[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 789 Reported in Senate (RS)]






                                                       Calendar No. 933
110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                 S. 789

                          [Report No. 110-437]

              To prevent abuse of Government credit cards.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 7, 2007

  Mr. Grassley (for himself, Mr. Lieberman, Ms. Collins, Mr. Coleman, 
 Mrs. McCaskill, Mr. Levin, Mr. Carper, and Mr. Kerry) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
               Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

                             August 1, 2008

              Reported by Mr. Lieberman, with an amendment
 [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
              To prevent abuse of Government credit cards.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

<DELETED>SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    This Act may be cited as the ``Government Credit Card 
Abuse Prevention Act of 2007''.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 2. MANAGEMENT OF PURCHASE CARDS.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) Required Safeguards and Internal Controls.--The head 
of each executive agency that issues and uses purchase cards and 
convenience checks shall establish and maintain safeguards and internal 
controls to ensure the following:</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) There is a record in each executive agency of 
        each holder of a purchase card issued by the agency for 
        official use, annotated with the limitations on single 
        transaction and total credit amounts that are applicable to the 
        use of each such card by that purchase cardholder.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) Each purchase cardholder is assigned an 
        approving official other than the cardholder with the authority 
        to approve or disapprove expenditures.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) The holder of a purchase card and each 
        official with authority to authorize expenditures charged to 
        the purchase card are responsible for--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) reconciling the charges appearing on 
                each statement of account for that purchase card with 
                receipts and other supporting documentation; 
                and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) forwarding such reconciliation to the 
                designated official who certifies the bill for payment 
                in a timely manner.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (4) Any disputed purchase card charge, and any 
        discrepancy between a receipt and other supporting 
        documentation and the purchase card statement of account, is 
        resolved in the manner prescribed in the applicable 
        Governmentwide purchase card contract entered into by the 
        Administrator of General Services.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (5) Payments on purchase card accounts are made 
        promptly within prescribed deadlines to avoid interest 
        penalties.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (6) Rebates and refunds based on prompt payment on 
        purchase card accounts are monitored for accuracy and properly 
        recorded as a receipt to the agency that pays the monthly 
        bill.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (7) Records of each purchase card transaction 
        (including records on associated contracts, reports, accounts, 
        and invoices) are retained in accordance with standard 
        Government policies on the disposition of records.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (8) Periodic reviews are performed to determine 
        whether each purchase cardholder has a need for the purchase 
        card.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (9) Appropriate training is provided to each 
        purchase cardholder and each official with responsibility for 
        overseeing the use of purchase cards issued by an executive 
        agency.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (10) The executive agency has specific policies 
        regarding the number of purchase cards issued by various 
        organizations and categories of organizations, the credit 
        limits authorized for various categories of cardholders, and 
        categories of employees eligible to be issued purchase cards, 
        and that those policies are designed to minimize the financial 
        risk to the Federal Government of the issuance of the purchase 
        cards and to ensure the integrity of purchase 
        cardholders.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (11) The executive agency utilizes technologies to 
        prevent or identify fraudulent purchases, including controlling 
        merchant codes and utilizing statistical machine learning and 
        pattern recognition technologies that review the risk of every 
        transaction.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (12) The executive agency invalidates the purchase 
        card of each employee who--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) ceases to be employed by the agency 
                immediately upon termination of the employment of the 
                employee; or</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) transfers to another unit of the 
                agency immediately upon the transfer of the 
                employee.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (13) The executive agency takes steps to recover 
        the cost of any improper or fraudulent purchase made by an 
        employee, including, as necessary, through salary 
        offsets.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Management of Purchase Cards.--The head of each 
executive agency shall prescribe regulations implementing the 
safeguards and internal controls in subsection (a). The regulations 
shall be consistent with regulations that apply Governmentwide 
regarding the use of purchase cards by Government personnel for 
official purposes.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (c) Penalties for Violations.--The regulations prescribed 
under subsection (b) shall provide for appropriate adverse personnel 
actions or other punishment to be imposed in cases in which employees 
of an executive agency violate such regulations or are negligent or 
engage in misuse, abuse, or fraud with respect to a purchase card, 
including imposition of the following penalties:</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) In the case of an employee who is suspected by 
        the executive agency to have engaged in fraud, referral of the 
        case to the United States Attorney with jurisdiction over the 
        matter.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) In the case of an employee who is found guilty 
