The General Services Administration's policies on government credit cards puts the cards at high risk for abuse, according to an inspector general's report,that is part of an annual assessment of the programs.

Purchase card spending declined 12 percent from 2013 to 2014, but investigators found that the agency's core financial management system did not require the supporting documentation needed to verify purchases. The system used to monitor purchases also failed to identify or mistakenly approved 31 percent of the questionable purchases recorded by GSA, the audit revealed.

GSA officials told investigators they lacked the resources to follow-up and validate questionable purchases even when they were identified, the IG report said. them, In addition, flagged credit card purchases did not always appear on questionable transaction lists.

The OIG also found that GSA had no procedure to analyze government credit purchases made on a weekend, leaving a large loophole for potential fraud.

"Without well-developed processes and procedures in place to identify prohibited or higher risk transactions, GSA does not have the ability to make reasonable determinations on the legitimacy of these purchases," the report said.

The OIG said as a result of the potential for fraud, it would be auditing GSA's purchased card program for FY2016, to ensure reforms were made.

Investigators found similar problems with GSA's travel card program, citing that the agency's system either failed to identify or were mistakenly approved 82 percent of questionable transactions.

The OIG determined that the travel card program was at a moderate risk of improper or illegal use, but deemed that it did not require an audit for 2016.

A GSA spokeswoman said that the agency was aware of the concerns raised by the OIG report and has already begun to address them.

"GSA appreciates the Inspector General's risk assessment around GSA's purchase card policy," the spokeswoman said, in a statement. "Since that assessment, GSA has strengthened its purchase card program by improving internal controls, establishing stronger policy and institutionalizing best practices."

The report comes months after Sen, Tom Carper, D-Del., introduced the Saving Federal Dollars Through Better Use of Government Purchase and Travel Cards Act of 2015.

The bill, meant to set up better structures for government credit card fraud, was reported to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on June. 24

Read the OIG report here.

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