[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