Responsibilities To Audit Freight Charges on Payments Made in Connection With Commercial Bill of Lading Shipments

A recent GAO report pointed out that the Department of Defense was not making opportune use of commercial forms to procure domestic freight transportation services, and suggestions were made to reemphasize their use for certain shipments and to request permission for their use for all shipments via certain small package carriers. A potential problem was that DOD officials were confused as to who had responsibility of auditing freight charges paid on commercial bills under transportation authorizations. The General Service Administration should review the responsibilities to audit freight charges on payments made in connection with commercial bill of lading shipments and revise the Federal Property Management Regulations to define the audit responsibilities for the resulting bills. Neither the Military Traffic Management Command nor GSA has assumed responsibility for auditing the payments.