II 

Calendar No. 315 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1616 

[Report No. 114–174] 

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 

JUNE 18, 2015 

Mr. CARPER (for himself, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mrs. MCCASKILL, and Mr. JOHNSON) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

DECEMBER 8, 2015 

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 2015’’. 

5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 

7 (1) STRATEGIC SOURCING.—The term ‘‘stra8 tegic sourcing’’ means analyzing and modifying a 

9 Federal agency’s spending patterns to better lever10 age its purchasing power, reduce costs, and improve 

11 overall performance. 

12 (2) IMPROPER PAYMENT.—The term ‘‘improper 

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

14 2 of the Improper Payments Information Act of 

15 2002 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note). 

16 SEC. 3. OFFICE OF FEDERAL CHARGE CARD ANALYTICS 

17 AND REVIEW. 

18 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of General 

19 Services shall establish an Office of Federal Charge Card 

20 Analytics and Review for improving the use and oversight 

21 of purchase and travel card transactions by Federal agen22 cies and programs, including for the general purposes of— 

23 (1) identifying, preventing, and recovering im24 proper payments (including fraud), and identifying 

25 and preventing other inappropriate use of purchase 

26 and travel cards that do not conform with Federal 


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1 or agency purchase laws, policies, rules, or best 

2 practices; and 

3 (2) determining opportunities for strategic 

4 sourcing. 

5 (b) DUTIES.—The Office shall carry out the following 

6 duties: 

7 (1) INTERAGENCY REVIEW FOR IMPROPER PAY8 MENTS AND STRATEGIC SOURCING.—The review of 

9 purchase and travel card transaction data of all 

10 Federal agencies for the purposes described in sub11 section (a). The review shall include transactions for 

12 individual Federal agencies as well as across mul13 tiple Federal agencies and programs. Findings of po14 tential improper payments (including fraud), oppor15 tunities for strategic sourcing, or issues of interest 

16 shall be communicated to the appropriate agency of17 ficials. The office may, as appropriate, use existing 

18 General Services Administration databases of pur19 chase and travel card transaction for the interagency 

20 review. This analysis by the Office shall not end the 

21 requirement for individual agency oversight as de22 scribed in the Government Charge Card Abuse Pre23 vention Act of 2012 (Public Law 112–194), but 

24 shall be considered as complementary and used in 

25 coordination with the individual agency. 


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1 (2) ANALYTICS LIBRARY.—The establishment of 

2 a library of analytics tools and data sources for use 

3 by all Federal agencies (including inspectors gen4 eral) for the purposes described in subsection (a). 

5 SEC. 4. GUIDANCE ON IMPROVING INFORMATION SHARING 

6 TO CURB IMPROPER PAYMENTS. 

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

8 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Of9 fice of Management and Budget, in consultation with the 

10 Administrator of General Services and agency heads, and 

11 the interagency task force established under section 5, 

12 shall issue guidance on improving information sharing by 

13 government agencies (including inspectors general) for the 

14 purposes of section 3(a)(1). 

15 (b) ELEMENTS.—The guidance issued under sub16 section (a) shall— 

17 (1) require relevant officials at Federal agencies 

18 to identify high-risk merchants and communicate 

19 that information to the appropriate level of adminis20 tration within the agencies; 

21 (2) ensure that appropriate officials at Federal 

22 agencies review the reports issued by charge card23 issuing contractors of potential fraudulent or other24 wise inappropriate activity, including the suspension 

25 of purchase and travel card accounts, travel card acVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:48 Dec 08, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1616.RS S1616

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1 tivity outside of the official government travel loca2 tion, transactions that occur with high risk mer3 chant, and suspicious levels of cash withdrawals; 

4 (3) provide for the appropriate sharing of infor5 mation related to potential fraudulent transactions, 

6 fraud schemes, and high risk merchants with the Of7 fice of Federal Charge Card Analytics and Review 

8 established under section 3 and the appropriate offi9 cials in Federal agencies; and 

10 (4) other requirements determined appropriate 

11 by the Director for the purposes of carrying out this 

12 Act. 

13 SEC. 5. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE. 

14 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of General 

15 Services and the Director of the Office of Management 

16 and Budget shall establish and co-chair an interagency 

17 task force to develop and share best practices for the pur18 poses described in section 3(a). 

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

20 subsection (a) shall— 

21 (1) cover rules, edits, and task order or con22 tract modifications related to charge card-issuing 

23 contractors; 

24 (2) include the review of purchase and travel 

25 card transaction data of all Federal agencies for the 


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1 purpose of determining strategic sourcing opportuni2 ties; and 

3 (3) include other best practices as determined 

4 by the Administrator and Director. 

5 (c) MEETINGS.—The interagency task force shall 

6 meet regularly as determined by the co-chairs, for a dura7 tion of three years, and include those agencies as described 

8 in section 2 of the Government Charge Card Abuse Pre9 vention Act of 2012 (Public Law 112–194) and others 

10 identified by the co-chairs. 

11 SEC. 6. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

12 (a) GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION RE13 PORT.—Not later than one year after the date of the en14 actment of this Act, the Administrator for General Serv15 ices shall submit a report to Congress on the implementa16 tion of this Act, including the metrics used in determining 

17 whether the analytic and investigatory efforts have re18 duced, or contributed to the reduction of, improper pay19 ments or improved strategic sourcing. 

20 (b) AGENCY REPORTS.—Not later than one year 

21 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the head of 

22 each Federal agency described in section 2 of the Govern23 ment Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2012 (Public 

24 Law 112–194) shall submit a report to Congress on its 

25 activities to implement this Act. 


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Calendar No. 315 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1616 

[Report No. 114–174] 

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 straDECEMBER 8, 2015 

Reported without amendment 


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