency, and proposed termination of the day care home's agreement.

(ii) Notice of suspension, serious deficiency, and proposed termination. The sponsoring organization must notify the day care home that its participation has been suspended, that the day care home has been determined seriously deficient, and that the sponsoring organization proposes to terminate the day care home's agreement for cause, and must provide a copy of the notice to the State agency. The notice must:

(A) Specify the serious deficiency(ies) found and the day care home's opportunity for an administrative review of the proposed termination in accordance with § 226.6(l);

(B) State that participation (including all Program payments) will remain suspended until the administrative review is concluded;

(C) Inform the day care home that if the administrative review official overturns the suspension, the day care home may claim reimbursement for eligible meals served during the suspension;

(D) Inform the day care home that termination of the day care home's agreement will result in the placement of the day care home on the National disqualified list; and

(E) State that if the day care home seeks to voluntarily terminate its agreement after receiving the notice of proposed termination, the day care home will still be terminated for cause and disqualified.

(iii) Agreement termination and disqualification. The sponsoring organization must immediately terminate the day care home's agreement and disqualify the day care home when the administrative review official upholds the sponsoring organization's proposed termination, or when the day care home's opportunity to request an administrative review expires.

(iv) Program payments. A sponsoring organization is prohibited from making any Program payments to a day care home that has been suspended until any administrative review of the proposed termination is completed. If the suspended day care home prevails in the administrative review of the proposed termination, the sponsoring organization must reimburse the day care home for eligible meals served during the suspension period.

(m) Sponsoring organizations of family day care homes or unaffiliated centers must not make payments to employees or contractors solely on the basis of the number of homes or centers recruited. However, such employees or contractors may be paid or evaluated on the basis of recruitment activities accomplished.

[47 FR 36527, Aug. 20, 1982; 47 FR 46072, Oct. 15, 1982, as amended at 48 FR 21530, May 13, 1983; 50 FR 8580, Mar. 4, 1985; 50 FR 26975, July 1, 1985; 53 FR 52591, Dec. 28, 1988; 63 FR 9729, Feb. 26, 1998; 64 FR 72260, Dec. 27, 1999; 67 FR 43490, June 27, 2002; 69 FR 53544, Sept. 1, 2004; 71 FR 5, Jan. 3, 2006; 72 FR 41608, July 31, 2007; 76 FR 34571, June 13, 2011; 78 FR 13451, Feb. 28, 2013; 88 FR 57856, Aug. 23, 2023]