You'll Be Happy To Hear About This......not!

[Der Nister]

Wasting our tax dollars.

Audit finds many federal employees abused government credit cards. Many employees treated charging ability as free money, audit finds DAN EGGEN; The Washington Post Published: April 9th, 2008 01:00 AM | Updated: April 9th, 2008 07:33 AMWASHINGTON – Federal employees used government credit cards to pay for lingerie, gambling, iPods, Internet dating services and a $13,000 steak-and-liquor dinner, according to an audit from the Government Accountability Office, which found widespread abuses in a purchasing program meant to improve bureaucratic efficiency.

The study, released Tuesday by Senate lawmakers, found that nearly half the “purchase card” transactions it examined were improper, either because they were not authorized correctly or did not meet requirements for the cards’ use. The overall rate of problems “is unacceptably high,” the audit found.

The GAO also found that agencies could not account for nearly $2 million worth of items identified in the audit, including laptop computers, digital cameras and, at the Army, more than a dozen computer servers worth $100,000 each.

Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., who requested the study along with Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said that money “intended to pay for critical infrastructure, education and homeland security is instead being spent on iPods, lingerie and socializing.”

“Too many government employees have viewed purchase cards as their personal line of credit,” Coleman said. “It’s time to cut up their cards and start over.”

The audit is the culmination of a series of GAO reports over the past decade that have uncovered improper use of government-issued purchase cards at the Defense Department, the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies. Government employees spent nearly $20 billion last year using “SmartPay” cards and related convenience checks, for items ranging from pencils to computers to utility trucks.

Purchase cards, used by about 300,000 government employees in 2007, are essentially the federal government’s equivalent of corporate credit cards. Issued by five major banks, they are primarily for transactions under $2,500 but can be used for larger contract payments. All transactions are supposed to comport with federal purchasing guidelines, including proper authorization and documentation.

The latest study used scientific sampling to gauge problems with the cards across numerous federal agencies from July 2005 to September 2006. The report singles out incidents for special criticism as either “abusive,” “improper” or “fraudulent.”

In the fraudulent category, a longtime employee of the U.S. Forest Service in Oregon, Debra Durfey, wrote convenience checks worth more than $640,000 from 2000 to 2006 to a live-in boyfriend, who used the money for gambling, car expenses and mortgage payments, according to the GAO and the Justice Department.

The fraud went undetected until a whistleblower forwarded a tip to the Agriculture Department’s inspector general. Durfey, who headed her unit’s purchasing office, pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to 21 months in prison and restitution.

Another fraud case involved the U.S. Postal Service, where an unidentified postmaster used his card to charge $1,100 over a 15-month period for “various online dating services.”

In a case the GAO deemed “abusive,” the Postal Service spent $13,500 in 2006 on a dinner at a Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Orlando, Fla., including “over 200 appetizers and over $3,000 of alcohol, including more than 40 bottles of wine costing more than $50 each and brand-name liquor such as Courvoisier, Belvedere and Johnny Walker Gold.” The tab came to more than $160 a head for the 81 guests, the report said.