Before the Department of Defense implemented the purchase card, buying supplies and services valued under $2500 was labor and paper-intensive, and often required numerous approvals. Once approval and funding were obtained, the request was forwarded to the purchasing office. This de-centralized and inefficient process could take weeks – even months – before employees received the items they needed.

As the performance scorecard for purchase card shows, in 1996, DoD was using the purchase card to buy over 50% of their purchases valued at $2500 and below. This left approximately 3 million requests still streaming into the purchasing office.

Today, more than 86% of purchases valued below $2500 are being purchased with the card. Over 160,000 Defense employees are using the commercial credit card process to get the items they need quickly.

By the year 2000, DoD will be obtaining over 90% of their low-cost purchases with the purchase card.

Currently, the Services are among the largest users of the purchase card.

For more information on DoD’s purchase card program check out the Defense Reform Initiative web site.