§ 292.27 Claims.

(a) Basis for claims. Summer EBT agencies are responsible to ensure that program benefits are provided only to eligible children and in the correct amount in accordance with program regulations in this part. Erroneous issuances include, but are not limited to: (1) Benefits issued to ineligible children or in the incorrect amount. (2) Duplicate benefit issuances, including situations where the Summer EBT agency allows an eligible household to access more than one Summer EBT account for the same time period, or an eligible household receives program benefits from more than one State or ITO for the same time period. (b) Claims against Summer EBT agencies. (1) USDA may hold Summer EBT agencies liable for erroneous payments. USDA may pursue erroneous claims in the aggregate when merited, based on the nature of the error that gave rise to the over-issuance, the size of the error, and whether such action would advance program purposes. (2) Summer EBT agencies must develop a process to allow households to submit a claim for benefits that were not issued or issued in the incorrect amount. (c) Claims against households. (1) Summer EBT agencies must develop a process to manage cases of erroneous issuances and pursue claims against a household, as appropriate. (2) Summer EBT agencies have the discretion to determine when to pursue a claim based on cost effectiveness or the individual circumstances. To the maximum extent practicable, Summer EBT agencies should limit claims against households to situations where there is evidence that the household knowingly obtained benefits through fraudulent activities. (i) Summer EBT agencies must include in their POM submission a proposed plan for identifying instances of fraudulent activity for use in pursuing claims against households. (ii) Procedures described in paragraph (c)(2)(i) of this section must outline steps the Summer EBT agency will take to ensure that Civil Rights provision at § 292.29(a) are upheld. (3) Summer EBT agencies must not reclaim Summer EBT benefits by reducing a household's SNAP, NAP, or WIC benefit.