FY 2017 Risk Assessment of VA’s Charge Card Programs

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted a risk assessment of the three types of charge cards used by VA—purchase cards (including convenience checks), travel cards, and fleet cards. Office of Management and Budget Memorandum M-13-21, Implementation of the Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2012, requires Inspectors General to conduct annual risk assessments of illegal, improper, or erroneous purchases within charge card programs. Based on its risk assessment of VA’s fiscal year (FY) 2017 charge card transactions, the OIG determined that VA’s Purchase Card Program remains at medium risk of illegal, improper, or erroneous purchases. The data mining of purchase card transactions identified potential misuse of purchase cards, and OIG investigations, audits, and reviews continue to identify patterns of purchase card transactions that do not comply with the Federal Acquisition Regulation and VA policies and procedures. The VA Purchase Card Program is the largest VA charge card program, as measured by both the number of transactions and the amount of spending. Agency purchase card spending increased from about $4.1 billion in FY 2016 to about $4.2 billion in FY 2017. The OIG determined that VA’s Travel and Fleet Card Programs have a low risk level of illegal, improper, or erroneous purchases. The risk assessment team assigned a low risk level for these programs primarily because travel and fleet card transactions represented only about 3.1 percent and about 0.4 percent, respectively, of the approximately $4.4 billion VA spent on charge card transactions during FY 2017. The OIG continues to plan audits of VA’s charge card expenditures. The OIG Office of Investigations also continues to perform work on individual cases of purchase card abuse.