GSA Office of Inspector General (IG)’s Fiscal Year 2018 Risk Assessment of GSA’s Charge Card Program

Background

GSA’s IG conducted a risk assessment of GSA’s charge card program to identify and analyze risks of illegal, improper or erroneous purchases related to GSA’s purchase and travel cards.

• In FY 2018, GSA used its purchase cards for goods and services totaling $29.2 million. GSA purchase cards are centrally billed accounts and liability for all purchases rests with GSA.
• Travel card spending for FY 2018 totaled $10.8 million. GSA travel cards are individually billed accounts and liability for purchases rests with the cardholder.

As GSA is obligated to pay the balance for purchase card transactions, purchase cards inherently carry more risk than travel cards.

Recommendations

The IG noted:

• The IG assessed the risk for GSA’s purchase card program as moderate. Through limited purchase card testing, they noted the Office of Administrative Services (OAS) improved its follow- up rate for high-risk transactions that it had deemed questionable (e.g., purchases containing the words casino, hotel, or party). However, they also found that OAS should improve its purchase card controls to ensure that cardholders upload supporting documentation into GSA’s system of record.
• In the IG’s travel card audit, they did not find any travel card transactions that were not properly and fully supported, reported, and approved. However, they identified opportunities for improvement and provided recommendations to strengthen controls over the travel card program to ensure compliance with GSA, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and federal guidelines. As travel cards are individually billed accounts, and liability rests with the cardholder and not the agency, they continue to be inherently low risk to GSA.