In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

August 1, 2012. 

Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 300) entitled 

‘‘An Act to prevent abuse of Government charge cards.’’, do 

pass with the following 

AMENDMENT: 

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert: 

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Government Charge 

3 Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2012’’. 

4 SEC. 2. MANAGEMENT OF PURCHASE CARDS. 

5 (a) GOVERNMENT-WIDE SAFEGUARDS AND INTERNAL

6 CONTROLS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 19 of title 41, United 

8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing new section: 

10 ‘‘§ 1909. Management of purchase cards 

11 ‘‘(a) REQUIRED SAFEGUARDS AND INTERNAL CON12 TROLS.—The head of each executive agency that issues and 

13 uses purchase cards and convenience checks shall establish 

14 and maintain safeguards and internal controls to ensure 

15 the following: 
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1 ‘‘(1) There is a record in each executive agency 

2 of each holder of a purchase card issued by the agency 

3 for official use, annotated with the limitations on sin4 gle transactions and total transactions that are appli5 cable to the use of each such card or check by that 

6 purchase card holder. 

7 ‘‘(2) Each purchase card holder and individual 

8 issued a convenience check is assigned an approving 

9 official other than the card holder with the authority 

10 to approve or disapprove transactions. 

11 ‘‘(3) The holder of a purchase card and each offi12 cial with authority to authorize expenditures charged 

13 to the purchase card are responsible for— 

14 ‘‘(A) reconciling the charges appearing on 

15 each statement of account for that purchase card 

16 with receipts and other supporting documenta17 tion; and 

18 ‘‘(B) forwarding a summary report to the 

19 certifying official in a timely manner of infor20 mation necessary to enable the certifying official 

21 to ensure that the Federal Government ulti22 mately pays only for valid charges that are con23 sistent with the terms of the applicable Govern24 ment-wide purchase card contract entered into 

25 by the Administrator of General Services. 
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1 ‘‘(4) Any disputed purchase card charge, and 

2 any discrepancy between a receipt and other sup3 porting documentation and the purchase card state4 ment of account, is resolved in the manner prescribed 

5 in the applicable Government-wide purchase card 

6 contract entered into by the Administrator of General 

7 Services. 

8 ‘‘(5) Payments on purchase card accounts are 

9 made promptly within prescribed deadlines to avoid 

10 interest penalties. 

11 ‘‘(6) Rebates and refunds based on prompt pay12 ment, sales volume, or other actions by the agency on 

13 purchase card accounts are reviewed for accuracy and 

14 properly recorded as a receipt to the agency that pays 

15 the monthly bill. 

16 ‘‘(7) Records of each purchase card transaction 

17 (including records on associated contracts, reports, ac18 counts, and invoices) are retained in accordance with 

19 standard Government policies on the disposition of 

20 records. 

21 ‘‘(8) Periodic reviews are performed to determine 

22 whether each purchase card holder has a need for the 

23 purchase card. 

24 ‘‘(9) Appropriate training is provided to each 

25 purchase card holder and each official with responsi-
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1 bility for overseeing the use of purchase cards issued 

2 by the executive agency. 

3 ‘‘(10) The executive agency has specific policies 

4 regarding the number of purchase cards issued by 

5 various component organizations and categories of 

6 component organizations, the credit limits authorized 

7 for various categories of card holders, and categories 

8 of employees eligible to be issued purchase cards, and 

9 that those policies are designed to minimize the finan10 cial risk to the Federal Government of the issuance of 

11 the purchase cards and to ensure the integrity of pur12 chase card holders. 

13 ‘‘(11) The executive agency uses effective systems, 

14 techniques, and technologies to prevent or identify il15 legal, improper, or erroneous purchases. 

16 ‘‘(12) The executive agency invalidates the pur17 chase card of each employee who— 

18 ‘‘(A) ceases to be employed by the agency, 

19 immediately upon termination of the employ20 ment of the employee; or 

21 ‘‘(B) transfers to another unit of the agency, 

22 immediately upon the transfer of the employee 

23 unless the agency determines that the units are 

24 covered by the same purchase card authority. 
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1 ‘‘(13) The executive agency takes steps to recover 

2 the cost of any illegal, improper, or erroneous pur3 chase made with a purchase card or convenience check 

4 by an employee, including, as necessary, through sal5 ary offsets. 

6 ‘‘(b) GUIDANCE.—The Director of the Office of Man7 agement and Budget shall review existing guidance and, as 

8 necessary, prescribe additional guidance governing the im9 plementation of the requirements of subsection (a) by execu10 tive agencies. 

