Reimbursement Claims Resources

The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) is providing the following information to assist Child Nutrition Program sponsors in receiving timely claims processing via the Child Nutrition Information and Payment System (CNIPS) for the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP).

The CNIPS is the web-based system for administering California’s federal and state nutrition programs. Since its inception in 2008, the CNIPS has significantly streamlined, simplified, and modernized the ways in which nutrition sponsors administer their programs, submit applications, site changes, claims for reimbursement, and other administrative actions.

General Claiming

The right-hand side of the CNIPS login page is routinely updated with important messages and information. Please take time to review this information before logging into the CNIPS to ensure that you are receiving up-to-date information.

All reimbursement claims must be submitted in the CNIPS no later than the 60th day following the claim month. For a complete list of submission deadlines, please refer to the CACFP Claim Submission Deadlines web page. For other important information, please refer to the CACFP Reimbursement Claims and Grants web page.

The CDSS will schedule reimbursements within 45 days of receipt of your accepted claim in the CNIPS. Schedule information including warrant issue dates can be found on your agency’s Payment Summary in the CNIPS Claim module. Due to the weekly processing, scheduling, and U.S. Postal cycles, the CDSS cannot guarantee that all districts/agencies will receive payments at the same time each month. Please allow up to 30 days following the warrant issue date listed in CNIPS before inquiring about a payment not received.

The CNIPS Claims module is locked every Thursday morning for processing and is re-opened by 2 p.m. Pacific Time on Thursday afternoon. (Note: If a State holiday falls on a Thursday, the CNIPS Claim module will be locked for processing on an alternate date.) There may occasionally be circumstances which may delay the reopening of the CNIPS Claims module but these should be infrequent.

Weekly Claim Status E-mails

The CDSS sends automated courtesy e-mail messages every Tuesday to districts/agencies that have unpaid claims in the CNIPS, using each agency’s designated program contact (per their CNIPS application) as the recipient. If your agency receives one of these messages, please review your claim and take appropriate action in order to resolve the issue. To properly submit a claim, select the checkbox in the certification section and then select Submit For Payment. The CNIPS will notify users with a “pop-up” message by changing the claim to an “Accepted” status.

Please note the following Claim Status Descriptions:

• Not Eligible—A site has an application for the program year but an application condition is preventing this site from being eligible to claim for the selected month. This might occur because the site is not operating for the selected month or the application is not yet approved. This status appears on the Site Claim List screen only.
 
• Incomplete—A claim has been created via the Add Original or Add Revision button but the Save button was never selected. A claim in this status requires action on the part of your agency before it can be accepted.
 
• Pending—A claim has been saved but has not been submitted and validated. This status also occurs when the claim was re-saved after a submit attempt. A claim in this status still needs to be certified and submitted by your agency before it can be accepted.
 
• Error—A claim has been submitted and has business rule violations. A monthly claim has been submitted and one or more site claim reports are in error. Site level report records that have errors will be in Error status. A claim in this status requires action on the part of your agency before it can be accepted.
 
• Validated—“Validated” means the site level report records are error-free. This status appears on the Site Claim List screen only. A claim in this status still needs to be certified and submitted by your agency before it can be accepted.
 
• Accepted—The claim has been submitted and is ready to be processed. Claims in this status require no further action on the part of your agency.
 
• Processed—The claim has been processed for payment. Claims in this status require no further action on the part of your agency.

Monthly Late Claim Notices

As a courtesy, approximately 50 days after the end of a claim month, the CDSS sends a Notice of Delinquent Claim (or Late Claim Notice) to sponsors participating in the CACFP. The CDSS sends these notices to the agency representative identified in the CNIPS application. If your agency receives one of these messages, similar to the Weekly Claim Status message, please review your claim and take appropriate action in order to resolve the issue before the claim submission deadline.

Pursuant to Title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 226.10(e), claims submitted after the 60th day following the end of a claim month are ineligible for reimbursement. If, after the 60th day following the end of a month, an agency submits a claim that results in a net increase in earnings, the CNIPS will notify the district/agency its claim is late and in error. The error message will contain a link to the CACFP Late Claim Request webpage detailing further instructions on how to apply for a One Time Only exception. The CDSS can only approve a district/agency’s One Time Only exception request once every 36 months, for a single claim month.

If your agency has recently submitted your district/agency’s claim and see the status as “Accepted” or “Processed,” you may disregard the courtesy Claim Status e-mail message or Late Claim Notice sent by the CDSS.

Please remember to keep your agency’s contact information current in your CNIPS application (authorized official, program contact, payment address, e-mails, phone numbers, and fax numbers). Also be sure to add “dss.ca.gov” to your list of approved e-mail domains.

Weekly reminders and other important messages will be sent to certain district/agency representatives. These representatives vary by program and are identified in each agency’s CNIPS Application.

Resources

Child Nutrition Information and Payment System Web Page

Contact Information

For questions regarding claims and issues submitting a claim please contact CACFPClaims@dss.ca.gov.

For questions regarding missing payments please contact CACFPPayments@dss.ca.gov.

For questions regarding late claim requests please contact Lateclaimsrequest@dss.ca.gov.

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