Food and Nutrition Programs

CACFP Policy: Prorated Site Monitoring Schedule for Sponsoring Organizations

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), Office for Food and Nutrition Programs (FNP) is releasing a new policy for Sponsoring Organizations (SO) on their site/provider monitoring requirements. This policy applies to all actively participating SO in the CACFP.

Sponsoring Organizations with more than one (1) approved site in their online application must complete annual site monitoring. Regulations require that throughout each fiscal year (October 1^st through September 30^th) the SO must monitor each operational site:

• Three (3)* times
• At least two (2) monitoring reviews must be unannounced
  • Unannounced monitoring should be held at varying times to be unpredictable
• At least two (2) of the unannounced monitoring reviews must be during an approved meal service
• At least one (1) monitoring review must occur during a facility/provider's first four (4) weeks
• No more than six (6) months may lapse between monitoring reviews

*For family day care providers with approved extended hours, SO must complete:

• At least four (4) monitoring reviews
• At least two (2) of the monitoring reviews must be during the approved extended hours

MA FNP recognizes that SO may onboard new sites or providers at any point throughout the fiscal year and as such, completing all required monitoring may not be reasonable or yield the intended results of monitoring.

Therefore, FNP is offering a prorated monitoring schedule for sites or providers. For any site that does not operate for the full fiscal year (October 1 – September 30), SO may use the following chart to determine the minimum number of required reviews:

For FDC providers operating with approved extended hours, the SO must complete:

Please note that sites are considered open based on their approved operating dates in the site application. A reminder that sites/providers that do not claim for three (3) consecutive operating months are not considered actively participating and should be terminated by the SO.

For SO of family day care providers, monitoring is not considered complete if a review is unable to be conducted due to a provider not being home at the time of the unannounced review, or the meal service was missed because the provider served early. Monitors must return within 10 days of the missed monitoring review to attempt the unannounced review again.

SOs must complete all required monitoring and any necessary follow-up, as determined by the review. The review must be completed on the State Agency issued monitoring form. Institutions are required to complete all monitoring components which include:

• Corrective action with an established due date for corrective action implementation must be provided in writing to the Center or the family day care provider.
• If needed, follow up reviews are conducted unannounced and within 10 calendar days.
• Completion of the 5-day reconciliation at all reviews, including follow up reviews.
• Preapproval visits for all new sites.
• Review for a new site within the first 4 weeks of operation.
• Household contact following the SA's policy, as needed.

If there are any questions about this policy, please contact your Special Nutrition Programs DESE consultant or FNP at 781-338-6480.

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.