The Energy Department has established procedures and policies to assist in eliminating improper use of purchase cards, an IG report has said, although it added that its audit found some use of purchase cards by individuals not authorized as well as some purchases of prohibited items.
The audit was done under the Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2012 thatmandates that agency IGs conduct periodic assessments of their agency’s purchase card program to identify the types of misuse that have plagued the program for many years.
It found that Energy’s policies and procedures related to the SmartPay2 program were generally consistent with established guidance but that unauthorized use for convenience reasons remains an issue. For example, one cardholder did not keep the required control over who had access to use his card information, another sometimes passed along his card to coworkers who were not cardholders to make work-related purposes, and another allowed someone else to use his card while he was on vacation.
Auditors did not find any improper purchases in those instances, although they did cite separate purchases made through a third-party payee without authorization; such purchases circumvent a mechanism that monitors blocked vendors and do not generate needed information regarding the purchase for agency record-keeping.