        of fraud or found by the executive agency to have egregiously 
        abused a purchase card, dismissal of the employee.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (d) Risk Assessments and Audits.--The Inspector General of 
each executive agency shall--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) periodically conduct risk assessments of the 
        agency purchase card program and associated internal controls 
        and analyze identified weaknesses and the frequency of improper 
        activity in order to develop a plan for using such risk 
        assessments to determine the scope, frequency, and number of 
        periodic audits of purchase cardholders;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) perform periodic audits of purchase 
        cardholders designed to identify--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) potentially fraudulent, improper, and 
                abusive uses of purchase cards;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) any patterns of improper cardholder 
                transactions, such as purchases of prohibited items; 
                and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (C) categories of purchases that should be 
                made by means other than purchase cards in order to 
                better aggregate purchases and obtain lower 
                prices;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) report to the head of the executive agency 
        concerned on the results of such audits; and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (4) report to the Director of the Office of 
        Management and Budget and the Comptroller General on the 
        implementation of recommendations made to the head of the 
        executive agency to address findings during audits of purchase 
        cardholders.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (e) Definition of Executive Agency.--In this section, the 
term ``executive agency'' has the meaning given such term in section 
4(1) of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 
403(1)).</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (f) Relationship to Department of Defense Purchase Card 
Regulations.--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) In general.--Except as provided by the 
        amendments made by paragraph (2), the requirements under this 
        section shall not apply to the Department of Defense.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) Exception.--Section 2784(b) of title 10, 
        United States Code, is amended--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) in paragraph (8), by striking 
                ``periodic audits'' and all that follows through the 
                period at the end and inserting ``risk assessments of 
                the agency purchase card program and associated 
                internal controls and analyze identified weaknesses and 
                the frequency of improper activity in order to develop 
                a plan for using such risk assessments to determine the 
                scope, frequency, and number of periodic audits of 
                purchase cardholders.''; and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) by adding at the end the following new 
                paragraphs:</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(11) That the Department of Defense utilizes 
        technologies to prevent or identify fraudulent purchases, 
        including controlling merchant codes and utilizing statistical 
        machine learning and pattern recognition technologies that 
        review the risk of every transaction.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(12) That the Secretary of Defense--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(A) invalidates the purchase card of 
                each employee who ceases to be employed by the 
                Department of Defense immediately upon termination of 
                the employment of the employee; and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(B) invalidates the purchase card of 
                each employee who transfers to another agency or 
                subunit within the Department of Defense immediately 
                upon such transfer.''.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 3. MANAGEMENT OF TRAVEL CARDS.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    Section 2 of the Travel and Transportation Reform Act of 
1998 (Public Law 105-264; 5 U.S.C. 5701 note) is amended by adding at 
the end the following new subsection:</DELETED>
<DELETED>    ``(h) Management of Travel Charge Cards.--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(1) Required safeguards and internal controls.--
        The head of each executive agency that has employees that use 
        travel charge cards shall establish and maintain safeguards and 
        internal controls over travel charge cards to ensure the 
        following:</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(A) There is a record in each executive 
                agency of each holder of a travel charge card issued by 
                the agency for official use, annotated with the 
                limitations on amounts that are applicable to the use 
                of each such card by that travel charge 
                cardholder.</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(B) Rebates and refunds based on prompt 
                payment on travel charge card accounts are properly 
                recorded as a receipt of the agency that employs the 
                cardholder.</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(C) Periodic reviews are performed to 
                determine whether each travel charge cardholder has a 
                need for the travel charge card.</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(D) Appropriate training is provided to 
                each travel charge cardholder and each official with 
                responsibility for overseeing the use of travel charge 
                cards issued by an executive agency.</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(E) Each executive agency has specific 
                policies regarding the number of travel charge cards 
                issued by various organizations and categories of 
                organizations, the credit limits authorized for various 
                categories of cardholders, and categories of employees 
                eligible to be issued travel charge cards, and that 
                those policies are designed to minimize the financial 
                risk to the Federal Government of the issuance of the 
                travel charge cards and to ensure the integrity of 
                travel charge cardholders.</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(F) The head of each executive agency 
                negotiates with the holder of the applicable travel 
