According to auditors, the following findings are published on the Web site of State Auditor General Robert P. Casey, Jr.

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PennDOT needs to continually reassess purchasing card usage to justify the number of cards and the number of authorized cardholders.

InfoSpan, the computer system that maintains purchasing card data, does not provide a listing of all active cards. As a result, no one knows how many cards are in use at any one time or if any have fallen into the wrong hands.

No chart exists showing, by district, the names of cardholders and the employees who are responsible for supervising their purchases.

There are inconsistencies in InfoSpan's data.

There is no regular monitoring of purchasing card transactions by a PennDOT agency coordinator.

There is almost no evidence of Comptroller follow-up when cardholders provide weak or unreadable supporting documentation for purchases, or when unauthorized signatures are noted on purchasing card receipts.

"Although the Purchasing Card Program changes the method of payment, it does not change the method of procurement," Casey said. "It is important that all state agencies and the Governor's Budget Office have strong controls in place to prevent and detect waste, fraud and abuse in this $145 million a year program."

In the summary report released today of the five special audits he has conducted of the Commonwealth's Purchasing Card Program, Casey identified six common deficiencies:

Agencies made abusive, improper and inappropriate purchases;

Agencies made purchases in violation of state procurement requirements;

Agencies failed to ensure approval, documentation and review of purchases;

Agencies failed to maintain adequate security controls over purchasing cards;

Agencies failed to maintain records or conduct inventories of items purchased; and

Agencies and the Office of the Budget failed to provide adequate oversight of purchasing cards and their usage.

In a letter sent today to Gov. Rendell, Casey wrote, "The abuses uncovered by our audits have significantly eroded taxpayer confidence in the integrity of the [Purchasing Card] Program and the operations of state government, and much more must be done to restore such confidence."

The previous administration failed to heed Casey's repeated and consistent calls for reform, so today he once again offered over 60 recommendations to correct the deficiencies identified in the Purchasing Card Program.

"It has become clear that meaningful and effective reforms will occur only if they are made a priority of the Governor, the Office of the Budget and the leadership of each participating agency," Casey said. "I urge Governor Rendell and his administration to implement our recommendations immediately."

Casey conservatively estimates that if abusive, improper and inappropriate purchases were to represent only 2.5% of annual purchase card expenditures, then the elimination of such purchases could result in the savings and redirection of $3.64 million.

With an extra $3.64 million, the Commonwealth could provide:

More than a full year of state funding for food bank purchases in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Washington, Armstrong and Westmoreland counties; or

24 Read-to-Succeed grants; or

1,820 Family Caregiver grants which provide reimbursements of up to $2,000 to families caring for an ill or elderly relative; or

Breast Cancer screenings for 260,000 low-income women; or

500 grants to Senior Centers of $7,000 each.