Fiscal Year 2019 Risk Assessment of VA’s Charge Card Program

Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General (OIG) sent this bulletin at 06/10/2020 02:22 PM EDT

Bookmark and Share

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.

You are subscribed to Oversight Reports for Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General (OIG). This information has recently been updated, and is now available.

Given VA's need to focus on the COVID-19 response, the OIG has developed interim measures for releasing oversight reports. At this time, the OIG is generally releasing only those reports relevant to the COVID-19 pandemic; statutorily required or responsive to congressional requests; or that involve compelling circumstances related to the welfare of veterans, the safety of patients and VA personnel, or pose significant risks to VA resources. The Fiscal Year 2019 Risk Assessment of VA’s Charge Card Program is a statutorily required report.

 

Fiscal Year 2019 Risk Assessment of VA’s Charge Card Program
06/09/2020 08:00 PM EDT

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an annual risk assessment of VA’s charge card program evaluating the three types of charge cards—purchase cards (including convenience checks), travel cards, and fleet cards—for transactions during fiscal year (FY) 2019. The OIG conducted its risk assessment from January through March 2020. The team reviewed applicable VA policies, procedures, and other controls. The team also analyzed FY 2018 and FY 2019 charge card data to identify transactions or patterns of activity that represent potentially illegal, improper, or erroneous charge card purchases. The OIG determined that the purchase card program remains at medium risk of illegal, improper, or erroneous purchases, as previously assessed for FY 2018. Data mining of purchase card transactions identified potential misuse of purchase cards. OIG investigations 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 OIG also found that VA’s Travel Card Program and Fleet Card Program both remain at low risk for illegal, improper, or erroneous purchases. The risk assessment team assigned a low risk level to both programs primarily because data mining established a low percentage of potential duplicate and split purchases. Travel card transactions represented only about 3 percent of the more than $5 billion spent by VA on charge card transactions during FY 2019. Fleet card transactions represented only about 0.3 percent of that amount.