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291 Chapter 30 High Performance Bonuses 3 0 . 1 G E N E R A L R U L E USDA, FNS will award bonuses totaling $48 million for each fiscal year to State agencies that show high or improved performance. FNS will award the bonuses no later than September 30th of the federal fiscal year following the performance measurement year. A State agency is not eligible for a bonus payment in any fiscal year for which it has a liability amount established as a result of an excessive payment error rate in the same year. If a State is disqualified from receiving a bonus payment, and the State is not tied for a bonus, the State with the next best performance will be awarded a bonus payment. The determination whether, and in what amount, to award a performance bonus payment is not subject to administrative or judicial review. A State cannot be awarded two bonuses in the same category (see Section 30.2 below). If a State is determined to be among the best and the most improved in a category, it will be awarded a bonus only for being the best. The next State in the best category will be awarded a bonus as being among the best States. Where there is a tie to the fourth decimal point, FNS will add the additional State(s) into the category and the money will be divided among all the States. In determining the amount of the award, FNS will first award a base amount of $100,000 to each State agency that is an identified winner in each category. Subsequently, FNS will divide the remaining money among the States in each category in proportion to the size of their caseloads (the average number of households per month for the federal fiscal year for which performance is measured).

3 0 . 2 P E R F O R M A N C E M E A S U R E S FNS will measure performance by and base awards on the following categories of performance measures:

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