FDP Contract Packet Due Date: July 31

The California Department of Education (CDE) is reminding participating agencies to update and submit their School Year 2025–26 Food Distribution Program (FDP) contract in the Child Nutrition Information and Payment System (CNIPS) no later than July 31, 2025. Agencies that do not submit their FDP contract by the deadline may be placed on hold and ineligible to receive U.S. Department of Agriculture Foods.

All participating agencies, regardless of participation avenue, must complete and submit the FDP Contract Packet in the Food Distribution module of the CNIPS to the CDE for review and approval.

The contract packet has three sections:

1. FDP contract
2. Agency information update/certification
3. Program, ordering, and billing contacts

To Access the Contract Packet:

• Log on to the CNIPS website
• Choose the Food Distribution Program box on the Programs menu
• Select Agencies from the blue tool bar located at the top of the screen
• Select Contract from the menu
• Select Contract Packet from the menu
• Select 2025–2026 from the Program Year dropdown menu
• Select SNP from the Program dropdown menu
• Select Continue

Under the Status heading, the FDP Contract Packet status will display as Not Submitted. This means that an agency still needs to complete, verify, and submit their FDP contract. The red arrows indicate the fields that require updated information. When the four red arrows change to four green checkmarks, the contract is ready to submit.

After you complete the Agency Information Update/Certification and Contacts, the FDP contract packet is ready to submit for approval. Select the Submit for Approval button.

Note: You must select the Submit for Approval button in order complete the submission process.

CNIPS Maintenance Reminder

As part of your Permanent Single Agreement with the CDE, participating agencies are required to establish procedures to ensure the accuracy of the information entered in the CNIPS and to maintain up-to-date contact information in all CNIPS modules throughout the school year.

For more information on the policy regarding this process, review the Annual Update of the FDP Contract in the CNIPS Management Bulletin NSD-FDP-07-2011.

If you need help completing the FDP Contract Packet, please view the instructional video, How to Complete the FDP Contract in the CNIPS and Useful Features of the CNIPS FDP Module (Video 28:11) in YouTube.

For further assistance, please contact the Food Distribution Program by email at FoodDistribution@cde.ca.gov