II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1099 

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, and Mrs. MCCASKILL) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Through Better Use of Government Purchase and Travel 

6 Cards Act of 2017’’. 

7 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 


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

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

3 2 of the Improper Payments Information Act of 

4 2002 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note). 

5 (2) QUESTIONABLE TRANSACTION.—The term 

6 ‘‘questionable transaction’’ means a charge card 

7 transaction that from initial card data appears to be 

8 high risk and may therefore be improper due to non9 compliance with applicable law, regulation or policy. 

10 (3) STRATEGIC SOURCING.—The term ‘‘stra11 tegic sourcing’’ means analyzing and modifying a 

12 Federal agency’s spending patterns to better lever13 age its purchasing power, reduce costs, and improve 

14 overall performance. 

15 SEC. 3. EXPANDED USE OF DATA ANALYTICS. 

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

17 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Of18 fice of Management and Budget, in consultation with the 

19 Administrator for General Services, shall develop a strat20 egy to expand the use of data analytics in managing gov21 ernment purchase and travel charge card programs. These 

22 analytics may employ existing General Services Adminis23 tration capabilities, and may be in conjunction with agen24 cies’ capabilities, for the purpose of— 


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1 (1) identifying examples or patterns of ques2 tionable transactions and developing enhanced tools 

3 and methods for agency use in— 

4 (A) identifying questionable purchase and 

5 travel card transactions; and 

6 (B) recovering improper payments made 

7 with purchase and travel cards; 

8 (2) identifying potential opportunities for agen9 cies to further leverage administrative process 

10 streamlining and cost reduction from purchase and 

11 travel card use, including additional agency opportu12 nities for card-based strategic sourcing; 

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

14 metrics and benchmarks for high-risk activities, 

15 which shall assist agencies in identifying potential 

16 emphasis areas for their purchase and travel card 

17 management and oversight activities, including those 

18 required by the Government Charge Card Abuse 

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

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

21 existing capabilities, to create a library of analytics 

22 tools and data sources for use by Federal agencies 

23 (including inspectors general of those agencies). 


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1 SEC. 4. GUIDANCE ON IMPROVING INFORMATION SHARING 

2 TO CURB IMPROPER PAYMENTS. 

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

4 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Of5 fice of Management and Budget, in consultation with the 

6 Administrator of General Services and the interagency 

7 charge card data management group established under 

8 section 5, shall issue guidance on improving information 

9 sharing by government agencies for the purposes of sec10 tion 3(a)(1). 

11 (b) ELEMENTS.—The guidance issued under sub12 section (a) shall— 

13 (1) require relevant officials at Federal agencies 

14 to identify high-risk activities and communicate that 

15 information to the appropriate management levels 

16 within the agencies; 

17 (2) require that appropriate officials at Federal 

18 agencies review the reports issued by charge card19 issuing banks on questionable transaction activity 

20 (such as purchase and travel card pre-suspension 

21 and suspension reports, delinquency reports, and ex22 ception reports), including transactions that occur 

23 with high-risk activities, and suspicious timing or 

24 amounts of cash withdrawals or advances; 

25 (3) provide for the appropriate sharing of infor26 mation related to potential questionable transVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 May 13, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1099.IS S1099

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1 actions, fraud schemes, and high-risk activities with 

2 General Services Administration Office of Charge 

3 Card Management and the appropriate officials in 

4 Federal agencies; 

5 (4) consider the recommendations made by In6 spectors General or the best practices Inspectors 

7 General have identified; and 

8 (5) include other requirements determined ap9 propriate by the Director for the purposes of car10 rying out this Act. 

11 SEC. 5. INTERAGENCY CHARGE CARD DATA MANAGEMENT 

12 GROUP. 

13 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of General 

14 Services and the Director of the Office of Management 

15 and Budget shall establish a purchase and travel charge 

16 card data management group to develop and share best 

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

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

19 subsection (a) shall— 

20 (1) cover rules, edits, and task order or con21 tract modifications related to charge card-issuing 

22 banks; 

23 (2) include the review of accounts payable infor24 mation and purchase and travel card transaction 

25 data of agencies for the purpose of identifying poVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:31 May 13, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1099.IS S1099

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1 tential strategic sourcing and other additional oppor2 tunities (such as recurring payments, utility pay3 ments, and grant payments) for which the charge 

4 cards or related payment products could be used as 

5 a payment method; and 

6 (3) include other best practices as determined 

7 by the Administrator and Director. 

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

9 card data management group shall meet regularly as de10 termined by the co-chairs, for a duration of three years, 

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

12 Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2012 

13 (Public Law 112–194) and others identified by the Ad14 ministrator and Director. 

15 SEC. 6. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

16 (a) GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION RE17 PORT.—Not later than one year after the date of the en18 actment of this Act, the Administrator for General Serv19 ices shall submit a report to Congress on the implementa20 tion of this Act, including the metrics used in determining 

21 whether the analytic and benchmarking efforts have re22 duced, or contributed to the reduction of, questionable or 

23 improper payments as well as improved utilization of card24 based payment products. 


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1 (b) AGENCY REPORTS AND CONSOLIDATED REPORT

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

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

4 agency described in section 2 of the Government Charge 

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

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

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

8 implement this Act. 

9 (c) OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET REPORT

10 TO CONGRESS.—The Director of the Office of Manage11 ment and Budget shall submit to Congress a consolidated 

12 report of agency activities to implement this Act, which 

13 may be included as part of another report submitted to 

14 Congress by the Director. 

15 (d) REPORT ON ADDITIONAL SAVINGS OPPORTUNI16 TIES.—Not later than one year after the date of the enact17 ment of this Act, the Administrator of General Services 

18 shall submit a report to Congress identifying and explor19 ing further potential savings opportunities for government 

20 agencies under the Federal charge card programs. This 

21 report may be combined with the report required under 

22 subsection (a). 

Æ 


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