Acquisition Card Monitoring and Written Evidence of Commitment Authority (Section 32)

Procurement Bulletin 2018-16

September 20th, 2018

The ESDC Acquisition Card Monitoring process has been revised following a recommendation made by Internal Control during the Ongoing Monitoring Assessment of the Manage Procure to Payment Business Process review.

As required by Section 32 of the Financial Administration Act, Fund Centre (FC) Managers shall ensure that sufficient funding is available before authorizing a cardholder to make any Acquisition Card purchase. The cardholder must obtain this authorization before making any purchase.

The National Acquisition Card Coordinator is responsible for monitoring transactions and to ensure that written evidence of commitment authority is included within the supporting documentation (Section 32 of FAA) for acquisition card transactions.

Cardholders are now required to supply written evidence of commitment authority (Section 32) for the transactions being monitored along with clear justification of the transaction and other information requested in the monthly monitoring emails.

Scenario:

Jane needs to purchase pens and highlighters for her Division. The authorized manager needs to provide a written evidence (email is acceptable) and must indicate the maximum dollar value of the purchase before Jane can proceed with the purchase. Next month, Jane receives a monitoring email from the National Acquisition Card Coordinator regarding this purchase. Jane replies to the email, her answer includes:

  1. a full description and justification for the purchase;
  2. the evidence of the approved section 32 for that specific transaction only (email or scanned copy of section 32 authorization);
  3. other information requested in monitoring email.

NOTE: Do not send the invoices and any other supporting document not related to this specific transaction unless you are being asked to.

This new process does not affect the monthly reconciliation process.

For information on appropriate supporting documentation, please refer to the Bulletin 2018-5: Acquisition Card Purchases and Supporting Documentation.

Failure to provide written evidence of section 32 will be considered a misuse of the Acquisition Card and will be treated in accordance with Annex H: Consequences for Acquisition Card Misuse of the Acquisition Card Policy, Procedure and Guidelines.

Questions and Comments

Questions and comments of a general nature related to the contents of this bulletin can be sent to the Asset Management Policy and Procurement (AMPP) team by email at NC-PURCHASING_PORTALPORTAIL_ D'ACHATS-GD.

It is the cardholder’s responsibility to share all information and communications with their manager as well as all other colleagues who might be affected.

Distribution:

  1. Acquisition Card Cardholders