1. (a) Food benefits presented for payment shall be audited for the following:

   1. (1) Food benefit costs in relation to the vendor’s reported food prices;
   2. (2) Foods received by an eWIC cardholder;
   3. (3) Adherence to state and federal regulations and rules; and
   4. (4) Other such factors as determined by individual circumstances including risk factors as described in (d) below.
2. (b) Department staff shall annually monitor a representative selection of authorized vendors to survey WIC operations and to take corrective action as needed in accordance with 7 CFR 246.12(j).
3. (c) Vendors who meet one or more of the risk factors identified in (d) below shall be reviewed for continued authorization or sanctioned in accordance with He-P 3207.03.

4. (d) Risk factors shall include one or more of the following:

   1. (1) Recurring written or verbal complaints by participant(s) or local agency representatives;
   2. (2) Specific written or verbal complaints of category II violations as specified in He-P 3207.03(d) or category III violations as specified in He-P 3207.03(f) or violations listed under He-P 3207.03(h);
   3. (3) Food costs that are inconsistent with or above the vendor’s most recently transacted prices and peer group;
   4. (4) Vendors whose annual revenue from sales of WIC-approved food meets the “above 50 percent” threshold, as defined in He-P 3201.01(a);
   5. (5) Changes in patterns of program participation including volume or costs of food benefits redeemed and participant usage;
   6. (6) Designation as a high risk vendor by the US Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service; and
   7. (7) Recurring incidence of non-compliance with program rules and federal regulations.

Source. #4518, eff 10-28-88; EXPIRED 10-28-94 New. #6226, eff 4-24-96; ss by #7489, eff 5-11-01; ss by #7774, eff 10-8-02; ss by #8580, eff 3-11-06; ss by #9556, eff 10-1-09; ss by #10583, eff 10-1-14; ss by #12858, eff 8-23-19