On January 27, 1998, the government mandated the use of furnished travel charge cards and the implementation regulations were published the following year. The SmartPay program provides purchase, travel and fleet charge cards to over 350 government agencies and organizations; this is the largest program of its kind in the world.
The SmartPay program is available to all government personnel subject to a minimum set of qualifications, Savings are achieved through accurate and prompt audits.
In 2008 the SmartPay2 programs replaced the charge card program and will continue until the end of November 2018. It is contracted through Citibank, JP Morgan Chase and US Bank.
Central Billed Accounts (CBA) are used for the purchase of air/rail/bus transportation and other official travel expenses and are paid directly by the government to the bank and the accounts liability lies with the government.
Individual billed cards are issued to employees, pay is made to the individual and they in turn are responsible for paying the bank.
Electronic funds transfer (EFT) is used for vendor payments, which streamlines accounting and finance systems and used for employee reimbursements. Some of the agency financial systems issue split disbursements between the employee and the bank.
Direct billing can be established by the agency and travel vendor, i.e., for a hotel property that is used frequently by one agency which helps with future discounted rates based on actual stays.
Bank cards help to streamline the travel accommodations, especially airline tickets. Travelers reconcile their bills with the credit cards confirming the services received and that the amounts charged are correct. Reconciliation is the process commonly referred to as CBA reconciliation.
By: Brandy Webber