II 

Calendar No. 169 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1099 

[Report No. 115–129] 

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 

MAY 11, 2017 

Mr. CARPER (for himself, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mrs. MCCASKILL, Mr. TESTER, and 

Ms. DUCKWORTH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

JULY 11, 2017 

Reported by Mr. JOHNSON, without amendment 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Saving Federal Dollars 

3 Through Better Use of Government Purchase and Travel 

4 Cards Act of 2017’’. 

5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 

7 (1) IMPROPER PAYMENT.—The term ‘‘improper 

8 payment’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

9 2 of the Improper Payments Information Act of 

10 2002 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note). 

11 (2) QUESTIONABLE TRANSACTION.—The term 

12 ‘‘questionable transaction’’ means a charge card 

13 transaction that from initial card data appears to be 

14 high risk and may therefore be improper due to non15 compliance with applicable law, regulation or policy. 

16 (3) STRATEGIC SOURCING.—The term ‘‘stra17 tegic sourcing’’ means analyzing and modifying a 

18 Federal agency’s spending patterns to better lever19 age its purchasing power, reduce costs, and improve 

20 overall performance. 

21 SEC. 3. EXPANDED USE OF DATA ANALYTICS. 

22 (a) STRATEGY.—Not later than 180 days after the 

23 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Of24 fice of Management and Budget, in consultation with the 

25 Administrator for General Services, shall develop a strat26 egy to expand the use of data analytics in managing govVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Jul 11, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1099.RS S1099

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1 ernment purchase and travel charge card programs. These 

2 analytics may employ existing General Services Adminis3 tration capabilities, and may be in conjunction with agen4 cies’ capabilities, for the purpose of— 

5 (1) identifying examples or patterns of ques6 tionable transactions and developing enhanced tools 

7 and methods for agency use in— 

8 (A) identifying questionable purchase and 

9 travel card transactions; and 

10 (B) recovering improper payments made 

11 with purchase and travel cards; 

12 (2) identifying potential opportunities for agen13 cies to further leverage administrative process 

14 streamlining and cost reduction from purchase and 

15 travel card use, including additional agency opportu16 nities for card-based strategic sourcing; 

17 (3) developing a set of purchase and travel card 

18 metrics and benchmarks for high-risk activities, 

19 which shall assist agencies in identifying potential 

20 emphasis areas for their purchase and travel card 

21 management and oversight activities, including those 

22 required by the Government Charge Card Abuse 

23 Prevention Act of 2012 (Public Law 112–194); and 

24 (4) developing a plan, which may be based on 

25 existing capabilities, to create a library of analytics 


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1 tools and data sources for use by Federal agencies 

2 (including inspectors general of those agencies). 

3 SEC. 4. GUIDANCE ON IMPROVING INFORMATION SHARING 

4 TO CURB IMPROPER PAYMENTS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

6 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Of7 fice of Management and Budget, in consultation with the 

8 Administrator of General Services and the interagency 

9 charge card data management group established under 

10 section 5, shall issue guidance on improving information 

11 sharing by government agencies for the purposes of sec12 tion 3(a)(1). 

13 (b) ELEMENTS.—The guidance issued under sub14 section (a) shall— 

15 (1) require relevant officials at Federal agencies 

16 to identify high-risk activities and communicate that 

17 information to the appropriate management levels 

18 within the agencies; 

19 (2) require that appropriate officials at Federal 

20 agencies review the reports issued by charge card21 issuing banks on questionable transaction activity 

22 (such as purchase and travel card pre-suspension 

23 and suspension reports, delinquency reports, and ex24 ception reports), including transactions that occur 


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1 with high-risk activities, and suspicious timing or 

2 amounts of cash withdrawals or advances; 

3 (3) provide for the appropriate sharing of infor4 mation related to potential questionable trans5 actions, fraud schemes, and high-risk activities with 

6 General Services Administration Office of Charge 

7 Card Management and the appropriate officials in 

8 Federal agencies; 

9 (4) consider the recommendations made by In10 spectors General or the best practices Inspectors 

11 General have identified; and 

12 (5) include other requirements determined ap13 propriate by the Director for the purposes of car14 rying out this Act. 

15 SEC. 5. INTERAGENCY CHARGE CARD DATA MANAGEMENT 

16 GROUP. 

17 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of General 

18 Services and the Director of the Office of Management 

19 and Budget shall establish a purchase and travel charge 

20 card data management group to develop and share best 

21 practices for the purposes described in section 3(a). 

22 (b) ELEMENTS.—The best practices developed under 

23 subsection (a) shall— 


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1 (1) cover rules, edits, and task order or con2 tract modifications related to charge card-issuing 

3 banks; 

4 (2) include the review of accounts payable infor5 mation and purchase and travel card transaction 

6 data of agencies for the purpose of identifying po7 tential strategic sourcing and other additional oppor8 tunities (such as recurring payments, utility pay9 ments, and grant payments) for which the charge 

10 cards or related payment products could be used as 

11 a payment method; and 

12 (3) include other best practices as determined 

13 by the Administrator and Director. 

14 (c) MEMBERSHIP.—The purchase and travel charge 

15 card data management group shall meet regularly as de16 termined by the co-chairs, for a duration of three years, 

17 and include those agencies as described in section 2 of the 

18 Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2012 

19 (Public Law 112–194) and others identified by the Ad20 ministrator and Director. 

21 SEC. 6. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

22 (a) GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION RE23 PORT.—Not later than one year after the date of the en24 actment of this Act, the Administrator for General Serv25 ices shall submit a report to Congress on the implementaVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Jul 11, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1099.RS S1099

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1 tion of this Act, including the metrics used in determining 

2 whether the analytic and benchmarking efforts have re3 duced, or contributed to the reduction of, questionable or 

4 improper payments as well as improved utilization of card5 based payment products. 

6 (b) AGENCY REPORTS AND CONSOLIDATED REPORT

7 TO CONGRESS.—Not later than one year after the date 

8 of the enactment of this Act, the head of each Federal 

9 agency described in section 2 of the Government Charge 

10 Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2012 (Public Law 112– 

11 194) shall submit a report to the Director of the Office 

12 of Management and Budget on that agency’s activities to 

13 implement this Act. 

14 (c) OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET REPORT

15 TO CONGRESS.—The Director of the Office of Manage16 ment and Budget shall submit to Congress a consolidated 

17 report of agency activities to implement this Act, which 

18 may be included as part of another report submitted to 

19 Congress by the Director. 

20 (d) REPORT ON ADDITIONAL SAVINGS OPPORTUNI21 TIES.—Not later than one year after the date of the enact22 ment of this Act, the Administrator of General Services 

23 shall submit a report to Congress identifying and explor24 ing further potential savings opportunities for government 

25 agencies under the Federal charge card programs. This 


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1 report may be combined with the report required under 

2 subsection (a). 


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Calendar No. 169 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1099 

[Report No. 115–129] 

A BILL 

To provide for the identification and prevention of 

cards. analyzing the use of Federal agency charge tegic sourcing opportunities by reviewing and improper payments and the identification of straJULY 11, 2017 

Reported without amendment 


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