State, Local, and Tribal Government - State Child Nutrition Agency, SFA, and Schools

APPENDIX B13. SFA MEAL PARTICIPATION DATA REQUEST

OMB Number: 0584-0530

Expiration Date: XX/XX/XXXX

Dear <<SFA DIRECTOR/SFA DATA MANAGER>>:

Thank you for your participation in the third Access, Participation, Eligibility and Certification Study Series (APEC-III).

Under the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act (IPERIA) of 2012, all Federal agencies that administer large programs are required to report these findings to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The goal of the study is to provide FNS with reliable, national estimates of erroneous payments in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP) in school year (SY) 2017-2018 to be compliant with applicable regulations.

Part of Westat’s data collection efforts include collecting meal participation adminsitative data from SFAs. Meal participation data includes the number of meals students received during the school year, and any changes in their certification status or enrollment. We are requesting this data for your sampled schools for the 2017-2018 school year.

We ask that you electronically send the meal participation data through our secure website. Attached is a reference guide with instructions to submit this data request. Please submit your data by {Insert Due Date}.

A member of the APEC-III Research team will contact you within the next few days to follow up on the status of your submission, and answer any questions you may have regarding our request.

Please feel free to contact us at 1-855-820-6138 or [email protected] if you have any questions.

Thank you in advance for your help and cooperation.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

<NAME AND TITLE OF SENDER>

Attachment: Reference Guide for SFA Meal Participation Data Request

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0584-0530. The time required for the SFA data manager to complete this information collection is estimated to average 2 hours per response, including the time to review instructions, search existing data sources, gather and maintain the data needed, and complete and review the collection of information.

Attachment: Reference Guide for SFA Meal Participation Data Request

WHAT WE ARE ASKING THE SCHOOL FOOD AUTHORITIES TO DO

We ask that you submit meal participation data for your sampled schools for SY 2017-2018 electronically through Westat’s secure web portal. Meal participation data includes:

1. Number of meals students received during the school year

2. Changes in their certification status or enrollment.

ACCESING THE WEB-BASED PORTAL

To access Westat’s secure web portal, you will need the link and your personal identification number (PIN).

< INSERT URL / LINK>

Your PIN is: <INSERT PIN>

The link will take you to the landing page where you will be able to:

• Login using your Personal Identification Number (PIN)

• Access the Secure Web Portal and upload files

• Obtain the study’s contact information

UPLOADING AND TRANSMITTING MEAL PARTICIPATION DATA

1 To securely upload your data file(s), click on “Upload”.

2 Click on the “Browse…” button to navigate to the location of the data file on your computer, and click the “Open” button.

3 Next, click on “Submit File” to upload your data file.

• The data file(s) must be an Excel or CSV formatted text file.

• You can upload multiple files; however, only one file can be uploaded at a time.

• A confirmation thank you message displays when your file is successfully uploaded.

4 You can confirm the upload of your file by clicking “Check Your Submission Status” located on the left side of the screen. This action opens the Data File Status screen for your SFA.

5 When you have completed uploading data file(s), click on “Logout” located on the top right side of the page.

REQUIRED DATA ELEMENTS

The required data elements for the file(s) are:

1. School Name

2. School ID

3. Student Last Name, First Name

4. Student ID

5. Meal Certification Status (Free, Reduced Price, or Paid)

6. Meal Certification Status Date (the most recent date of certification status or update)

QUESTIONS / COMMENTS?

Please contact us at 1-855-820-6138 or send an email to [email protected] if you have any technical questions or issues using the Web Portal.