[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1616 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1616

 To provide for the identification and prevention of improper payments 
and the identification of strategic sourcing opportunities by reviewing 
         and analyzing the use of Federal agency charge cards.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 18, 2015

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for the identification and prevention of improper payments 
and the identification of strategic sourcing opportunities by reviewing 
         and analyzing the use of Federal agency 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 ``Saving Federal Dollars Through 
Better Use of Government Purchase and Travel Cards Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Strategic sourcing.--The term ``strategic sourcing'' 
        means analyzing and modifying a Federal agency's spending 
        patterns to better leverage its purchasing power, reduce costs, 
        and improve overall performance.
            (2) Improper payment.--The term ``improper payment'' has 
        the meaning given the term in section 2 of the Improper 
        Payments Information Act of 2002 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note).

SEC. 3. OFFICE OF FEDERAL CHARGE CARD ANALYTICS AND REVIEW.

    (a) Establishment.--The Administrator of General Services shall 
establish an Office of Federal Charge Card Analytics and Review for 
improving the use and oversight of purchase and travel card 
transactions by Federal agencies and programs, including for the 
general purposes of--
            (1) identifying, preventing, and recovering improper 
        payments (including fraud), and identifying and preventing 
        other inappropriate use of purchase and travel cards that do 
        not conform with Federal or agency purchase laws, policies, 
        rules, or best practices; and
            (2) determining opportunities for strategic sourcing.
    (b) Duties.--The Office shall carry out the following duties:
            (1) Interagency review for improper payments and strategic 
        sourcing.--The review of purchase and travel card transaction 
        data of all Federal agencies for the purposes described in 
        subsection (a). The review shall include transactions for 
        individual Federal agencies as well as across multiple Federal 
        agencies and programs. Findings of potential improper payments 
        (including fraud), opportunities for strategic sourcing, or 
        issues of interest shall be communicated to the appropriate 
        agency officials. The office may, as appropriate, use existing 
        General Services Administration databases of purchase and 
        travel card transaction for the interagency review. This 
        analysis by the Office shall not end the requirement for 
        individual agency oversight as described in the Government 
        Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2012 (Public Law 112-194), 
        but shall be considered as complementary and used in 
        coordination with the individual agency.
            (2) Analytics library.--The establishment of a library of 
        analytics tools and data sources for use by all Federal 
        agencies (including inspectors general) for the purposes 
        described in subsection (a).

SEC. 4. GUIDANCE ON IMPROVING INFORMATION SHARING TO CURB IMPROPER 
              PAYMENTS.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget, in consultation with the Administrator of General Services and 
agency heads, and the interagency task force established under section 
5, shall issue guidance on improving information sharing by government 
agencies (including inspectors general) for the purposes of section 
3(a)(1).
    (b) Elements.--The guidance issued under subsection (a) shall--
            (1) require relevant officials at Federal agencies to 
        identify high-risk merchants and communicate that information 
        to the appropriate level of administration within the agencies;
            (2) ensure that appropriate officials at Federal agencies 
        review the reports issued by charge card-issuing contractors of 
        potential fraudulent or otherwise inappropriate activity, 
        including the suspension of purchase and travel card accounts, 
        travel card activity outside of the official government travel 
        location, transactions that occur with high risk merchant, and 
        suspicious levels of cash withdrawals;
            (3) provide for the appropriate sharing of information 
        related to potential fraudulent transactions, fraud schemes, 
        and high risk merchants with the Office of Federal Charge Card 
        Analytics and Review established under section 3 and the 
        appropriate officials in Federal agencies; and
            (4) other requirements determined appropriate by the 
        Director for the purposes of carrying out this Act.

SEC. 5. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE.

    (a) Establishment.--The Administrator of General Services and the 
Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall establish and co-
chair an interagency task force to develop and share best practices for 
the purposes described in section 3(a).
    (b) Elements.--The best practices developed under subsection (a) 
shall--
            (1) cover rules, edits, and task order or contract 
        modifications related to charge card-issuing contractors;
            (2) include the review of purchase and travel card 
        transaction data of all Federal agencies for the purpose of 
        determining strategic sourcing opportunities; and
            (3) include other best practices as determined by the 
        Administrator and Director.
    (c) Meetings.--The interagency task force shall meet regularly as 
determined by the co-chairs, for a duration of three years, and include 
those agencies as described in section 2 of the Government Charge Card 
Abuse Prevention Act of 2012 (Public Law 112-194) and others identified 
by the co-chairs.

SEC. 6. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) General Services Administration Report.--Not later than one 
year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator for 
General Services shall submit a report to Congress on the 
implementation of this Act, including the metrics used in determining 
whether the analytic and investigatory efforts have reduced, or 
contributed to the reduction of, improper payments or improved 
strategic sourcing.
    (b) Agency Reports.--Not later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the head of each Federal agency described in 
section 2 of the Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2012 
(Public Law 112-194) shall submit a report to Congress on its 
activities to implement this Act.
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