RICHMOND, Va. — Richmond Mayor Danny Avula announced Tuesday that the city is soft-relaunching its p-card program after a year of scrutiny.
The relaunch comes after a 2025 city audit uncovered $5 million in questionable expenses between July 2022 and May 2024. The p-cards are used by government employees for business-related expenses.
Following the audit, Chief Administrative Officer Odie Donald says the city went to work overhauling the program.
"The first step was just to mitigate the damage," Donald said.
At its height, there were 320 p-cards in circulation. The city has since reduced that number to 73 cards, which Donald says has reduced spending and allowed the city to set up guardrails to prevent unauthorized and fraudulent purchases.
"The issue is when there is an error, when there is a challenge, do we have the framework in place to be able to catch it, identify, and resolve it?" Donald said.
According to Director of Procurement Services Rene Almeraz, the city now has checks and balances in place.
"We have oversight over every p-card transaction and over every p-card purchase that goes on in the city right now," Almeraz said.
Last year, following the program's reset, Almeraz said the city put restrictions on payments through Venmo, PayPal, Zelle and Square, and suspended purchases on food, travel and Amazon. The city also established a new process for authorized cardholders to make qualified purchases.
"Any permitted use of the p-card program was through a critical p-card purchase form. We developed a process by which any p-card used for purchase during the reset period had to be approved by the approver of that card holder and signed off on a standardized form that came from DPS," Almeraz said.
Additional changes to the program include:
- Cardholders now have five days to reconcile purchases with their approver.
- Each authorized approver can only manage up to three cardholders.
- Each approver must sign an agreement stating they understand the rules, responsibilities and standards of card use.
The city also has an annual contract with a third-party company, Card Integrity, which will provide monthly data reports on spending so the city can address any potential red flags.
"The entire city as a whole needs to meet those metrics," Almeraz said. "We are building a government that earns and maintains the public's trust."
The 90-day soft launch began in mid-May. At the end of the period, the city says it will determine whether to expand the p-card program or extend the soft launch.
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