Contract Management: Government Faces Challenges in Gathering Socioeconomic Data on Purchase Card Merchants

Abstract

Government purchase cards have streamlined the process of acquiring goods and services by allowing employees to purchase directly from merchants rather than going through the regular procurement process. The government spent $13.8 billion using purchase cards in fiscal year 2001. However, the government does not know how purchase card spending impacts small businesses and other socioeconomic categories, such as woman-owned small businesses, and small disadvantaged businesses. Because of these uncertainties, the General Services Administration (GSA), which administers the purchase card program, has begun to collect socioeconomic data on merchants doing business with the federal government through purchase cards. This report assesses GSAs efforts and identifies the challenges to collecting and reporting this data.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2002
Accession Number
AD1106092

Entities

People

  • Barbara A. Johnson
  • David E. Cooper
  • Heather L. Barker
  • Lara L. Carreon
  • Michele Mackin

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accounting
  • Acquisition
  • Business Administration
  • Commerce
  • Congress
  • Contracts
  • Department Of Defense
  • Electronic Mail
  • Governments
  • Law
  • National Governments
  • Procurement
  • Small Business
  • United States
  • United States Government
  • Urban Areas
  • Websites

Readers

  • Government Contracting/Procurement.