California has joined a federal SNAP Online Purchasing Pilot to enable residents who utilize the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to buy food online with EBT cards during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The pilot began in April 2019 and has since expanded to six states with two others classified as “non-operational pilot states,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said Wednesday in announcing the availability for the more than 2.2 million households and more than 4 million Californians who use SNAP annually. Arizona is also now joining the pilot. Among the takeaways:
• The online purchasing feature is expected to be live throughout the state in late April, Scott Murray, deputy director of public affairs at the Department of Social Services(DSS), told Techwire via email. Approval from USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of a waiver to let CalFresh recipients use Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards online is “contingent upon working with existing FNS approved retailers, Amazon and Walmart.” CalFresh is California’s version of the federal SNAP program.
Both retailers already operate in the state and have been approved for the pilot in other states. Both also contract with Fiserv, “which provides these retailers with ability to collect PINs and process EBT purchases online,” according to Alexis Fernández, chief of the CalFresh and Nutrition Branch, in a March 20 letter to FNS requesting approval to join the pilot. The state is also working with Safeway, an FNS-approved vendor.
The state’s current EBT system contract is with Fidelity National Information Systems Inc. (FIS), Murray said, adding: “The functionality needed to employ online purchasing is being done within our current contract construct.”
• The responsibility to join the pilot “is on state agencies, their third-party processor, and any retailers who wish to participate,” USDA said in its news release, indicating FNS has created a “simplified template” for states to use. The federal agency said it “continues to provide significant technical assistance to interested states” to make sure they plan thoroughly and do “appropriate preliminary testing.”
“If not done properly and judiciously, there is a risk to the state’s entire benefit system. Each State, its EBT processor and retailers present their own mix of challenges, so FNS is providing customer service based on each of their specific needs,” USDA said.
• California, however, appears to have the process well in hand. DSS, working with the California Office of System Integration, the state’s EBT vendor, and the Statewide Automated Welfare Systems, has done a technical assessment and “has concluded that California can feasibly implement this solution within two to three weeks of request approval,” Fernández wrote, adding: “The (DSS) does not anticipate any impact on overall agency operations.”
