North Carolina Administrative Code › Title 10A - HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES › Chapter 43 - PERSONAL HEALTH › Subchapter D - WIC/NUTRITION › Section .0700 - WIC PROGRAM FOOD DELIVERY SYSTEM › Section 43D .0706 - VENDOR PEER GROUPS

Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 2, July 15, 2024
Vendor applicants and authorized vendors shall be placed
					 into peer groups in accordance with as follows:
(1) When annual WIC supplemental food sales
				  are not yet available due to a vendor being newly authorized, vendor applicants
				  and authorized vendors, excluding chain stores, stores under a WIC corporate
				  agreement, military commissaries, and free-standing pharmacies, shall be placed
				  into peer groups based on the number of cash registers in the store and the
				  geographic location of the store until annual WIC supplemental food sales
				  become available.
WIC sales figures of new authorized WIC vendors shall be
					 reviewed six months from authorization. A vendor whose first six months of WIC
					 sales exceed twenty five thousand dollars ($25,000) shall be placed in a peer
					 group based on redemption.
(2) Authorized vendors for which annual WIC
				  supplemental food sales are available, including chain stores, stores under a
				  WIC corporate agreement, military commissaries, and free-standing pharmacies,
				  shall be placed into peer groups, as set forth in
				  7 CFR
				  246.12(g)(4) and
				  7 CFR 246.12(h)(3), which is
				  adopted and incorporated by reference with subsequent changes or amendments and
				  available free of charge at
https://www.ecfr.gov/
.
(3) "Annual WIC supplemental food sales" is
				  the dollar amount an authorized vendor redeems in WIC food benefits within a
				  12-month period.
(4) In determining
				  a vendor's peer group designation based on annual WIC supplemental food sales,
				  the State agency shall look at the most recent 12-month period of redemption
				  data.
(5) If the State agency
				  determines that a vendor applicant is expected to be a predominantly WIC vendor
				  as defined in Rule .0202 of this Subchapter, the vendor application shall be
				  denied. The store must wait 90 days to reapply for vendor authorization. The
				  State agency shall apply the methodology set forth in
				  7 CFR
				  246.12(g)(4)(i)(E) for
				  determining whether a vendor applicant is expected to be a predominantly WIC
				  vendor.
(6) If at any time during a
				  vendor's authorization the State agency determines that the vendor has become a
				  predominantly WIC vendor as defined in Rule .0202 of this Subchapter, the
				  vendor's WIC Vendor Agreement shall be terminated. The store shall wait 90 days
				  to reapply for vendor authorization. The State agency shall apply the
				  methodology set forth in 7
				  CFR 246.12(g)(4)(i)(F) for
				  determining whether an authorized vendor has become a predominantly WIC
				  vendor.
(7) A vendor applicant
				  previously authorized in a peer group based on annual WIC supplemental food
				  sales that is being reauthorized following the nonrenewal or termination of its
				  agreement or disqualification or withdrawal from the WIC Program shall be
				  placed into the same peer group the vendor applicant was previously in,
				  provided that no more than one year has passed since the nonrenewal,
				  termination, disqualification or withdrawal. If more than one year has passed,
				  the vendor applicant shall be placed into a peer group using criteria for new
				  vendor applicants as set forth in Item (1) of this Rule.
Authority
					 G.S.
					 130A-361;
					 7 C.F.R.
					 246.12;
					 42 U.S.C. 1786;
Eff.
					 July 1, 1981;
Amended Eff. August 1, 1995; October 1, 1993; May 1,
					 1991; December 1, 1990;
Temporary Amendment Eff. June 23, 2000; May
					 17, 2000;
Amended Eff. April 1, 2001;
Temporary
					 Amendment Eff. September 1, 2002; July 1, 2002;
Amended Eff.
					 November 1, 2005; August 1, 2004;
Temporary Amendment Eff. July 1,
					 2006;
Amended Eff. February 1, 2013; October 1, 2009; February 1,
					 2008; April 1, 2007;
Pursuant to
					 G.S.
					 150B-21.3A, rule is necessary without
					 substantive public interest Eff. December 23, 2017;
Amended Eff.
					 March 1, 2020.