Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs Committee Susan Collins, R-Maine, has introduced
the “purchase card waste elimination act or 2005,”
designed to curb wasteful spending that can result from
lax scrutiny of where the government makes its purchases,
according to a committee statement.
Under the legislation the Office of Management and Budget
would direct agencies to step up training on proper
purchase card use and more effectively analyze spending
data — as well as direct the General Services
Administration to push for more and better discounts
with vendors and better guide agencies on reducing
wasteful spending.
Collins, who released a Government Accountability Office
report last year on purchase card use, sited “large
budget deficits,” as a reason the legislation is needed,
saying it is a way to “reduce waste, fraud and abuse in
government spending.”
The statement said last year’s hearing covered ways the
government could save $300 million annually — based on
analysis of the six biggest agency spenders – through
better purchase card management, which is too loosely
monitored given the billions federal employees charge
on them annually.