Federal Manager's Daily Report

The Senate has passed S-1099, to require that the government look for patterns of misuse in travel and purchase charge cards across all agencies and that agencies share best practices to prevent misuse and to identify potential cost savings.

The measure–which now moves to the House–would require the GSA to review its database of charge card purchases in federal agencies for patterns of potential misuse, and require that agencies share with each other information about fraud schemes, high-risk sellers, and other information that might help prevent abuse and fraud.

That information in turn will help agencies better leverage federal purchasing power by making clear when agencies are using purchase cards to buy quantities that could be bought in a more cost-effective manner, such as with negotiated discounts, sponsors say.

The measure is designed to build on prior laws targeting misuse of the cards–long a subject of critical audit reports and congressional investigations–including the Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2012 that required more oversight by agency IGs, among other steps.