Meanwhile, the Senate has passed bipartisan legislation that would require the Office of Management and Budget to provide guidance and oversight for managing micro-purchases made with government-issue commercial purchase cards.
Introduced by the chairman of the Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, S-457, the Purchase Card Waste Elimination Act of 2006 would also require the administrator of the General Services Administration to continue trying to improve reporting by financial institutions that issue such cards.
GSA would need the information to find savings and pursue discounts with large vendors.
The bill would also require:
The senior procurement executive for each executive agency, as directed by OMB, to report periodically on actions taken under the guidelines;
OMB to report annually to congressional committees on the progress made improving the management of the use of the purchase cards, as well as achieving certain savings in micro-purchases made with them;
GSA, in conjunction with the IRS and the Financial Management Service, to develop procedures to subject to the Federal Payment Levy program any purchase card payments to federal contractors;
GSA to report annually to specified congressional committees on all first class and business class travel by executive agency employees undertaken at federal expense.
