Credit Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2003 - Directs the head of each executive agency that issues and uses purchase cards and convenience checks to establish and maintain specified safeguards and internal controls.
Requires the Inspector General of each executive agency to: (1) periodically conduct risk assessments of the agency's purchase card program and associated internal controls and analyze identified weaknesses and the frequency of improper activity; (2) perform periodic audits of purchase cardholders; (3) report to the agency head on the results of such audits; and (4) report to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Comptroller General on implementation of recommendations made to the agency head to address findings during audits.
Prohibits applying all such requirements above to the Department of Defense (DOD). Amends Federal law provisions relating to management of purchase cards issued to DOD personnel to require the Inspector General of DOD, Inspector General of the Army, Naval Inspector General, and Inspector General of the Air Force to perform risk assessments of DOD's 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.
Amends the Travel and Transportation Reform Act of 1998 to direct each executive agency head that has employees that use travel charge cards to establish and maintain specified safeguards and internal controls. Requires the Inspector General of each executive agency to: (1) periodically conduct risk assessments of the agency's travel card program and associated internal controls and analyze identified weaknesses and the frequency of improper activity; (2) perform periodic audits of travel cardholders; (3) report to the agency head the results of such audits; and (4) report to the OMB Director and the Comptroller General on implementation of recommendations made to the agency head to address findings during audits.
[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1744 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
1st Session
S. 1744
To prevent abuse of Government credit cards.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
October 16, 2003
Mr. Grassley (for himself and Mr. Byrd) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Governmental
Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
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,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Credit Card Abuse Prevention Act of
2003''.
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) That 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) That the holder of a purchase card and each official
with authority to authorize expenditures charged to the
purchase card are responsible for reconciling the charges
appearing on each statement of account for that purchase card
with receipts and other supporting documentation and forwarding
such reconciliation to the designated official who certifies
the bill for payment in a timely manner.
(3) That 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.
(4) That payments on purchase card accounts are made
promptly within prescribed deadlines to avoid interest
penalties.
(5) That 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.
(6) That 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.
(7) That periodic reviews are performed to determine
whether each purchase cardholder has a need for the purchase
card.
(8) That 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.
(9) That each 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.
(10) That the head of each executive agency evaluate the
creditworthiness of an individual before issuing the individual
a purchase card, and that no individual be issued a purchase
card if the individual is found not creditworthy as a result of
the evaluation. 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.
(11) That each executive agency invalidate 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.
(b) Management of Purchase Cards.--The head of each executive
agency shall prescribe regulations implementing the safeguards and
internal controls in subsection (a). Those regulations shall be
consistent with regulations that apply Governmentwide regarding the use
of purchase cards by Government personnel for official purposes.
(c) Penalties for Violations.--The regulations prescribed under
subsection (a) 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
removal in appropriate cases.
(d) 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 cardholders
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.--For the purpose of this
section the term ``executive agency'' has the meaning provided in
section 4(1) of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C.
403(1)).
(f) Relationship to Department of Defense Purchase Card
Regulations.--
(1) The requirements under this section shall not apply to
the Department of Defense.
(2) Section 2784(b) of title 10, United States Code, is
amended--
(A) in paragraph (8), by striking ``periodic
audits'' 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
(B) by adding at the end the following new
paragraphs:
``(11) That the Secretary of Defense shall evaluate the
creditworthiness of an individual before issuing the individual
a purchase card, and that no individual be issued a purchase
card if the individual is not found creditworthy as a result of
the evaluation. 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.
``(12) That the Secretary of Defense invalidate the
purchase card of each employee who ceases to be employed by the
department immediately upon termination of the employment of
the employee or transfers to another agency or subunit within
the department immediately upon transfer.''.
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) That 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) That 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.
``(C) That periodic reviews are performed to
determine whether each travel charge cardholder has a
need for the travel charge card.
``(D) That 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) That 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) That the head of each executive agency
evaluates 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).
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.
``(G) That 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.
``(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.
``(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.
``(4) 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
purchase cardholders;
``(B) perform periodic audits of travel cardholders
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.--For purposes of 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. REGULATIONS.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act--
(1) the head of each executive agency shall promulgate
regulations to implement the requirements of section 2; and
(2) the Administrator of General Services shall promulgate
regulations required pursuant to the amendments made by section
3.
(b) Best Practices.--Regulations promulgated under this section
shall reflect best practices for conducting purchase card and travel
card programs.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR 10/17/2003 S12742-12743)
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Governmental Affairs. (text of measure as introduced: CR 10/17/2003 S12743-12744)
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