                card contract, or a third party provider of credit 
                evaluations if such provider offers more favorable 
                terms, to evaluate the creditworthiness of an 
                individual before issuing the individual a travel 
                charge card, and that no individual be issued a travel 
                charge card if the individual is found not creditworthy 
                as a result of the evaluation (except that this 
                paragraph shall not preclude issuance of a restricted 
                use travel charge card when the individual lacks a 
                credit history or the issuance of a pre-paid card when 
                the individual has a credit score below the minimum 
                credit score established by the agency). Each executive 
                agency shall establish a minimum credit score for 
                determining the creditworthiness of an individual based 
                on rigorous statistical analysis of the population of 
                cardholders and historical behaviors. Notwithstanding 
                any other provision of law, such evaluation shall 
                include an assessment of an individual's consumer 
                report from a consumer reporting agency as those terms 
                are defined in section 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting 
                Act. The obtaining of a consumer report under this 
                subsection is deemed to be a circumstance or purpose 
                authorized or listed under section 604 of the Fair 
                Credit Reporting Act.</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(G) Each executive agency utilizes 
                technologies to prevent or identify fraudulent 
                purchases, including controlling merchant codes and 
                utilizing statistical machine learning and pattern 
                recognition technologies that review the risk of every 
                transaction.</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(H) Each executive agency ensures that 
                the travel charge card of each employee who ceases to 
                be employed by the agency is invalidated immediately 
                upon termination of the employment of the 
                employee.</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(I) Each executive agency utilizes 
                mandatory split disbursements for travel card 
                purchases.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(2) Regulations.--The Administrator of General 
        Services shall prescribe regulations governing the 
        implementation of the safeguards and internal controls in 
        paragraph (1) by executive agencies.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(3) Penalties for violations.--The regulations 
        prescribed under paragraph (2) shall provide for appropriate 
        adverse personnel actions or other punishment to be imposed in 
        cases in which employees of an executive agency violate such 
        regulations or are negligent or engage in misuse, abuse, or 
        fraud with respect to a travel charge card, including removal 
        in appropriate cases.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(4) Assessments.--The Inspector General of each 
        executive agency shall--</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(A) periodically conduct risk 
                assessments of the agency travel card program and 
                associated internal controls and analyze identified 
                weaknesses and the frequency of improper activity in 
                order to develop a plan for using such risk assessments 
                to determine the scope, frequency, and number of 
                periodic audits of purchase cardholders;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(B) perform periodic audits of travel 
                cardholders designed to identify potentially 
                fraudulent, improper, and abusive uses of travel 
                cards;</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(C) report to the head of the executive 
                agency concerned on the results of such audits; 
                and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(D) report to the Director of the Office 
                of Management and Budget and the Comptroller General on 
                the implementation of recommendations made to the head 
                of the executive agency to address findings during 
                audits of travel cardholders.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    ``(5) Definitions.--In this subsection:</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(A) The term `executive agency' means an 
                agency as that term is defined in section 5701 of title 
                5, United States Code, except that it is in the 
                executive branch.</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    ``(B) The term `travel charge card' means 
                the Federal contractor-issued travel charge card that 
                is individually billed to each cardholder.''.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 4. MANAGEMENT OF CENTRALLY BILLED ACCOUNTS.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    The head of an executive agency that has employees who use 
a centrally billed account shall establish and maintain safeguards and 
internal controls to ensure the following:</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) Items submitted on an employee's travel 
        voucher are compared with items paid for using a centrally 
        billed account to ensure that an employee is not reimbursed for 
        an item already paid for through a centrally billed 
        account.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) The executive agency submits requests for 
        refunds for unauthorized purchases to the holder of the 
        applicable contract for a centrally billed account.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) The executive agency submits requests for 
        refunds for fully or partially unused tickets to the holder of 
        the applicable contract for a centrally billed 
        account.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 5. REGULATIONS.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
the enactment of this Act--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) the head of each executive agency shall 
        promulgate regulations to implement the requirements of 
        sections 2 and 4; and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) the Administrator of General Services shall 
        promulgate regulations required pursuant to the amendments made 
        by section 3.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Best Practices.--Regulations promulgated under this 
section shall reflect best practices for conducting purchase card and 
travel card programs.</DELETED>

