CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. –
Who is responsible for providing you with the supplies and services needed to carry out day-to-day operations? Who makes sure you have these things when they're needed? Who performs these tasks in complete anonymity?
The answer is your organization's Government Purchase Card monitor. Yes, these individuals make a large impact on every organization on this base. All of Team Charleston uses the supplies and services they provide, but few of you know about the effort they put forward each and every day to make it happen. The next time you go to work, look around and think about some of the items that are there for you.
Where do the office supplies, furniture, electronic equipment and industrial supplies come from? Who do you think purchases the uniform and associated equipment items for deploying Airmen? Who do you think manages services such as cell phones, cable and equipment repairs? Well, normally it is the GPC cardholders and approving officials who work behind the scenes to have them there when you need them. The majority of GPC monitors do this as an additional duty. They carry out their full time job and then make time to ensure you have the support items you need, when you need them. They have to make this happen following a myriad of financial and procurement rules that are normally not remotely related to their functional area. Plus, they spend many hours researching requirements and working through the process to get them for you.
The GPC program is a system very similar to your personal credit cards. Would you let someone else make a purchase with your own personal credit card? The only person authorized to make a purchase with a GPC is the person who was issued the card. The GPC monitors are personally held accountable for all purchases made no matter who needs it or why. The rules the GPC monitor must follow during and after making a purchase severely restrict their ability to selectively buy anything you might want them to buy. When you pull out a personal credit card, you don't have to fill out a request form, submit it for approval, make the purchase, build an order in the bank's electronic system, print out copies of the paperwork and file all of the documentation in a folder for review.
At the end of each monthly billing cycle, the GPC cardholder must reconcile their account with the issuing bank utilizing a Web-based system. The cardholders and their approving officials are under pressure to complete all of this reconciliation within days of the cycle closing. If they fail to meet the deadlines, their cards are suspended and they are unable to make any purchases until approval is given to reinstate their cards.
Team Charleston had an extremely successful fiscal year 2008 by utilizing the GPC as a procurement force multiplier tool. Last year, there were more than 22,000 GPC purchases worth a total value of $17 million made by Charleston AFB. This feat was accomplished by 393 GPC cardholders.
The GPC program is one of the few programs that can return money back to this base when prescribed procedures are followed correctly. Because of the tireless efforts of your GPC monitor in each unit, Charleston AFB received approximately $135,291 in rebates from the bank last year.
The next time you see any of your GPC monitors, tell them thank you for a job well done. They certainly deserve it.