While an audit of purchase card transactions at HUD concluded that they generally “were supported,” the department did not evaluate a potential violation to determine whether it constituted a significant weakness and could have provided better transparency by reporting it to OMB, the department’s IG has found.
It credited HUD with taking steps in fiscal 2014 including a standardized process to review transactions monthly and a requirement that purchase cardholders make purchases through the GSA Advantage system—which ensures that HUD gets GSA-negotiated prices from GSA-approved vendors.
“We reviewed a sample of purchase card transactions and found that HUD complied with its purchase card policies and the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative. For questionable purchases, we determined that purchase cardholders provided documentation to support the use and purpose of the purchases and the purchases were properly approved by the user’s immediate supervisor. We also found no significant incident involving split purchase transactions,” the auditors wrote.
The incident that should have raised more attention, it said, involved charges totaling nearly $12,000. Management said it did not report the case to OMB because it believed it should not do so until the IG confirms that there was a violation of rules. However, the IG said that its investigations may take months or years to complete and that management has the authority and responsibility to independently determine whether a reportable violation occurred.
