Charge Cards Going a Long Way

n January, the General Services Administration will choose new vendors for the government travel card. More than $3 billion of the government's $8 billion in travel spending goes on the card. GSA estimates the government gains more than $710 million in administrative savings through using the travel card. Agencies also received approximately $60 million in rebates from 1993 to 1996. Since 1993, American Express has been the sole vendor for the 1.3 million individual and 8,000 centrally billed government travel cards.

The award will go to multiple vendors in a five-year contract with five one-year renewal options. Each agency will select a card provider from an approved list of vendors. All three existing card business lines-travel, purchase, and fleet/fuel-are being re-competed. A fourth card, the integrated card that combines two or more of the other functions, also is open for bid.

GSA is awarding multiple contracts so agencies can customize the programs and allow government to take advantage of evolving technology as it becomes available. "Not everybody wants the same thing. Agencies are different," says Darlena Bikowski, a GSA contracting officer who's part of the re-compete team.

By creating a more flexible program, GSA hopes to boost card use, enhance competition and encourage industry to develop services that streamline operations and attract federal clients. Increasing agency card use also will strengthen the government's purchasing power.

GSA held 18 focus groups with 200 federal officials representing 34 agencies before releasing the request for proposals. Participants said they wanted three things: better reporting capabilities (such as electronic reports), increased accounting capability, and more flexibility at the agency level.

Tight Resources

"What people are looking for is to manage money better with less resources," says GSA spokesman Hap Connors. "Money, time and people: those are what we don't have in the government.

"The fact of the matter is electronic commerce does provide savings and efficiency," says Connors. "Ninety-nine percent of the time, people would back up the fact that it saves you money. You can see where and how money is being spent and catch abuses more quickly."

The new travel card will have several features that should allay travelers' and travel managers' concerns about ease of use as well as prevent fraud and abuse. Regardless of vendor, the cards will all have the same look-a small rectangle will display the card company logo. As when American Express was the sole vendor, the cards will have a numbering sequence unique to government (except those for use by workers in security positions, who will receive generic cards).

Despite the large number of cards in use, $4.8 billion in travel dollars are not put on cards. In some situations, such as personal vehicle use and travel to remote locations, cards can't be used. But agencies' and individual travelers' reluctance to use the card accounts for many uncaptured dollars. Part of that reluctance stems from people's unwillingness to give up control, says Connors. With the card, "people used to controlling things lose control. In the old way of doing things, I have to come to you to get a cash advance." The chief financial officers council and GSA are pushing hard to get agencies to buy into using cards more, Connors says.

A Smarter Future

New technology will bring cards that go beyond the traditional charge functions. Cards with embedded microprocessor chips will be used for access to buildings and computer networks, and as identification.

So far, stores, hotels, airlines, cabs, car rental counters and so on lack the infrastructure for smart card functions. Until they all have smart card readers, a hybrid card, with both a microprocessor chip and a magnetic strip, will bridge the two technologies.

AmEx and the Marine Corps are partnering on a smart card pilot that demonstrates some of the features such cards might offer.

• Personal funds storage. The service member puts the card in an ATM-like machine and can use the card like petty cash around the base.
• Weapons check-in and checkout. What was a paper-intensive process can be streamlined. The smart card identifies the bearer, including what kinds of weapons each Marine is allowed to check out. The armory worker then scans the weapon, and all that information is housed in a database.
• Simplified manifesting. Instead of dealing with list upon list of people being transported, Marines will just scan their cards and that information would be compared against the manifest.

The Marine card will be used with three personal information numbers: one for identification, one for the armory and one for the purse. Two thousand Marines at Marine Corps Air Station, New River, and Camp Lejeune will use the cards between now and September 1998.