Tightening oversight of charge cards issued to federal employees could “could result in savings” beyond what current protections prevent or catch in waste, CBO has said, although it said it has no way of projecting how much.
CBO was reviewing a bill (S-1616) ready for a Senate vote that would expand the role of GSA in overseeing government-wide use of charge cards by establishing an office of federal charge card analytics and review to examine all charge card purchases made by federal employees and contractors.
Said CBO, “Under current law and policy, agencies have many tools to combat fraud and misuse related to charge cards. Agencies have coordinators to oversee the use of charge cards; they also use tools such as credit limits, blocks on merchants based on the type of business, activity reports, and employee guides that explain best practices for using federal charge cards. In addition the 72 Inspector Generals and their 14,000 employees spend about $2.5 billion a year to detect and deter fraud, waste, and mismanagement of government funds.”
It estimated that establishing and running the new office for five years would cost $65 million.
Under the bill, GSA also would establish an interagency task force to facilitate the sharing of information and to promote best practices to reduce fraud and improper payments.
