State delays new five-year EBT contract two months

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The Department of Children and Families has pushed back its timeline to pick a new vendor for Electronic Benefit Transfer services, which serves 2.2 million people who rely on a number of different food and cash assistance programs operated by the state and federal government.

Documents posted to the agency’s website this week indicate the department wants to complete its negotiations with the qualified vendors and have the new five-year contract awarded by Feb. 7, 2023, about two-months later than the state’s original plan.

The invitation to negotiate, or ITN, authorizes the department to contract with more than one vendor to supply the EBT services.

The pushed-back deadline means interested vendors have until Oct. 15 to respond to the invitation.

DCF held a conference with interested vendors on July 7. After the meeting, interested vendors had one week to submit any questions about the invitation. Department staff were required to provide written answers to those inquiries by Sept. 8.

DCF has not responded to Florida Politics’ request for a copy of the question and answer document.

Florida uses EBT cards for six programs: Temporary Cash Assistance; Refugee Assistance Program; Food Assistance Program; Food Assistance Employment and Training Program; Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children; and Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

ITN documents indicate, on average, there are 15,377,000 electronic benefit transfers a month involving food and cash assistance totaling nearly $361 million in benefits. EBT customer service centers in Florida handle nearly 5 million calls on average.