11 ‘‘(c) PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The head of each executive 

13 agency shall provide for appropriate adverse per14 sonnel actions or other punishment to be imposed in 

15 cases in which employees of the agency violate agency 

16 policies implementing the guidance required by sub17 section (b) or make illegal, improper, or erroneous 

18 purchases with purchase cards or convenience checks. 

19 ‘‘(2) DISMISSAL.—Penalties prescribed for em20 ployee misuse of purchase cards or convenience checks 

21 shall include dismissal of the employee, as appro22 priate. 

23 ‘‘(3) REPORTS ON VIOLATIONS.—The guidance 

24 prescribed under subsection (b) shall direct each head 

25 of an executive agency with more than $10,000,000 in 
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1 purchase card spending annually, and each Inspector 

2 General of such an executive agency, on a semiannual 

3 basis, to submit to the Director of the Office of Man4 agement and Budget a joint report on violations or 

5 other actions covered by paragraph (1) by employees 

6 of such executive agency. At a minimum, the report 

7 shall set forth the following: 

8 ‘‘(A) A summary description of confirmed 

9 violations involving misuse of a purchase card 

10 following completion of a review by the agency 

11 or by the Inspector General of the agency. 

12 ‘‘(B) A summary description of all adverse 

13 personnel action, punishment, or other action 

14 taken based on each violation. 

15 ‘‘(d) RISK ASSESSMENTS AND AUDITS.—The Inspector 

16 General of each executive agency shall— 

17 ‘‘(1) conduct periodic assessments of the agency 

18 purchase card or convenience check programs to iden19 tify and analyze risks of illegal, improper, or erro20 neous purchases and payments in order to develop a 

21 plan for using such risk assessments to determine the 

22 scope, frequency, and number of periodic audits of 

23 purchase card or convenience check transactions; 

24 ‘‘(2) perform analysis or audits, as necessary, of 

25 purchase card transactions designed to identify— 
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1 ‘‘(A) potentially illegal, improper, or erro2 neous uses of purchase cards; 

3 ‘‘(B) any patterns of such uses; and 

4 ‘‘(C) categories of purchases that could be 

5 made by means other than purchase cards in 

6 order to better aggregate purchases and obtain 

7 lower prices (excluding transactions made under 

8 card-based strategic sourcing arrangements); 

9 ‘‘(3) report to the head of the executive agency 

10 concerned on the results of such analysis or audits; 

11 and 

12 ‘‘(4) report to the Director of the Office of Man13 agement and Budget on the implementation of rec14 ommendations made to the head of the executive agen15 cy to address findings of any analysis or audit of 

16 purchase card and convenience check transactions or 

17 programs for compilation and transmission by the 

18 Director to Congress and the Comptroller General. 

19 ‘‘(e) RELATIONSHIP TO DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

20 PURCHASE CARD REGULATIONS.—The requirements of this 

21 section shall not apply to the Department of Defense. See 

22 section 2784 of title 10 for provisions relating to manage23 ment of purchase cards in the Department.’’. 

24 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec25 tions at the beginning of chapter 19 of title 41, 
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1 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 

2 the following new item: 

‘‘1909. Management of purchase cards.’’. 

3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO DEPARTMENT OF

4 DEFENSE PURCHASE CARD PROVISIONS.—Subsection (b) of 

5 section 2784 of title 10, United States Code, is amended— 

6 (1) by moving paragraph (8) to the end of the 

7 subsection and redesignating that paragraph as para8 graph (14); 

9 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), (4), 

10 (5), (6), and (7) as paragraphs (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), 

11 and (8), respectively; 

12 (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol13 lowing new paragraph (2): 

14 ‘‘(2) That each purchase card holder and indi15 vidual issued a convenience check is assigned an ap16 proving official other than the card holder with the 

17 authority to approve or disapprove transactions.’’; 

18 (4) by adding after paragraph (10) the following 

19 new paragraphs: 

20 ‘‘(11) That the Department of Defense uses effec21 tive systems, techniques, and technologies to prevent 

22 or identify potential fraudulent purchases. 

23 ‘‘(12) That the Department of Defense takes ap24 propriate steps to invalidate the purchase card of 

25 each card holder who— 
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1 ‘‘(A) in the case of an employee of the De2 partment— 

3 ‘‘(i) ceases to be employed by the De4 partment, immediately upon termination of 

5 the employment of the employee; or 

6 ‘‘(ii) transfers to another unit of the 

7 Department, immediately upon the transfer 

8 of the employee unless the Secretary of De9 fense determines that the units are covered 

10 by the same purchase card authority; and 

11 ‘‘(B) in the case of a member of the armed 

12 forces, is separated or released from active duty 

13 or full-time National Guard duty. 

