The Alabama Department of Human Resources received notification from the United States Department of Agriculture that the Alabama Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has been awarded a performance bonus in the amount of $2,669,264 for low payment error rate. Alabama’s payment error rate for fiscal year 2017 was 4.19%, well below the national average payment error rate of 6.30%.

The performance bonus payment may be used only for SNAP related expenses such as investments in technology, improvements in administration and distribution, and actions to prevent fraud, waste and abuse.

“This award is a tremendous achievement by our food assistance staff in both the state and county offices in Alabama,” said DHR Commissioner Nancy Buckner. “It helps validate what we already knew here at DHR, that our employees are highly dedicated to their jobs and work very hard to ensure that the assistance programs we administer are operated at a professionally high standard.”

“The Alabama Department of Human Resources takes very seriously the responsibility of ensuring that only those qualified and in need of assistance receive benefits and that tax dollars are used effectively so as to help the truly needy,” Commissioner Buckner added. “I am extremely proud of the work our employees do every day to help Alabama’s most vulnerable while maintaining the programs integrity and managing funding responsibly.”

This performance bonus marks the second time in three years that DHR’s food assistance program was recognized for its high performance by the USDA. Two years ago, Alabama DHR was recognized by the USDA for its high timeliness rate of 95.60%.

“The Alabama Department of Human Resources takes pride in the effectiveness of its delivery of SNAP benefits to those in need and strives to continue to do so in the most efficient and accurate means possible,” stated Food Assistance Division Director Brandon Hardin. “We would like to thank everyone in our Department for helping us achieve this honor.”

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The Food Assistance Division administers the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in Alabama. The Food Assistance Program’s purpose is to end hunger and improve nutrition by providing monthly benefits to eligible low income households to help them buy the food they need for good health. The eligibility rules and benefit amounts, based on income and household size, are determined by regulations issued by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Service.