The Congressional Research Service (CRS) discovered that government employees in numerous agencies misused their travel cards to purchase items for their personal use or to travel first class. Examples of the misuse are:
- Having laser eye surgery – amount $3700.
- An unauthorized trip to Hawaii, flying first class and
- An employee received reimbursement for 13 airline tickets he never purchased – cost $10,000.
Auditors have determined that some agencies have failed to receive reimbursement for millions of dollars of unused airline tickets and constantly fail to pay travel invoices in a timely manner.
The CRS report states a major problem is agencies fail to determine if tickets have been used. It stated the Department of Defense (DOD) may have purchased more than $100 million in airline tickets that were not used and have not been processed for refunds. Also over an 18 month period the State Department failed to seek reimbursement of $6 million in unused airline tickets.
The Pentagon, according to the report, had a centrally billed account (CBA) delinquency rate of 20%.
Agencies receive a rebate from credit card vendors; however, the failure to pay bills in a timely manner prevented agencies from receiving the maximum rebates.
Also many agencies failed to ensure that premium class accommodations were used only when authorized.
In 1998 a law was passed that any government employee who traveled more than five times a year was required to use a federal travel card. The CRS states that travel card spending almost doubled from $4.39 billion in 1999 to $8.28 billion in 2008.
Congress held hearings on travel card abuse and approved legislation which required agencies to establish controls for their systems and implement penalties for violations.
Travel cards provide a safe and convenient way to pay for travel expenses. The travel card eliminates the need for agencies to provide most cash advances. The major cost-saving benefit is the time and effort to process travel reimbursements.
By Diane Huffman
The contents of this message are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the Government or my agency.