6000 Reimbursements

Current legislation allows states that participate in TEFAP to receive federal funding for program administrative expenses. States are required to keep a federally established amount of this funding available to reimburse participating organizations. States are required to make reimbursement payments within certain limits and guidelines as included in this section.

6100 Funding Availability

Current federal regulations mandate that states set aside at least 40% of the federal funds received in any fiscal year for payment of the actual local storage and distribution costs incurred by emergency feeding organizations. When federal funds for reimbursement are depleted, no other funding is available to help with local expenses.

The implementation of TEFAP in Kansas is almost entirely completed using volunteer organizations statewide. Continued volunteer participation is imperative in order to serve the thousands of needy Kansans reached by TEFAP each month. For this reason SRS has determined that state administrative expenses shall be kept minimal in order to set aside reimbursement funding in excess of the federal mandate when possible.

It should be noted that as greater quantities of products are received by the state for distribution, greater expenses are incurred. Also, if participating organizations provide fewer services voluntarily, reimbursement funds will be depleted more rapidly.

6200 Reimbursement Limits

Depending on the amount of available funds reimbursements to participating organizations may be limited to a total of 5% of the value of commodities distributed.

6201 Value of Commodities - Each participating organization has a TEFAP reimbursement account established after receiving commodities for distribution. The Food Distribution Unit establishes this account and maintains a running total of all products distributed by each organization from the manifests signed by the organization. Each time products are received by organizations, the value of the products is calculated. This value is based upon federal purchase costs applicable for each product. The organization is credited with the total value of products distributed.

6202 Reimbursement Cap - Once an organization's TEFAP reimbursement account has been credited for the total value of commodities distributed, they may be reimbursed for allowable expenses claimed up to a maximum of the total of 5% of the value of commodities distributed. The Food Distribution Unit will monitor the amount of reimbursement funds available to an organization within its cap and depending on the amount of funds available may make no further reimbursement payments once the cap is reached.