Credit Cards Online Information

The Department of Defense (DoD) is bringing out the heavy artillery to curtail the misuse and abuse of government-issued credit cards by its employees. It is threatening prosecution, loss of retirement pay and the yanking of security clearances for personnel caught charging (and we don't mean up San Juan Hill) without permission.

DoD Comptroller Dov Zakheim established a Credit Card Task Force in response to General Accounting Office reports that some military card holders were abusing the privilege. Zakheim also recommended more-extensive auditing and better oversight of charge-card accounts, a 25 percent cut in the number of cards being issued (from 1.6 million to 1.2 million) and stiffer penalties against vendors or contractors who participate in fraudulent schemes. The government's increasing use of charge cards was intended to streamline the procurement process, decrease paperwork and improve accountability. But in the latter category especially, it has fallen short. In some cases, a single individual is responsible for policing use of as many as 1,000 charge accounts.

Zakheim assured taxpayers that less than 5 percent of all Pentagon card purchases are probably fraudulent and that the "vast majority" of its employees use cards responsibly. But such assurances are a little shallow given the fact that Pentagon personnel used plastic to make an estimated $9.2 billion in purchases or travel-related transactions in fiscal 2001. Even a 5 percent cut of that figure adds up to some significant losses.

In another development, the Pentagon's Office of Inspector General (OIG), responding to whistle-blower allegations, found that after six years and a $115 million investment, a $263 million project to design and build an automated travel-management system for the military is way behind schedule and unlikely ever to operate as originally intended. The OIG also warned that another $377 million being sought (representing an 87 percent increase over original projections) to complete the troubled project almost certainly will be throwing bad money after bad.

The original contract called for the system to be deployed to 11,000 sites worldwide in just four months. But the project for some reason was exempted from normal acquisition requirements and lacked any planning and performance benchmarks from the start, according to the OIG report. It was intended to "represent the 21st century model of efficiency and service," according to the report. And so it has--at least in terms of government efficiency and service.

# posted by Medical Information : 2:26 AM