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Government Credit Card Abuse 
Prevention Act of 2008''.

SEC. 2. MANAGEMENT OF PURCHASE CARDS.

    (a) Required Safeguards and Internal Controls.--The head of each 
executive agency that issues and uses purchase cards and convenience 
checks shall establish and maintain safeguards and internal controls to 
ensure the following:
            (1) There is a record in each executive agency of each 
        holder of a purchase card issued by the agency for official 
        use, annotated with the limitations on single transaction and 
        total credit amounts that are applicable to the use of each 
        such card by that purchase cardholder.
            (2) Each purchase cardholder is assigned an approving 
        official other than the cardholder with the authority to 
        approve or disapprove expenditures.
            (3) The holder of a purchase card and each official with 
        authority to authorize expenditures charged to the purchase 
        card are responsible for--
                    (A) reconciling the charges appearing on each 
                statement of account for that purchase card with 
                receipts and other supporting documentation; and
                    (B) forwarding such reconciliation to the 
                designated official in a timely manner to enable the 
                designated official to ensure that the Federal 
                government ultimately pays only for valid charges.
            (4) Any disputed purchase card charge, and any discrepancy 
        between a receipt and other supporting documentation and the 
        purchase card statement of account, is resolved in the manner 
        prescribed in the applicable Governmentwide purchase card 
        contract entered into by the Administrator of General Services 
        and in accordance with all laws and executive agency 
        regulations.
            (5) Payments on purchase card accounts are made promptly 
        within prescribed deadlines to avoid interest penalties.
            (6) Rebates and refunds based on prompt payment on purchase 
        card accounts are monitored for accuracy, unless otherwise 
        provided by law, and properly recorded as a receipt to the 
        agency that pays the monthly bill.
            (7) Records of each purchase card transaction (including 
        records on associated contracts, reports, accounts, and 
        invoices) are retained in accordance with standard Government 
        policies on the disposition of records.
            (8) Periodic reviews are performed to determine whether 
        each purchase cardholder has a need for the purchase card.
            (9) Appropriate training is provided to each purchase 
        cardholder and each official with responsibility for overseeing 
        the use of purchase cards issued by an executive agency.
            (10) The executive agency has specific policies regarding 
        the number of purchase cards issued by various organizations 
        and categories of organizations, the credit limits authorized 
        for various categories of cardholders, and categories of 
        employees eligible to be issued purchase cards, and that those 
        policies are designed to minimize the financial risk to the 
        Federal Government of the issuance of the purchase cards and to 
        ensure the integrity of purchase cardholders.
            (11) The executive agency utilizes technologies to prevent 
        or identify fraudulent purchases.
            (12) The executive agency invalidates the purchase card of 
        each employee who--
                    (A) ceases to be employed by the agency immediately 
                upon termination of the employment of the employee; or
                    (B) transfers to another unit of the agency 
                immediately upon the transfer of the employee unless 
                the units are covered by the same purchase card 
                authority.
            (13) The executive agency takes steps to recover the cost 
        of any improper or fraudulent purchase made by an employee, 
        including, as necessary, through salary offsets.
    (b) Guidance on Management of Purchase Cards.--Not later than 180 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the 
Office of Management and Budget shall prescribe guidance governing the 
implementation of the safeguards and internal controls required by 
subsection (a) by executive agencies.
    (c) Penalties for Violations.--
            (1) In general.--The regulations prescribed under 
        subsection (b) shall provide for appropriate adverse personnel 
        actions or other punishment to be imposed in cases in which 
        employees of an executive agency violate such regulations or 
        are negligent or engage in misuse, abuse, or fraud with respect 
        to a purchase card, including imposition of the following 
        penalties:
                    (A) In the case of an employee who is suspected by 
                the executive agency to have engaged in fraud, referral 
                to the Inspector General of the agency for 
                investigation, and, upon determination by the Inspector 
                General that a crime may have occurred, referral of the 
                case to the United States Attorney with jurisdiction 
                over the matter.
