Watchdog Warns of Lack of FAA Purchase Card Oversight

The Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General (DOT OIG) is faulting the FAA’s and DOT’s oversight of their purchase card programs, estimating that about one-third of spending through those programs has lacked proper controls.

Under the Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act, the DOT OIG is required to audit the DOT’s and FAA’s purchase card programs to guard against any illegal, improper, or erroneous use. The agencies use purchase cards for “micro-purchases” ($10,000 or below) for commercial supplies, construction, and services. 

In fiscal year 2020, the government watchdog found that the DOT’s and FAA’s programs had insufficient controls in multiple areas and two years later said the programs were at a medium risk level. “With purchase cardholders spending hundreds of millions of dollars each year, strong internal controls are essential to ensure appropriate expenditures,” the DOT OIG maintained.

In the latest audit, the DOT OIG found: the agencies did not consistently meet management requirements; neither the DOT nor the FAA could provide evidence that program participants completed the required training on time; some cardholders lacked delegation of procurement authority (DPA), or their DPA spending limits did not match their purchase card limits; the agencies did not continually reassess accounts; and the programs lacked sufficient controls.

The DOT OIG looked at a sample of 107 transactions totaling $778,977 and found 45 were not in compliance with one or more required controls. In all, DOT and FAA employees made 384,527 purchase card transactions totaling about $364.9 million during fiscal years 2023 and 2024. Based on that and its sampling, the DOT OIG estimates that $123 million in purchases over the two years were made without following all controls, representing “funds that DOT and FAA could have put to better use.”

The watchdog made 11 recommendations for the agencies to improve oversight of these programs.