Best Practices for Purchase A/OPCs

Best practices for managing a GSA SmartPay purchase program:

• Engage management at the highest levels.
• Train A/OPCs and account holders.
• Review credit limits and lower as appropriate.
• Use the bank’s Electronic Access System (EAS), data mining tools, and agency/ organization technology to run reports for monitoring questionable transactions.
• Provide the GSA SmartPay card-sized booklet, “Helpful Hints for Purchase Card Use”, with each account holder application.
• Publish frequently asked questions (FAQs) related to the purchase account on your agency’s/ organization’s website.
• Create a monthly newsletter to reinforce agency/ organization policies and procedures.
• Monitor spend by developing ad hoc reports that can be generated via Electronic Access Systems (EAS).
• Perform an annual review of all issued accounts to determine if each account holder meets the criteria for continued participation in the federal government purchase program.
• Provide comprehensive face-to-face account holder training as orientation for new account holders.
• Address standards of conduct/ethics and clearly state consequences for misuse.
• Discuss agency/organization policy.
• Ensure account holders and A/OPCs fulfill the required refresher training requirements at a minimum every three years, or more frequently as per agency/ organization policy.
• Ensure that training is easily accessible.