Posted on Aug 4, 2016
Re: the government purchase card program in my squadron...is it being used properly by my leadership?
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OI work in a career field that does things a little strange and a lot of our required equipment and tools and such are purchased with GPC funds. Sometimes these purchases can reach over $10,000 and are spent on some very frivolous things such as last year they deemed it wise to purchase 15 touch screen monitors which are never used each costing $8,000 a piece with the justification we needed to burn the money and it is allocated to office supplies. At the same time we get shot down to buy required items such as pressure washers, hand tools, cold weather gear, gloves and boots. My problem now is we are in the process of GPC requesting new boots and we are having our funds for them reduced to a point where we cannot get a quote low enough for as many as we need. Meanwhile my shop supervision gets approved for $4,000 on glass white boards and another $4,000 on standing desks that do not serve a necessary function in our shop setting, they are just spending money for the sake of spending money but skimping on necessary items we need to complete the mission. I'm tempted to confront them about what I feel is FWA but feel as though I'll be crucified by my shop leadership if I do so.
Toxic Leadership
Money
Budget
Supply
Equipment
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 2
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Purchase cards have their place to make purchases at the commander's discretion; that's what they are there for. The accounts are audited regularly and purchases usually require review and approval from a higher echelon before execution of high-dollar purchases.
However, this does not rule out FWA, as any of us who have been around for a minute knows. There is a FWA hotline number and website you can contact if you feel that investigation is warranted. You can do so anonymously, and if you need to give a statement, you are protected as a whistleblower.
Just keep in mind that there is a distinct possibility that everything is on the up and up and just beyond your scope and understanding today.
However, this does not rule out FWA, as any of us who have been around for a minute knows. There is a FWA hotline number and website you can contact if you feel that investigation is warranted. You can do so anonymously, and if you need to give a statement, you are protected as a whistleblower.
Just keep in mind that there is a distinct possibility that everything is on the up and up and just beyond your scope and understanding today.
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Try ask an honest question without mentioning FWA. FWA is the easy conclusion, but in many cases it is just a misunderstanding. When I worked in fighter squadrons we had a different budget or a different GPC for steel toed boots, coveralls, gloves, cold weather gear, etc. That GPC was tied to the squadron's O&M fund, which was different from the GPC used for TVs, pictures, furniture, etc from the wing's rolling use or lose O&M fund. It all looks like FWA until you get placed in leadership positions where you see what goes on behind the scenes.
Here is a quick story to illustrate how different pots of money can be. When I deployed out of a fighter wing, I got all my gear issued to me from the wing deployment center, and I was able to keep things like sunglasses, gloves, watch caps, and helmet bags. On another deployment out of a training wing I had to get half my gear purchased by the unit, part issued from the air base wing, and the rest issued at a forward location. That is just how different the units were funded.
Here is a quick story to illustrate how different pots of money can be. When I deployed out of a fighter wing, I got all my gear issued to me from the wing deployment center, and I was able to keep things like sunglasses, gloves, watch caps, and helmet bags. On another deployment out of a training wing I had to get half my gear purchased by the unit, part issued from the air base wing, and the rest issued at a forward location. That is just how different the units were funded.
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