14 ‘‘(13) That the Department of Defense takes steps 

15 to recover the cost of any illegal, improper, or erro16 neous purchase made with a purchase card or conven17 ience check by an employee or member of the armed 

18 forces, including, as necessary, through salary off19 sets.’’; and 

20 (5) by adding at the end the following new para21 graph: 

22 ‘‘(15) That the Inspector General of the Depart23 ment of Defense conducts periodic audits or reviews 

24 of purchase card or convenience check programs to 

25 identify and analyze risks of illegal, improper, or er-
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1 roneous purchases and payments and that the find2 ings of such audits or reviews, along with rec3 ommendations to prevent abuse of purchase cards or 

4 convenience checks, are reported to the Director of the 

5 Office of Management and Budget and Congress.’’. 

6 (c) DEADLINE FOR GUIDANCE ON MANAGEMENT OF

7 PURCHASE CARDS.—The Director of the Office of Manage8 ment and Budget shall prescribe the guidance required by 

9 section 1909(b) of title 41, United States Code, as added 

10 by subsection (a), not later than 180 days after the date 

11 of the enactment of this Act. 

12 SEC. 3. MANAGEMENT OF TRAVEL CARDS. 

13 Section 2 of the Travel and Transportation Reform 

14 Act of 1998 (Public Law 105–264; 5 U.S.C. 5701 note) is 

15 amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: 

16 ‘‘(h) MANAGEMENT OF TRAVEL CHARGE CARDS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) REQUIRED SAFEGUARDS AND INTERNAL

18 CONTROLS.—The head of each executive agency that 

19 has employees that use travel charge cards shall estab20 lish and maintain the following internal control ac21 tivities to ensure the proper, efficient, and effective 

22 use of such travel charge cards: 

23 ‘‘(A) There is a record in each executive 

24 agency of each holder of a travel charge card 

25 issued on behalf of the agency for official use, an-
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1 notated with the limitations on amounts that are 

2 applicable to the use of each such card by that 

3 travel charge card holder. 

4 ‘‘(B) Rebates and refunds based on prompt 

5 payment, sales volume, or other actions by the 

6 agency on travel charge card accounts are mon7 itored for accuracy and properly recorded as a 

8 receipt of the agency that employs the card hold9 er. 

10 ‘‘(C) Periodic reviews are performed to de11 termine whether each travel charge card holder 

12 has a need for the travel charge card. 

13 ‘‘(D) Appropriate training is provided to 

14 each travel charge card holder and each official 

15 with responsibility for overseeing the use of trav16 el charge cards issued by the executive agency. 

17 ‘‘(E) Each executive agency has specific 

18 policies regarding travel charge cards issued for 

19 various component organizations and categories 

20 of component organizations, the credit limits au21 thorized for various categories of card holders, 

22 and categories of employees eligible to be issued 

23 travel charge cards, and designs those policies to 

24 minimize the financial risk to the Federal Gov25 ernment of the issuance of the travel charge cards 
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1 and to ensure the integrity of travel charge card 

2 holders. 

3 ‘‘(F) Each executive agency has policies to 

4 ensure its contractual arrangement with each 

5 travel charge card issuing contractor contains a 

6 requirement that the creditworthiness of an indi7 vidual be evaluated before the individual is 

8 issued a travel charge card, and that no indi9 vidual be issued a travel charge card if that in10 dividual is found not creditworthy as a result of 

11 the evaluation (except that this paragraph shall 

12 not preclude issuance of a restricted use, pre13 paid, declining balance, controlled-spend, or 

14 stored value card when the individual lacks a 

15 credit history or has a credit score below the 

16 minimum credit score established by the Director 

17 of the Office of Management and Budget). The 

18 Director of the Office of Management and Budget 

19 shall establish a minimum credit score for deter20 mining the creditworthiness of an individual 

21 based on rigorous statistical analysis of the pop22 ulation of card holders and historical behaviors. 

23 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 

24 such evaluation shall include an assessment of 

25 an individual’s consumer report from a con-
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1 sumer reporting agency as those terms are de2 fined in section 603 of the Fair Credit Reporting 

3 Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a). 

4 ‘‘(G) Each executive agency uses effective 

5 systems, techniques, and technologies to prevent 

6 or identify improper purchases. 

