I'm sure you've all heard about the recent GAO report that investigated Government Purchase Card mis-use and abuse. There's been this big uproar over the use of Government purchase cards by Federal employees who used your tax dollars to pay for all kinds of ridiculously inappropriate items, from lingerie to gambling debts and car payments.
(If you've been living under a rock, you can catch up on the debacle by reading this.)
I have a Government credit card, but I do not have a purchase card. My Government credit card is used for travel purposes only. I put my flights and hotel expenses on it, and not much else. It's a restricted use card - it only works at specific types of vendors (hotels, airlines, restaurants) so I couldn't use it to say, buy a prostitute over the internet. Even if I did buy something non-work related on it, the monthly bill comes to my house in my name and I'm responsible for paying it off (travel reimbursement shows up automatically in my paycheck, I then write a personal check to the credit card company). That way, I'm accountable for whatever I buy on it.
Purchase cards are different. Purchase cards bill the FederalEntity directly, not the person placing the order. The holder of the card obligates the Government to pay for the goods or services requested as soon as the card is swiped. Theoretically, these purchases are signed off on by managers, but as the GAO report found, the oversight is crappy at best.
My coworker Frank (see description to left) holds the purchase card for our office. Scary thought, isn't it? He's an honest, good-hearted man and would never do anything absurd like order Russian caviar for a retirement party, but there's basically nothing to stop him if he wanted to. One time, a coworker needed two AA batteries for a desktop calculator. She asked Frank to order them with the purchase card. For some reason, Frank bought 500 batteries. It was an honest mistake, but there was nobody in the approval chain who thought to question why our office needed hundreds of dollars worth of AA batteries. The purchase was authorized, the government paid the bill, and an entire shelf in our supply closet was filled with batteries that we had no use for. (Side note: people began stealing the batteries for personal use, so they are now locked up in the Director's office).
I've been reading all of the articles on this purchase card issue, including the responses from Congress ("This must be stopped! We had no idea! Blah blah blah!"). By far, my favorite snippet is this:
"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" while he was under investigation for viewing pornography on a government computer. The employee worked out an agreement to remain on sick leave until he retired in 2007 and paid back the money spent on the dating services, according to the GAO report and a Postal Service spokesman."
He looked at pornography while at work, got caught, was placed under investigation, then had the cojones to pay for online dating subscriptions with his Government purchase card! Got caught for that... and he DIDN'T EVEN GET FIRED!!! Talk about job security.
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3 comments:
This comment isn't just about this post, but your blog as a whole. Your blog is well written, insightful, and consistently funny. However, I'd like to point out to you that the same irrationalites, inconsistencies, and abuses that you encounter in the government also happen in corporate America. I get the impression that you, as someone who has never experienced the private sector, believe that everyone in corporate America is promoted completely on merit alone, and anyone that neglects their duties is instantly fired. Not so. The same flawed equal opportunity laws, affirmative action, and hiring practices work to make the private sector just as ass backwards as the federal government is. Just listen to some of the stories from those countless faceless corporate cubicle drones and you'll realize that it's the same crap no matter where you are. I guarantee you that if you were to quit your federal job tomorrow and get one in the private sector, you would not be any happier. The shit sandwich might have a slightly different flavor in the private sector, but it's still a shit sandwich. So quit your bitching, and try to learn to be content with what you've got. :)
Yeah yeah yeah, every workplace has crazy people, EEO issues, hiring and firing issues, etc I've never stated that they don't. Experience-wise, I've worked for two Fortune 500 companies, and probably 70% of my friends are in the corporate world. The absurdities that my friends and I have experienced in the private sector pale in comparison to what goes on in the public sector. But again, I only write from what I know.
The main point I'm trying to make here with this blog (besides "bitching") is that while the private sector might have some issues, the public sector REALLY REALLY REALLY has some major flaws. And, unlike the private sector, your tax dollars directly fund the absurdities of the Federal Government.
Prime example - an employee who downloads porn at work, spends $1,100 of company money on dating services, and gets caught in the act for both would undoubtedly be fired in Dilbert-ville. As a Fed, well...
As someone who has worked in Fortune 500. Trade Associations, Congressional, and Executive Branch, I can assure ruexperienced that nothing will compare to the horrors you will encounter in the GS world.
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