OIG conducts WIC compliance buys

The OIG’s Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Vendor Monitoring Unit conducted 193 compliance buys across the state during the first quarter of fiscal year 2020. A compliance buy is a covert in-store inspection. An OIG inspector poses as a WIC client and uses a WIC Electronic Benefits Transfer food care to make purchases to ensure vendors are following WIC rules. The compliance buys for this quarter resulted in $6,777 recovered.

The team also completed 18 invoice audits across the state. An invoice audit is a comparison of a vendor’s paid claims and their purchase invoices for WIC food items. The purpose of the invoice audit is to determine if the vendor had a sufficient inventory of WIC food items to justify their submitted claims. The invoice audits for this quarter resulted in $189 recovered. The team also conducted 74 on-site store reviews. The review is an overt in-store assessment where the OIG works with the respective WIC vendor to identify any deficiencies which may or may not exist in association with the sale of authorized WIC products.

To read more about the OIG’s efforts to protect taxpayer resources, read the latest quarterly report: https://tinyurl.com/TxOIGQRs