Audit of Carriers' Bills for Pipeline Movement of Petroleum Fuels

Each year the Department of Defense moves substantial volumes of petroleum fuels by pipeline. In fiscal year 1977, over 1.7 billion gallons of petroleum fuel were moved at a cost of $16.5 million. Management of petroleum movements and payment of pipeline carriers' bills are the responsibility of the Defense Fuel Supply Center (DFSC), and the audit of the carriers' bills and the collection of any overcharges are the responsibility of the General Services Administration (GSA). The volume of paid transportation bills received by GSA for audit is so great that all bills received cannot be individually examined in the audit process. The audit process could be improved by integrating the audit function performed by GSA into the DFSC program for the management of petroleum fuel movements. The GSA should continue the billing of overcharges and effecting collections. The Defense Logistics Agency should request GSA to designate DFSC as auditor for pipeline accounts and coordinate with the Military Traffic Management Command to identify other traffic which may lend itself to similar procedures.