February 11, 2005

The Department’s Federal Purchase Card Program at Headquarters

The Department of Energy's (Department) Headquarters Card Program purchase card program was not always administered in an efficient manner and implementation of controls was sometimes inadequate. Our audit found that Headquarters organizations did not take full advantage of a required electronic system intended to streamline procurements, and that purchase card controls were not sufficient to prevent or detect violations of policies. In addition, some cardholders had purchase limits that exceeded their documented delegation of purchase authority, were not aligned with their demonstrated needs, or should have been terminated because they were no longer needed.