SNAP, EBT card system outage strikes Pennsylvania

A technical glitch has left upward of 1.8 million Pennsylvanians locked out of nutrition benefit programs – and officials are still at a loss to explain why, as similar outages grip other states.

From Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, reports poured in Sunday afternoon of enrollees unable to access their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits through Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Access cards. Access cards allow SNAP recipients to make store purchases using nutrition benefits issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture –– sometimes called “food stamps” –– or cash benefits, much like ordinary debit cards.

A spokesperson for the Pa. Department of Human Services, which administers the SNAP program throughout the commonwealth, said the office was aware of the outages, but not the cause and declined further comment.

A spokesperson for the USDA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ellen Vollinger, legal director at the anti-poverty nonprofit Food Research & Action Center in Washington D.C., said the outage would leave some with no way to buy essential groceries.

“We would hope that the technological issue, whatever it is, gets rectified ASAP,” she said. “This is about people having access to use benefits in stores. Here we are on a Sunday, with people planning their week’s shopping, not being able to use their cards for food. People are waiting to get their groceries.”

The IT company Conduent administers the EBT card system in several states.

“We experienced a temporary service interruption that affected EBT and other applications. The Conduent technology team has been able to successfully restore all impacted services pertaining to this matter. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We are committed to providing the predictable, high-quality service that customers deserve and expect.,” said Sean Collins, vice president for external communications for Conduent on Sunday night.

Linda Kilby, administrator of Philadelphia WIC, which provides additional nutrition benefits for caregivers and children, said Sunday that the outage had also affected access to WIC benefits.

She said that access to the system had been spotty for nearly two weeks.

“The system has been up and down, up and down,” she said.

Vollinger said her organization had also heard reports of broader SNAP and EBT outages in Maryland and Massachusetts, in addition to Pa, noting that all three states use IT company Conduent to administer the EBT card system.

It wasn’t immediately clear how widespread the outages were, including whether New Jersey and Delaware were impacted.

The Philadelphia Inquirer is one of more than 20 news organizations producing Broke in Philly, a collaborative reporting project on solutions to poverty and the city’s push toward economic justice. See all of our reporting at brokeinphilly.org.