The IG added that it “has several open investigations of Postal Service purchasers steering work to chosen suppliers in exchange for bribes, kickbacks, and gratuities.” Image: USPS
By: FEDweek StaffAn inspector general report has called on the Postal Service to strengthen its controls over usage of purchase cards for local operational needs—accounting for some $258 million in spending over 2021-2023—saying that current practices “may increase its risk for potential fraud and financial loss.”
The report said that credit card approving officials and project managers—formally, facility and architect engineers—did not keep supporting documentation for more than a quarter of a sample of nearly 900 transactions, resulting in “unsupported questioned costs” it estimated at more than $750,000.
Auditors also found three instances of split payments—dividing a purchase into smaller segments to keep it under the maximum for such purchases, formerly $10,000 but now $25,000—and instances of payments being processed in batches, “which delayed payments and made it difficult for approvers to identify policy violations.”
They cited issues including “inconsistent awareness” among approving officials of document retention policies, a lack of guidance to project managers on maintaining documentation, a lack of a centralized document repository or policies for combining service calls and batched payments.
Management generally agreed with recommendations to address those issues, except for one to set guidelines for combining certain projects to solicit contracts for them rather than using the purchase card authority. Management said that should be encouraged as a best practice but not mandatory; the IG responded that voluntary practices “are inconsistent and do not always identify split transactions.”
The IG added that it “has several open investigations of Postal Service purchasers steering work to chosen suppliers in exchange for bribes, kickbacks, and gratuities.”
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