7 ‘‘(H) Each executive agency ensures that the 

8 travel charge card of each employee who ceases to 

9 be employed by the agency is invalidated imme10 diately upon termination of the employment of 

11 the employee (or, in the case of a member of the 

12 uniformed services, upon separation or release 

13 from active duty or full-time National Guard 

14 duty). 

15 ‘‘(I) Each executive agency shall ensure 

16 that, where appropriate, travel card payments 

17 are issued directly to the travel card-issuing 

18 bank for credit to the employee’s individual trav19 el card account. 

20 ‘‘(2) GUIDANCE ON MANAGEMENT OF TRAVEL

21 CHARGE CARDS.—Not later than 180 days after the 

22 date of the enactment of the Government Charge Card 

23 Abuse Prevention Act of 2012, the Director of the Of24 fice of Management and Budget shall review the exist25 ing guidance and, as necessary, prescribe additional 
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1 guidance for executive agencies governing the imple2 mentation of the requirements in paragraph (1). 

3 ‘‘(3) INSPECTOR GENERAL AUDIT.—The Inspec4 tor General of each executive agency with more than 

5 $10,000,000 in travel card spending shall conduct 

6 periodic audits or reviews of travel card programs to 

7 analyze risks of illegal, improper, or erroneous pur8 chases and payments. The findings of such audits or 

9 reviews along with recommendations to prevent im10 proper use of travel cards shall be reported to the Di11 rector of the Office of Management and Budget and 

12 Congress. 

13 ‘‘(4) PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS.—Consistent 

14 with the guidance prescribed under paragraph (2), 

15 each executive agency shall provide for appropriate 

16 adverse personnel actions to be imposed in cases in 

17 which employees of the executive agency fail to com18 ply with applicable travel charge card terms and con19 ditions or applicable agency regulations or commit 

20 fraud with respect to a travel charge card, including 

21 removal in appropriate cases. 

22 ‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

23 ‘‘(A) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘exec24 utive agency’ means an agency as that term is 
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1 defined in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of section 

2 5701(1) of title 5, United States Code. 

3 ‘‘(B) TRAVEL CHARGE CARD.—The term 

4 ‘travel charge card’ means any Federal con5 tractor-issued travel charge card that is individ6 ually billed to each card holder.’’. 

7 SEC. 4. MANAGEMENT OF CENTRALLY BILLED ACCOUNTS. 

8 (a) REQUIRED INTERNAL CONTROLS FOR CENTRALLY

9 BILLED ACCOUNTS.—The head of an executive agency that 

10 has employees who use a travel charge card that is billed 

11 directly to the United States Government shall establish and 

12 maintain the following internal control activities: 

13 (1) The executive agency shall ensure that offi14 cials with the authority to approve official travel 

15 verify that centrally billed account charges are not re16 imbursed to an employee. 

17 (2) The executive agency shall dispute unallow18 able and erroneous charges and track the status of the 

19 disputed transactions to ensure appropriate resolu20 tion. 

21 (3) The executive agency shall submit requests to 

22 servicing airlines for refunds of fully or partially un23 used tickets, when entitled to such refunds, and track 

24 the status of unused tickets to ensure appropriate res25 olution. 
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1 (b) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

2 of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of 

3 Management and Budget shall review the existing guidance 

4 and, as necessary, prescribe additional guidance for execu5 tive agencies implementing the requirements of subsection 

6 (a). 

7 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 

9 (1) EXECUTIVE AGENCY.—The term ‘‘executive 

10 agency’’ has the meaning given such term in section 

11 133 of title 41, United States Code. 

12 (2) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ has the 

13 meaning given such term in section 2(d)(3) of the 

14 Travel and Transportation Reform Act of 1998 (Pub15 lic Law 105–264; 5 U.S.C. 5701 note). 

16 SEC. 6. CONSTRUCTION. 

17 (a) EXECUTIVE AGENCY ACCOUNTING.—Nothing in 

18 this Act, or the amendments made by this Act, shall be con19 strued to excuse the head of an executive agency from the 

20 responsibilities set out in section 3512 of title 31, United 

21 States Code, or in the Improper Payments Information Act 

22 of 2002 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note). 

23 (b) PERSONAL INFORMATION.—Nothing in this Act, or 

24 the amendments made by this Act, shall be construed to re25 quire the disclosure of personally identifying information 
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1 that is otherwise protected from disclosure under section 

2 552a of title 5, United States Code (popularly known as 

3 the Privacy Act of 1974). 

Attest: 

Clerk. 
112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 300 

AMENDMENT