SNAP ISSUANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY

A. Local offices shall establish issuance and accountability systems to comply with these rules and to ensure that: only certified eligible households receive benefits; EBT cards are accepted, stored, and protected after delivery to receiving points; benefits are timely distributed in the correct amounts; and that benefit issuance and reconciliation are properly conducted and accurately reported. B. Electronic benefit issuance shall be handled through the state department, and at designated contractor sites through the Colorado Electronic Benefit Transfer System (CO/EBTS). C. Local offices shall assure a separation of certification functions from issuance functions and thereby provide for internal controls and prevention of fraud. Certification functions include determining eligibility for a household and ensuring that the eligibility is current and accurate. Eligibility shall be updated and maintained in the automated system. It shall be the responsibility of the certification unit to complete all necessary actions in the automated system to authorize the issuance of benefits. Data entry of case information may be completed by either the certification unit or a separate data entry unit, but not by the issuance unit. D. Issuance offices are responsible for the timely and accurate issuance of SNAP benefits to eligible participant households. An approved accountability and benefit issuance delivery system shall be established to ensure that eligibility information is data entered, that the automated system has an issuance available, and only certified households receive benefits.