1142.015.10.05 Suspected Program Violation – DSS Manuals

IM-14 February 2, 2022 ; IM-40 May 28, 2008 ; IM-142 December 2, 2005

A Suspected Program Violation (SPV) occurs if there is evidence that a member of the SNAP household intentionally made a false or misleading statement, or misrepresented, concealed, or withheld facts. When the worker determines a claim is an SPV, the claim will be investigated for intentional program violation (IPV). The worker establishes the claim as an Inadvertent Household Error (IHE) and enters an SPV indicator in CARS on the Claim Add (OVTC) screen. Evidence is documented on the Note Add (OVNA) screen.

There is no threshold for referring and establishing SPV claims. SPV claims have a look-back period of thirty-six months, including the month of discovery. If any SPV over-issuance month occurred within the 36-month look back period, the over-issuance may be calculated back for up to seventy-two months including the month of discovery. If there is no month in which an overpayment occurred within the 36-month look back period, a claim amount is not calculated. An SPV claim is referred to the Welfare Investigation Unit (WIU) for investigation of intentional program violation via a report from CARS.

Example: Mrs. Dash has been claiming her son as a household member since her initial application three years ago. The worker discovered this month that her son has never lived with her. The worker answers yes to the SPV indicator on the Add Claim (OVTC) screen when adding information to establish the claim. CARS sends a report to WIU, referring the claim for investigation of IPV.

Do not code claims that are administrative error or obviously inadvertent or accidental on the household’s part as SPV. There must be evidence of SPV recorded on the Note Add (OVNA) screen.