Lost Processing Capacity from Bottlenecks in SNAP Eligibility Workflows

$250k-$400k annually (CMS QA resource duplication; compliance audit delays) • For a mid-to-large state SNAP agency, the lost processing capacity from bottlenecks and manual workarounds equates to roughly 20–40% lower productivity versus modernized, integrated workflows, wasting the equivalent of 150–400 FTEs across eligibility, issuance coordination, fraud units, and IT support. At an all-in cost of $80,000–$120,000 per FTE, this can translate into $12M–$40M per year in avoidable salary, overtime, and contracted labor, plus additional risk of federal sanctions tied to timeliness and error rates. • For a mid-to-large state, 20–40% lost effective productivity in eligibility-related workflows equates to roughly 150–400 FTEs of wasted capacity across SNAP, EBT retailer support, child care subsidy, Medicaid and E&T touchpoints, at an average fully loaded cost of $80,000 per FTE, or about $12M–$32M per year in avoidable salary, overtime, and contractor spend.

Agencies and units rely on ad hoc queues and handoffs outside the core eligibility system: shared Excel trackers for aging cases and manual worklists, Outlook calendars and email threads to chase missing verification documents, paper folders and sticky notes to remember priority cases, and one-off calls or messages to coordinate between eligibility, issuance, fraud, and IT when bottlenecks stall decisions. • Separate audit teams; manual cross-system case reconciliation; dual reporting spreadsheets • Supervisors and managers quietly add off-system triage layers: exporting caseloads and tasks to Excel, tracking status and bottlenecks in shared spreadsheets, emailing and calling frontline staff and external partners for updates, keeping personal notes to remember stuck cases, and asking vendors/retailers/providers to resend or clarify information outside official portals.