II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1616 

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 

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 2015’’. 

7 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 


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1 (1) STRATEGIC SOURCING.—The term ‘‘stra2 tegic sourcing’’ means analyzing and modifying a 

3 Federal agency’s spending patterns to better lever4 age its purchasing power, reduce costs, and improve 

5 overall performance. 

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

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

8 2 of the Improper Payments Information Act of 

9 2002 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note). 

10 SEC. 3. OFFICE OF FEDERAL CHARGE CARD ANALYTICS 

11 AND REVIEW. 

12 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of General 

13 Services shall establish an Office of Federal Charge Card 

14 Analytics and Review for improving the use and oversight 

15 of purchase and travel card transactions by Federal agen16 cies and programs, including for the general purposes of— 

17 (1) identifying, preventing, and recovering im18 proper payments (including fraud), and identifying 

19 and preventing other inappropriate use of purchase 

20 and travel cards that do not conform with Federal 

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

22 practices; and 

23 (2) determining opportunities for strategic 

24 sourcing. 


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

2 duties: 

3 (1) INTERAGENCY REVIEW FOR IMPROPER PAY4 MENTS AND STRATEGIC SOURCING.—The review of 

5 purchase and travel card transaction data of all 

6 Federal agencies for the purposes described in sub7 section (a). The review shall include transactions for 

8 individual Federal agencies as well as across mul9 tiple Federal agencies and programs. Findings of po10 tential improper payments (including fraud), oppor11 tunities for strategic sourcing, or issues of interest 

12 shall be communicated to the appropriate agency of13 ficials. The office may, as appropriate, use existing 

14 General Services Administration databases of pur15 chase and travel card transaction for the interagency 

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

17 requirement for individual agency oversight as de18 scribed in the Government Charge Card Abuse Pre19 vention Act of 2012 (Public Law 112–194), but 

20 shall be considered as complementary and used in 

21 coordination with the individual agency. 

22 (2) ANALYTICS LIBRARY.—The establishment of 

23 a library of analytics tools and data sources for use 

24 by all Federal agencies (including inspectors gen25 eral) for the purposes described in subsection (a). 


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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 agency heads, and 

7 the interagency task force established under section 5, 

8 shall issue guidance on improving information sharing by 

9 government agencies (including inspectors general) for the 

10 purposes of section 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 merchants and communicate 

15 that information to the appropriate level of adminis16 tration within the agencies; 

17 (2) ensure that appropriate officials at Federal 

18 agencies review the reports issued by charge card19 issuing contractors of potential fraudulent or other20 wise inappropriate activity, including the suspension 

21 of purchase and travel card accounts, travel card ac22 tivity outside of the official government travel loca23 tion, transactions that occur with high risk mer24 chant, and suspicious levels of cash withdrawals; 

25 (3) provide for the appropriate sharing of infor26 mation related to potential fraudulent transactions, 


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1 fraud schemes, and high risk merchants with the Of2 fice of Federal Charge Card Analytics and Review 

3 established under section 3 and the appropriate offi4 cials in Federal agencies; and 

5 (4) other requirements determined appropriate 

6 by the Director for the purposes of carrying out this 

7 Act. 

8 SEC. 5. INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE. 

9 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Administrator of General 

10 Services and the Director of the Office of Management 

11 and Budget shall establish and co-chair an interagency 

12 task force to develop and share best practices for the pur13 poses described in section 3(a). 

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

15 subsection (a) shall— 

16 (1) cover rules, edits, and task order or con17 tract modifications related to charge card-issuing 

18 contractors; 

19 (2) include the review of purchase and travel 

20 card transaction data of all Federal agencies for the 

21 purpose of determining strategic sourcing opportuni22 ties; and 

23 (3) include other best practices as determined 

24 by the Administrator and Director. 


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

2 meet regularly as determined by the co-chairs, for a dura3 tion of three years, and include those agencies as described 

4 in section 2 of the Government Charge Card Abuse Pre5 vention Act of 2012 (Public Law 112–194) and others 

6 identified by the co-chairs. 

7 SEC. 6. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

8 (a) GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION RE9 PORT.—Not later than one year after the date of the en10 actment of this Act, the Administrator for General Serv11 ices shall submit a report to Congress on the implementa12 tion of this Act, including the metrics used in determining 

13 whether the analytic and investigatory efforts have re14 duced, or contributed to the reduction of, improper pay15 ments or improved strategic sourcing. 

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

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

18 each Federal agency described in section 2 of the Govern19 ment Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2012 (Public 

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

21 activities to implement this Act. 

Æ 


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