[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 300 Reported in House (RH)]
Union Calendar No. 257
112th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 300
[Report No. 112-376]
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 25, 2011
Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and in
addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
January 27, 2012
Reported from the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
January 27, 2012
The Committee on Armed Services discharged; committed to the Committee
of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prevent abuse of Government charge cards.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Government Charge Card Abuse
Prevention Act of 2011''.
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 transactions and
total transactions that are applicable to the use of each such
card or check by that purchase cardholder.
(2) Each purchase cardholder and individual issued a
convenience check is assigned an approving official other than
the cardholder with the authority to approve or disapprove
transactions.
(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
certifying official in a timely manner to enable the
certifying 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, sales
volume, or other actions by the agency on purchase card
accounts are reviewed for accuracy 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 regarding the proper use of
purchase cards is provided to each purchase cardholder in
advance of being issued a purchase card and periodically
thereafter and to each official with responsibility for
overseeing the use of purchase cards issued by an executive
agency in advance of assuming such oversight duties and
periodically thereafter.
(10) The executive agency has specific policies regarding
the number of purchase cards issued by various component
organizations and categories of component 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 effective systems,
techniques, and 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 agency determines that the units are covered by the
same purchase card authority.
(13) The executive agency takes steps to recover the cost
of any erroneous, improper, or illegal purchase made with a
purchase card or convenience check 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 review the existing guidance and,
as necessary, prescribe additional 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 head of each executive agency shall
provide for appropriate adverse personnel actions or other
punishment to be imposed in cases in which employees of the
agency violate agency policies implementing the guidance
required by subsection (b) or make improper, erroneous, or
illegal purchases with purchase cards or convenience checks.
(2) Dismissal.--Penalties prescribed for employee misuse of
purchase cards or convenience checks shall include dismissal of
the employee, as appropriate.
(3) Reports on violations.--The guidance prescribed under
subsection (b) shall direct each head of an executive agency
with more than $10,000,000 in purchase card spending annually,
and each Inspector General of such an executive agency, on a
semiannual basis, to submit to the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget a joint 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.
(B) A description of any adverse personnel action,
punishment, other action taken against the employee for
such violation.
(d) Risk Assessments and Audits.--The Inspector General of each
executive agency shall--
(1) conduct periodic assessments of the agency purchase
card or convenience check programs to identify and analyze
risks of illegal, improper, or erroneous purchases and payments
in order to develop a plan for using such risk assessments to
determine the scope, frequency, and number of periodic audits
of purchase card or convenience check transactions;
(2) perform analysis or audits, as necessary, of purchase
card transactions designed to identify--
(A) potentially illegal, improper, erroneous, and
abusive uses of purchase cards;
(B) any patterns of such uses; and
(C) categories of purchases that could be made by
means other than purchase cards in order to better
aggregate purchases and obtain lower prices (excluding
transactions made under card-based strategic sourcing
arrangements);
(3) report to the head of the executive agency concerned on
the results of such analysis or audits; and
(4) report to the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget on the implementation of recommendations made to the
head of the executive agency to address findings of any
analysis or audit of purchase card and convenience check
transactions or programs for compilation and transmission by
the Director to Congress and the Comptroller General.
(e) Definition of Executive Agency.--In this section, the term
``executive agency'' has the meaning given such term in section 133 of
title 41, United States Code, except as provided under subsection
(f)(1).
(f) Relationship to Department of Defense Purchase Card
Regulations.--
(1) In general.--The requirements of subsections (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 and individual issued
a convenience check is assigned an approving official other
than the cardholder with the authority to approve or disapprove
transactions.
``(12) That the Department of Defense utilizes effective
systems, techniques, and 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 Secretary of Defense determines
that 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 erroneous, improper, or
illegal purchase made with a purchase card or convenience check
by an employee, including, as necessary, through salary
offsets.
``(15) That the Inspector General of the Department of
Defense conducts periodic assessments of purchase card or
convenience check programs to identify and analyze risks of
illegal, improper, or erroneous purchases and payments and uses
such risk assessments to develop appropriate recommendations
for corrective actions.''; and
(B) by adding at the end the following new
subsection:
``(d) Semiannual Report.--The Secretary of Defense and the
Inspector General of the Department of Defense, shall submit to the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget on a semiannual basis a
joint report on illegal, improper, or erroneous purchases and payments
made with purchase cards or convenience checks by employees of the
Department of Defense. At a minimum, the report shall include the
following:
``(1) A description of each violation.