                    (B) In the case of an employee who is found guilty 
                of fraud or found by the Inspector General of the 
                agency to have egregiously abused a purchase card 
                knowingly and willingly, dismissal of the employee.
            (2) Reports on violations.--The regulations prescribed 
        under subsection (b) shall require each head of an executive 
        agency, and each Inspector General of an executive agency, on a 
        semi-annual basis, to submit to the Director of the Office of 
        Management and Budget a report on violations or other actions 
        covered by paragraph (1) by employees of such executive agency. 
        At a minimum, the report shall set forth the following:
                    (A) A description of each violation or other action 
                covered by the report.
                    (B) A description of any adverse personnel action, 
                punishment, other action taken against the employee for 
                such violation or other action.
    (d) Risk Assessments and Audits.--The Inspector General of each 
executive agency shall--
            (1) periodically conduct risk assessments of the agency 
        purchase card program and associated internal controls and 
        analyze identified weaknesses and the frequency of improper 
        activity in order to develop a plan for using such risk 
        assessments to determine the scope, frequency, and number of 
        periodic audits of purchase cardholders;
            (2) perform periodic audits of purchase card transactions 
        designed to identify--
                    (A) potentially fraudulent, improper, and abusive 
                uses of purchase cards;
                    (B) any patterns of improper cardholder 
                transactions, such as purchases of prohibited items; 
                and
                    (C) categories of purchases that should be made by 
                means other than purchase cards in order to better 
                aggregate purchases and obtain lower prices;
            (3) report to the head of the executive agency concerned on 
        the results of such audits; and
            (4) report to the Director of the Office of Management and 
        Budget and the Comptroller General on the implementation of 
        recommendations made to the head of the executive agency to 
        address findings during audits of purchase cardholders.
    (e) Definition of Executive Agency.--In this section, the term 
``executive agency'' has the meaning given such term in section 4(1) of 
the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 403(1)), except 
as provided under subsection (f)(1).
    (f) Relationship to Department of Defense Purchase Card 
Regulations.--
            (1) In general.--The requirements of subsection (a) through 
        (d) shall not apply to the Department of Defense.
            (2) Conforming amendments.--Section 2784 of title 10, 
        United States Code, is amended--
                    (A) in subsection (b), by adding at the end the 
                following new paragraphs:
            ``(11) That each purchase cardholder is assigned an 
        approving official other than the cardholder with the authority 
        to approve or disapprove expenditures.
            ``(12) That the Department of Defense utilizes technologies 
        to prevent or identify fraudulent purchases.
            ``(13) That the Department of Defense takes appropriate 
        steps to invalidate the purchase card of each employee who--
                    ``(A) ceases to be employed by the Department of 
                Defense immediately upon termination of the employment 
                of the employee; or
                    ``(B) transfers to another unit of the Department 
                of Defense immediately upon the transfer of the 
                employee unless the units are covered by the same 
                purchase card authority.
            ``(14) That the Department of Defense takes appropriate 
        steps to recover the cost of any improper or fraudulent 
        purchase made by an employee, including, as necessary, through 
        salary offsets.
            ``(15) That the Inspector General of the Department of 
        Defense conducts periodic risk assessments of purchase card 
        programs and associated internal controls and analyzes 
        identified weaknesses and the frequency of improper activity 
        and uses such risk assessments to develop appropriate 
        corrective actions.''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following new 
                subsection:
    ``(d) Semi-Annual Report.--The Secretary of Defense shall submit to 
the Director of the Office of Management and Budget on a semi-annual 
basis a report on misuse, abuse, or fraud with respect to purchase 
cards by employees of the Department of Defense. At a minimum, the 
report shall include the following:
            ``(1) A description of each incident covered by the report.
            ``(2) A description of any adverse personnel action, 
        punishment, or other action taken against the employee in 
        connection with each such incident.
            ``(3) A description of actions taken by the Department of 
        Defense to address recommendations made to address findings 
        arising out of risk assessments and audits conducted pursuant 
        to this section.''.

