OMB orders measures to limit abuse of transit benefit
Agencies will have to ensure that they take basic precautions such as checking that applicants aren’t simultaneously using free parking.
The Office of Management and Budget is asking federal agencies to verify by late June that they have taken basic steps to protect against employee abuse of public transit benefits.
Agencies must, for instance, check applications for the subsidy against parking benefits records. Last month, the Government Accountability Office revealed substantial misuse of the transit benefit program, including a case where an information technology specialist at the Internal Revenue Service used free agency-provided parking, but still obtained $105 a month in transit vouchers, which he then sold on eBay.
Abuses of the program, designed to reduce air pollution and traffic congestion by providing employees with free trips on public transportation worth in the Washington area up to $110 a month this year, could be limited through measures such as checking information on applications against other records, GAO noted.
"We must preserve the benefits of this program while eliminating the opportunity for waste, fraud and abuse," said Robert Shea, OMB associate director for management, in a May 14 memorandum.
Shea asked agencies to confirm in writing by June 30 that they had at a minimum taken 10 specific precautions. For example, he asked them to verify that applications for the benefit contain employees' home and work addresses, a breakdown of commuting costs, certification of eligibility and a warning against providing false information.
In addition, agencies must assure OMB that officials are checking over employees' commuting costs and eligibility information; adjusting benefits based on travel, leave or address changes; and stopping the transit benefit when employees leave.
GAO found that there are no uniform governmentwide policies establishing such checks. Investigators reviewed nine agencies' written procedures, and found none required all the measures listed by OMB. All the agencies provided a warning about false statements, but none ensured the adjustment of benefits according to travel, leave or address changes, for instance.
Based on a sampling of employees at seven of the agencies, GAO found that federal employees in the Washington area claimed at least $17 million in questionable benefits in 2006. These agencies spent about $70 million on the program in the capital region that year.