The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said in a report that hundreds of millions of dollars could be saved each year if there were stricter controls on the use of government credit cards.

The government-wide purchase card program began in 1989 with the aim of streamlining federal buying and cutting down on processing costs. Card use was initially restricted to procurement personnel but later expanded.

From 1994 to 2003, the GAO said the use of government purchase cards increased from $1 billion to $16 billion. In most instances bills are paid directly by the government.

GAO audits of purchase cards found ineffective management, oversight and weak internal controls at the departments of Agriculture, Army, Navy, Air Force, Interior, Justice, Transportation and Veterans Affairs.

“(This makes) agencies vulnerable to fraudulent, improper and abusive purchase card activity,” said the report, released at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs.

NOVEL EXCUSES

In one case, the Defense Department’s inspector general found a Navy employee used a government card to buy two cars, surgical enhancements and a motorbike. The cardholder made 59 fraudulent purchases worth more than $132,000.

In another case, a Defense Department employee used a purchase card to charge $1.7 million in fraudulent purchases from a fictitious company set up by her brother.

“Examples like this one demonstrate the need for better controls over the purchase card program and demonstrates why it is vital to give agencies the tools they need to control fraud and abuse,” said U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, in a prepared opening statement at the committee hearing.

Excuses for buying items were often novel. Asked about a mounted deer head, auditors were told it was to educate airmen about the local deer population.

In another instance $200 of LEGO toy robots were bought to “teach Navy engineers about robotics” while the excuse for buying a $250 Louis Vuitton designer folio was simply listed as “personal preference.”

The GAO found agencies did not generally try to get more favorable prices on purchase card buys with frequently used vendors — those where an agency spends more than $1 million a year.

Using a “conservative approach,” the GAO said if six agencies got discounts of just 10 percent from vendors where they spent more than $1 million a year, annual savings could be as much as $300 million.

The audit also found some cardholders were given limits that exceeded historical spending needs. For example, 60 Navy staff each had credit limits of $9.9 million.

The GAO said it supported the use of a well-managed and controlled purchase card program but stressed the need for greater controls.

“With the serious fiscal challenges facing our nation, it is important that the hundreds of millions of dollars of potential savings available through better management of the purchase card program be realized.”