David L. Norquist, the department’s chief financial officer defended the program by saying that it provides for streamlined and automated purchasing, reduces administrative costs, and enables the department to trace purchases to the individuals who made them.
GAO said in its testimony that it intends to refer cardholders responsible for abusive transactions to DHS management for administrative action.
Norquist said the department agreed with the concerns raised by GAO and the inspector general, and that DHS headquarters has adopted a purchase card policy manual, though it has not yet been implemented department-wide.
He said the manual requires additional training and annual refresher training, written authorization before making a purchase, and limits each approving official to overseeing seven cardholders — or about 300 transactions per month.
DHS intends to issue the revised policy manual as soon as possible after making changes identified by GAO — such as requiring independent validation of receipt and acceptance of goods, according to Norquist.
However, he said he could not comment on the specifics of GAO’s testimony because he hadn’t had time to look into them.
