EBT glitch did not add to government costs
October 16, 2013 | 03:40 PM
The glitch in the use of electronic benefit transfer cards in New Orleans last weekend that allowed food stamp beneficiaries to use their cards with no limits did not result in any increased government costs because there are systems in place in the case of an EBT system breakdown, a spokeswoman for the Agriculture Department said late Tuesday.
“On Saturday, Xerox’s Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) system experienced a temporary shutdown during a recent routine check of its back-up system,” the spokeswoman said. “This issue was in no way related to the federal government shutdown and no additional federal funds were expended during the outage. USDA will be working with Xerox and impacted states to understand exactly what happened and to minimize the risk of future disruptions.”
A USDA official explained that most EBT processors have “stand-in” voucher amount as a part of their contracts with state governments to provide processing services in the event of an outage.
The EBT processor may be liable for purchases made during an outage if they are more than the available authorized benefit amount on the card. Retailers such as Walmart have their own policies regarding the amount they allow when an EBT system is down and they may be liable should the purchases made during an outage are more than the available authorized benefit amount on the card or the “stand-in” amount established and invoked by the EBT vendor, the official explained.
“On Saturday, Xerox’s Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) system experienced a temporary shutdown during a recent routine check of its back-up system,” the spokeswoman said. “This issue was in no way related to the federal government shutdown and no additional federal funds were expended during the outage. USDA will be working with Xerox and impacted states to understand exactly what happened and to minimize the risk of future disruptions.”
A USDA official explained that most EBT processors have “stand-in” voucher amount as a part of their contracts with state governments to provide processing services in the event of an outage.
The EBT processor may be liable for purchases made during an outage if they are more than the available authorized benefit amount on the card. Retailers such as Walmart have their own policies regarding the amount they allow when an EBT system is down and they may be liable should the purchases made during an outage are more than the available authorized benefit amount on the card or the “stand-in” amount established and invoked by the EBT vendor, the official explained.
