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Monthly claims are due by the 15th of each month following the claim period. All claims entered in WINS and in “OK to Pay status” will process for payment at the end of the month.
WINS will be available to input claims until 5:00 pm PT, Monday, August 15. At 5 pm, WINS will log sponsors out of the system in order to run the monthly payment process.
Best Practice - Submit claims early in case an error comes up and you need assistance.
Best Practices for Submitting Claims
- Submit your claim by the 10th of the month. This will ensure your claim is in “OK to Pay” status prior to 5:00 pm PT on the 15th.
- Always select “Preview Errors” at the bottom of each site claim once information is entered.
- Review the Claiming Error Messages in WINS Information Sheet for more details on possible errors.
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Common Errors
- Total Attendance is entered with the claim and is the sum of children in attendance each day during the month. Meals claimed in excess of Total Attendance will result in a claim error.
- WINS edit checks the number of approved operating days for each site to the number of operating days entered in the site claim. If these numbers don’t match, the claim will go into error status.
- When you are experiencing issues with submitting your claim or when your claim is in error status, please contact your CACFP Specialist to assist you. Your Specialist will help to troubleshoot what the issue(s) may be. Do not reach out to CNS’s Fiscal Department or the WINS team directly.
General Claim Reminders
- Monthly claim data must be in "OK to Pay" status by 5:00 pm PT on the 15th.
- WINS will automatically log all users out of the system on the 15th of each month at 5pm PT.
- Ensure to give yourself enough time to input all claiming data so the claim is in “OK to Pay” status.
- Once WINS closes down the claiming option users are not allowed to input claim data until after the monthly claim reconciliation process is complete. This can take up to two business days.
- Didn't submit your claim by the 15th? That's okay! File your monthly claim by the 60-day deadline.
- Example: The July 60-day claim deadline is September 29, 2022.
- o Claim reimbursements that are not entered into WINS or not in “OK to pay” status will NOT process for payment by the end of the month.
- The 21–22 Claim Processing Dates Information Sheet takes weekends and holidays into consideration for the 60-day deadlines. You may want to print or bookmark this information.
- Refer to the Claims Reference Sheet for details on what to do if you don't submit your claims by the 60-day claim deadline.
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Administrative Expenses
Sponsors may elect to use CACFP reimbursement to cover administrative expenses in their Food Service Budgets this fiscal year. Please review our 11/8 Entering Administrative Expenses article.
- Errors must be resolved for claims to be paid. WINS has multiple edit checks to help resolve issues before your claim is submitted.
- Common Errors
- Total Attendance is entered with the claim and is the sum of children in attendance each day during the month. Meals claimed in excess of Total Attendance will result in a claim error.
- WINS edit checks the number of approved operating days for each site to the number of operating days entered in the site claim. If these numbers don’t match, the claim will go into error status.
- Pro-Tip: Always select “Preview Errors” at the bottom of each site claim once information is entered.
Claiming Resources
Questions? Please contact your CACFP Specialist.
Each legal entity that received funds from the U.S. Government was required to have a unique identifier called a DUNS number. On April 4, 2022, the federal government moved away from the DUNS Number as its official entity identifier and toward the new Unique Entity ID (UEI), which will be generated in SAM.gov.
What You Need to Do
All Child Nutrition Sponsors should already have their DUNS number registered at SAM.gov. If you do not know your SAM ID or have never registered for one, you can go to the Sam.gov website to register for a new account and request your UEI.
Each entity must get a UEI through SAM.gov.
If you are in the validation process now and have submitted a validation service ticket through SAM.gov, you must log into SAM.gov to receive correspondence for that ticket. If you have been contacted in SAM.gov about an open ticket, follow-up must be received from you within 5 days, or the ticket will be closed.
Details
The validation process is a critical piece of the federal awards ecosystem. It prevents improper payments, procurement fraud, and helps ensure the integrity of government contracts and grants processes, representing trillions of dollars in taxpayer funds each year.
This Entity Validation Service independently verifies the uniqueness of an entity. SAM.gov verifies that there is no existing registration for the legal business name and physical address as part of this validation process.
Informational Webinar
General Services Administration (GSA) hosted a Discussion on the new Entity Validation Process in SAM.gov on August 3, 2022. This webinar covered the various steps of the entity validation process, reviewed requirements for documentation, and addressed the most common user questions. This session focused on assisting entities that have begun the registration process or are currently renewing their registration.
You can now download the presentation slide deck and view a recording of the program.
GSA will be holding additional sessions in the near future specifically for entities that are planning to update their SAM.gov registration or submit a new registration in the coming weeks or months. These training sessions will cover the entity validation process phase of SAM.gov registration.
Please visit fsd.gov for resources on upcoming trainings on validating your Entity.
Questions? Please contact your CACFP Specialist.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) granted use of waivers during the COVID-19 pandemic to allow for flexibility and social distancing to keep staff and CACFP participants safe. As we start the return to normal CACFP operations, please note how monitoring requirements are changing in FY23.
Nationwide Waiver of Onsite Monitoring
The nationwide waiver for on-site monitoring allows off-site monitoring through desk audits or hybrid models in Child Nutrition Programs for both State agencies and local level operators. At the local level, it is the expectation that on-site monitoring be conducted when onsite meal service is occurring. It may be reasonable to request use of this waiver for a limited duration due to circumstances caused by COVID-19.