SEC. 3. MANAGEMENT OF TRAVEL CARDS.

    Section 2 of the Travel and Transportation Reform Act of 1998 
(Public Law 105-264; 5 U.S.C. 5701 note) is amended by adding at the 
end the following new subsection:
    ``(h) Management of Travel Charge Cards.--
            ``(1) Required safeguards and internal controls.--The head 
        of each executive agency that has employees that use travel 
        charge cards shall establish and maintain safeguards and 
        internal controls over travel charge cards to ensure the 
        following:
                    ``(A) There is a record in each executive agency of 
                each holder of a travel charge card issued by the 
                agency for official use, annotated with the limitations 
                on amounts that are applicable to the use of each such 
                card by that travel charge cardholder.
                    ``(B) Rebates and refunds based on prompt payment 
                on travel charge card accounts are monitored for 
                accuracy and, unless otherwise provided by law, 
                properly recorded as a receipt of the agency that 
                employs the cardholder.
                    ``(C) Periodic reviews are performed to determine 
                whether each travel charge cardholder has a need for 
                the travel charge card.
                    ``(D) Appropriate training is provided to each 
                travel charge cardholder and each official with 
                responsibility for overseeing the use of travel charge 
                cards issued by an executive agency.
                    ``(E) Each executive agency has specific policies 
                regarding the number of travel charge cards issued by 
                various organizations and categories of organizations, 
                the credit limits authorized for various categories of 
                cardholders, and categories of employees eligible to be 
                issued travel charge cards, and that those policies are 
                designed to minimize the financial risk to the Federal 
                Government of the issuance of the travel charge cards 
                and to ensure the integrity of travel charge 
                cardholders.
                    ``(F) Each executive agency negotiates with the 
                holder of the applicable travel card contract to 
                evaluate the creditworthiness of an individual before 
                issuing the individual a travel charge card, and that 
                no individual be issued a travel charge card if the 
                individual is found not creditworthy as a result of the 
                evaluation (except that this paragraph shall not 
                preclude issuance of a restricted use travel charge 
                card or pre-paid card when the individual lacks a 
                credit history or has a credit score below the minimum 
                credit score established by the Office of Management 
                and Budget). The Director of the Office of Management 
                and Budget shall establish a minimum credit score for 
                determining the creditworthiness of an individual based 
                on rigorous statistical analysis of the population of 
                cardholders and historical behaviors. Notwithstanding 
                any other provision of law, such evaluation shall 
                include an assessment of an individual's consumer 
                report from a consumer reporting agency as those terms 
                are defined in section 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting 
                Act.
                    ``(G) Each executive agency utilizes technologies 
                to prevent or identify fraudulent purchases.
                    ``(H) Each executive agency ensures that the travel 
                charge card of each employee who ceases to be employed 
                by the agency is invalidated immediately upon 
                termination of the employment of the employee.
                    ``(I) Each executive agency utilizes, where 
                appropriate, direct payment to the holder of the travel 
                card contract.
            ``(2) Guidance on management of travel charge cards.--The 
        Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall prescribe 
        guidance governing the implementation of the safeguards and 
        internal controls in paragraph (1) by executive agencies.
            ``(3) Penalties for violations.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The regulations prescribed under 
                paragraph (2) shall provide for appropriate adverse 
                personnel actions or other punishment to be imposed in 
                cases in which employees of an executive agency violate 
                such regulations or are negligent or engage in misuse, 
                abuse, or fraud with respect to a travel charge card, 
                including removal in appropriate cases.
                    ``(B) Reports on violations.--The regulations 
                prescribed under paragraph (2) shall require each head 
                of an executive agency, and each Inspector General of 
                an executive agency, on a semi-annual basis, to submit 
                to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
                a report on violations or other actions covered by 
                paragraph (1) by employees of such executive agency. At 
                a minimum, the report shall set forth the following:
                            ``(i) A description of each violation or 
                        other action covered by the report.
                            ``(ii) A description of any adverse 
                        personnel action, punishment, or other action 
                        taken against the employee for such violation 
                        or other action.
            ``(4) Assessments.--The Inspector General of each executive 
        agency shall--
                    ``(A) periodically conduct risk assessments of the 
                agency travel card program and associated internal 
                controls and analyze identified weaknesses and the 
                frequency of improper activity in order to develop a 
                plan for using such risk assessments to determine the 
                scope, frequency, and number of periodic audits of 
                travel cardholders;
                    ``(B) perform periodic audits of travel card 
                purchases designed to identify potentially fraudulent, 
                improper, and abusive uses of travel cards;
                    ``(C) report to the head of the executive agency 
                concerned on the results of such audits; and
                    ``(D) report to the Director of the Office of 
                Management and Budget and the Comptroller General on 
                the implementation of recommendations made to the head 
                of the executive agency to address findings during 
                audits of travel cardholders.
            ``(5) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) The term `executive agency' means an agency 
                as that term is defined in section 5701 of title 5, 
                United States Code, except that it is in the executive 
                branch.
                    ``(B) The term `travel charge card' means the 
                Federal contractor-issued travel charge card that is 
                individually billed to each cardholder.''.

SEC. 4. MANAGEMENT OF CENTRALLY BILLED ACCOUNTS.

    (a) Required Management of Centrally Billed Accounts.--The head of 
an executive agency that has employees who use a centrally billed 
account shall establish and maintain safeguards and internal controls 
to ensure the following:
            (1) Items submitted on an employee's travel voucher are 
        compared with items paid for using a centrally billed account 
        to ensure that an employee is not reimbursed for an item 
        already paid for through a centrally billed account.
            (2) The executive agency disputes unauthorized charges and 
        tracks the status of the disputed transactions to ensure 
        appropriate resolution.
            (3) The executive agency submits requests for refunds for 
        fully or partially unused tickets to the airlines and tracks 
        the status of unused tickets to ensure appropriate resolution.
    (b) Guidance.--The Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
shall prescribe guidance implementing the requirements of subsection 
(a) not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act.
                                                       Calendar No. 933

110th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                                 S. 789

                          [Report No. 110-437]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

              To prevent abuse of Government credit cards.

_______________________________________________________________________

                             August 1, 2008

                       Reported with an amendment