A. Role of State WIC Staff
The Illinois WIC Department is responsible for all WIC vendor coordination and is committed to providing vendors with a high degree of customer service.
B. Site Visits and Education Buys
Periodically, IL WIC or a WIC representative conducts site visits to a store. The site visit may include an education buy where the eWIC representative conducts a WIC transaction to see first-hand how the store's POS and WIC processes work.
C. Investigations
An investigation is a method IL WIC uses to determine if violations have occurred. Stores are selected as candidates to receive an investigation based on past WIC compliance, reported issues, and vendor management and redemption data. They may also be chosen as part of a random sample.
An investigation may include an administrative review, covert compliance buys, monitoring or site visits, inventory audits, and/or coordinated efforts with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to determine fraud. A violation is an infraction of a program policy or procedure, the federal regulations outlined in 7 CFR Part 246, the Agreement, and/or the WIC Handbook. Multiple violations detected during a single investigation may result in fines, disqualification, or Civil Money Penalties (CMP).
Compliance Investigation
Illinois WIC conducts and/or contracts for compliance investigations to identify and document violations, including those requiring federally mandated sanctions. The Department may also use compliance investigations conducted by other federal, state, or local law enforcement agencies.
Invoice Audit
An inventory audit examines food purchase invoices or other proof of purchase by the vendor to determine whether the vendor has purchased enough foods and/or formula to provide WIC shoppers with the quantities specified as redeemed by the vendor during a given period.
Up to 12 months of the most current purchase invoices may be requested from the vendor for analysis. The vendor shall be given a specific timeline (generally 14 to 30 days) to submit purchase invoices to Illinois WIC. The vendor's failure to supply purchase invoices to the Department within the timeline period shall result in an administrative warning and/or sanctions.
Acceptable purchase records or invoices shall legibly and clearly reflect the following:
- Name and address of the supplier or wholesaler.
- Name and address of the purchaser (if receipt is from a wholesaler).
- Date of purchase, including month, day, and year.
- List of the items purchased, including size, stock number (if available), UPC, quantity, and unit price.
- Method of payment, and
- Sales receipts for WIC-approved foods purchased at retail grocers (for resale by the Vendor) must include the name and address of the store, date of purchase, description of the exact items purchased (e.g., 14 ounces Malt-o-Meal), the unit price of the items and total quantity purchase.
Affidavits, statements of fact, or oral statements shall not be accepted as evidence of inventory. Only purchase invoices shall constitute acceptable evidence of inventory.