- This Waiver is in effect until 30 days after the end of the Federal Public Health Emergency.
WA State Monitoring Waiver for Additional Flexibilities
WA State was approved for a waiver that allowed additional monitoring flexibilities. Sponsors approved for this waiver were able to conduct 2 reviews instead of 3 from October 2021–September 2022 and all visits could be announced, including the meal observation.
- This waiver is set to expire on September 30, 2022.
- Starting October 1, 2022 (FY23) all Sponsors must comply with the following monitoring requirements:
- Sponsoring Organizations must review each CACFP facility three times a year
- Two of the three reviews must be unannounced.
- That at least one unannounced review must include observation of meal service
Questions? Please contact your CACFP Specialist.
The CACFP Annual Training helps sponsors complete requirements and supports your renewal for the upcoming fiscal year! This year, OSPI CNS will release:
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Optional—FY23 Renewal Training Recorded trainings are located on our CACFP Annual Training Moodle Course. You will need to create a free Moodle account to view this training if you do not have one already.
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Required—FY23 CACFP Annual Training This required training will be released as a suite of short trainings in the Moodle platform! It's important to ensure the appropriate staff attend this training and certify their completion. Use the FY23 CACFP Annual Training Checklist to help you ensure to meet your annual training requirements. These recordings should be posted September 2022.
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Optional—Administer CACFP Like a Pro! Training This optional in-person training will be hosted around the state and training tracks will be conducted based on sponsor type (Family Day Care Home*/ Unaffiliated sponsors; Multi-Site affiliated sponsors; Independent sponsors; At-Risk sponsors).
Registration will be released in an upcoming CNS Update. Save the date for a location near you!
- Renton—Tuesday, October 18 | 9:30 am– 4:00 pm PT
- Olympia—Thursday, October 20 | 9:30 am– 4:00 pm PT
- Ellensburg*—Tuesday, October 25 | 9:30 am– 4:00 pm PT
*Please note: FDCH and Unaffiliated Sponsors tracks will only be offered in Ellensburg.
For more details upcoming changes in FY23, watch the “What’s New in CACFP” recorded webinar.
Questions? Please email the Community Nutrition team!
USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Farm to School Program released the revised Procuring Local Foods for Child Nutrition Programs Guide, which provides an overview of federal procurement principles and covers topics related to sourcing and purchasing local foods for child nutrition program operators.
This guide highlights a variety of mechanisms sponsors can use to purchase local products while staying in accordance with federal procurement regulations.
Featured are examples of how to target local foods when conducting both formal and informal procurements, use the Geographic Preference option to enhance local purchasing.
To access the revised Procuring Local Foods for Child Nutrition Programs Guide along with other local procurement resources for child nutrition program operators, visit USDA's Procuring Local Foods webpage.
Supporting your staff is essential for success at both the individual and team levels. We all wish for our staff to be valued, healthy, productive, happy and less stressed.
Register for the Supporting a Healthy Team webinar
Date: Tuesday, August 23
Time: 11–12 pm PT
No Kid Hungry is hosting a webinar that will discuss the following questions:
- How do you promote wellness among your staff?
- How do you promote staff appreciation, retention and good morale?
- How do you build trust and maintain communication to increase the strength of your team?
This webinar will feature a panel of four speakers who are taking care of their staff through team building, wellness activities, recognition opportunities, financial incentives and more. Join us to learn more about what you can do to build morale, keep your staff healthy and retain valuable staff members.
The Institute of Child Nutrition (ICN) is the only federally funded national center dedicated to applied research, education and training, and technical assistance for child nutrition programs.
Sign Up for a Training Today!
The Institute of Child Nutrition will be hosting Virtual Instructor-Led Trainings (VILTs) September-December. These trainings are ideal for new operations or administrative staff, but are also appropriate for seasoned staff.
Registration is limited to 25 participants per session. Register today!
Training topics include:
- Basic Culinary Math
- Financial Management for Managers
- Food Safety in Child Care
- Forecasting the Procurement of Foods
- Foundations for Training Excellence: Basics
- Introduction to Happy Mealtimes in Child Care Settings
- Norovirus in Child Care
- Nutrition 101
- Training Culturally Diverse Groups
Don’t miss ICN’s CACFP training materials and resources to refresh and test your knowledge!
Grains are an important part of meals in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). To make sure children and adults get enough grains at CACFP meals and snacks, minimum required amounts for grains are listed in the meal pattern as ounce equivalents (oz eq). Ounce equivalents tell you the amount of grain in a portion of food.
Calculating Ounce Equivalents of Grains in the CACFP:
- Reviews 3 methods to ensure how much of a grain item to serve to meet CACFP meal pattern
- Includes a Grains Ounce Equivalents Chart
- Test your knowledge with the Try It Out page!
- English Version
- Spanish Version
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Feeding Infants Using Ounce Equivalents for Grains in the CACFP:
- Identifies which grains are reimbursable in the infant meal pattern
- Explains step by step how to use the Grains Measuring Chart for the Infant meal pattern
- Reviews foods that may cause choking risks
- Explains how to use Nutrition Facts Labels
- Includes the Grains Measuring Tools
Download the English or Spanish resource today!
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| July 15 |
FY23 Renewal Opened in WINS |
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August 15
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July Claims Due in WINS
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August 1
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June 60-day Claiming Deadline - if you haven't already, submit your claim |
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September 1
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Deadline to submit FY23 Renewal Applications
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