``(2) A description of any adverse personnel action,
punishment, or other action taken against the employee for such
violation.
``(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 the following
internal control activities to ensure the proper, efficient,
and effective use of such travel charge cards:
``(A) There is a record in each executive agency of
each holder of a travel charge card issued on behalf of
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,
sales volume, or other actions by the agency on travel
charge card accounts are monitored for accuracy and
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 the executive agency.
``(E) Each executive agency has specific policies
regarding the number of travel charge cards issued for
various component organizations and categories of
component organizations, the credit limits authorized
for various categories of cardholders, and categories
of employees eligible to be issued travel charge cards,
and designs those policies 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 ensures its contractual
arrangement with each servicing travel charge card
issuing contractor contains a requirement to evaluate
the creditworthiness of an individual before issuing
that individual a travel charge card, and that no
individual be issued a travel charge card if that
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 (15 U.S.C. 1681a).
``(G) Each executive agency utilizes effective
systems, techniques, and technologies to prevent or
identify improper 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.--Not
later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of the
Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2011, the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall review
the existing guidance and, as necessary, prescribe additional
guidance for executive agencies governing the implementation of
the requirements in paragraph (1).
``(3) Penalties for violations.--
``(A) In general.--Consistent with the guidance
prescribed under paragraph (2), each executive agency
shall provide for appropriate adverse personnel actions
to be imposed in cases in which employees of the
executive agency fail to comply with applicable travel
charge card terms and conditions or applicable agency
regulations or commit fraud with respect to a travel
charge card, including removal in appropriate cases.
``(B) Reports on violations.--The guidance
prescribed under paragraph (2) shall require each head
of an executive agency with more than $10,000,000 in
travel card spending annually, and each inspector
general of such an executive agency, on a semiannual
basis, to submit to the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget a joint report on violations or
other actions covered by subparagraph (A) by employees
of such executive agency. At a minimum, the report
shall set forth the following:
``(i) A description of each violation.
``(ii) A description of any adverse
personnel action, punishment, or other action
taken against the employee for such violation
or other action.
``(4) Risk assessments and audits.--The inspector general
of each executive agency shall--
``(A) conduct periodic assessments of the agency
travel charge card program and associated internal
controls to identify and analyze risks of illegal,
improper, or erroneous travel charges and payments in
order to develop a plan for using such risk assessments
to determine the scope, frequency, and number of
periodic audits of travel charge card transactions;
``(B) perform periodic analysis and audits, as
appropriate, of travel charge card transactions
designed to identify potentially improper, erroneous,
and illegal uses of travel charge cards;
``(C) report to the head of the executive agency
concerned on the results of such analysis and audits;
and
``(D) report to the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget on the implementation of
recommendations made to the head of the executive
agency to address findings of any analysis or audit of
travel charge card transactions or programs for
compilation and transmission by the Director to
Congress and the Comptroller General.
``(5) Definitions.--In this subsection:
``(A) The term `executive agency' means an agency
as that term is defined in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of
section 5701(1) of title 5, United States Code.
``(B) The term `travel charge card' means any
Federal contractor-issued travel charge card that is
individually billed to each cardholder.''.
SEC. 4. MANAGEMENT OF CENTRALLY BILLED ACCOUNTS.
(a) Required Internal Controls for Centrally Billed Accounts.--The
head of an executive agency that has employees who use a travel charge
card that is billed directly to the United States Government shall
establish and maintain the following internal control activities:
(1) Items submitted on an employee's travel voucher shall
be compared with items paid for using a centrally billed
account on any related travel to ensure that an employee is not
reimbursed for an item already paid for by the United States
Government through a centrally billed account.
(2) The executive agency shall dispute unallowable and
erroneous charges and track the status of the disputed
transactions to ensure appropriate resolution.
(3) The executive agency shall submit requests to servicing
airlines for refunds of fully or partially unused tickets, when
entitled to such refunds, and track the status of unused
tickets to ensure appropriate resolution.
(b) Guidance.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget shall review the existing guidance and, as necessary, prescribe
additional guidance for executive agencies implementing the
requirements of subsection (a).
SEC. 5. CONSTRUCTION.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to excuse the head of an
executive agency from the responsibilities set out in section 3512 of
title 31, United States Code, or in the Improper Payments Information
Act of 2002 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note).
Union Calendar No. 257
112th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 300
[Report No. 112-376]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prevent abuse of Government charge cards.
_______________________________________________________________________
January 27, 2012
Reported from the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
January 27, 2012
The Committee on Armed Services discharged; committed to the Committee
of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed