The use of government purchase cards has expanded at a rapid rate. Spurred by legislative and regulatory reforms designed to increase the use of purchase cards for small acquisitions, the volume of government purchase card transactions grew from $527 million in 1993 to $18.7 billion in 2007. While the use of purchase cards has been credited with reducing administrative costs, audits of agency purchase card programs have found varying degrees of waste, fraud and abuse. For example, a 2008 Government Accountability Office audit at NASA found employee charges for seemingly personal items, including custom-engraved iPods and a Christmas tree. One former employee…