i Fleet Cards – Reporting of Alternative Fuels Annandale, VA September 2007 This report satisfies the requirements of Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC Contract Number 0050214. Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC manages the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory under U.S. Government Contract Number De-AC07-05ID14517. The findings and recommendations contained in this report are those of Vista Consultants, LLC. The findings and recommendations are advisory only and do not represent the position of Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC, the management of the Idaho National Laboratory, the Department of Energy or the Federal Government. FLEET CARDS – REPORTING OF ALTERNATIVE FUELS Report Prepared By: Vista Consultants, LLC 5157 Linette Lane Annandale, VA 22003-4122 202-256-0552 www.vistaconsultants.net FLEET CARDS – REPORTING OF ALTERNATIVE FUELS i CONTENTS Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................................................ 1 FLEET CARDS – REPORTING OF ALTERNATIVE FUELS ................................................................................. 3 Summary of Issue ............................................................................................................................................................ 3 Background Information ......................................................................................................................................... 3 Legal and Administrative Requirements .......................................................................................................... 3 Level Three Data Reporting Errors ..................................................................................................................... 4 Factors Contributing to Reporting Errors ........................................................................................................ 5 Federal Fleets Largely Refuel at Commercial Sites Using Voyager OR MasterCard Fleet Cards 6 Findings from Transaction Data ................................................................................................................................ 7 Survey of Sites by GSA .............................................................................................................................................. 7 Survey of DOD Fuel Use Conducted by LMI Government Consulting (LMI) ....................................... 9 General Description of Purchase Cards and How They Work ..................................................................... 10 The Plastic Card ......................................................................................................................................................... 11 Steps Involved In a Typical Fleet Card Transaction ................................................................................... 12 Participants In The Sale of Alternative Fuels ..................................................................................................... 14 Retailers ........................................................................................................................................................................ 14 Card Issuing Banks – GSA SmartPay® ............................................................................................................. 14 Acquiring Banks – Merchants’ Banks ............................................................................................................... 15 Networks, Card Processors and Value Added Retailers ........................................................................... 15 Networks ...................................................................................................................................................................... 15 Card Processors ......................................................................................................................................................... 15 First Data Corporation ....................................................................................................................................... 16 National Bankcard Systems ............................................................................................................................. 17 Chase Paymentech ............................................................................................................................................... 17 Alliance Data .......................................................................................................................................................... 17 UBS (United Bank Card System) .................................................................................................................... 18 RBS Lynk .................................................................................................................................................................. 18 COMDATA................................................................................................................................................................ 18 Major Oil Companies ........................................................................................................................................... 18 Value Added Resellers ............................................................................................................................................ 19 The Problem with Level Three Fuel Codes ......................................................................................................... 19 ii FLEET CARDS – REPORTING OF ALTERNATIVE FUELS National Coding Standards ................................................................................................................................... 19 Fuel Code Errors Not Visible to Merchants .................................................................................................... 20 POS Capabilities ......................................................................................................................................................... 20 POS Support of Alternative Fuel Codes ....................................................................................................... 21 POS Systems and Data Security ...................................................................................................................... 21 Identification of Alternative Fuels ..................................................................................................................... 22 MasterCard ............................................................................................................................................................. 23 Voyager Fleet Systems ....................................................................................................................................... 23 PCATS ........................................................................................................................................................................ 24 Code Translation and Mapping ........................................................................................................................... 24 Companies Consulted .................................................................................................................................................. 25 Summary of Comments .......................................................................................................................................... 25 Recommended Solutions ............................................................................................................................................ 26 Get the data ................................................................................................................................................................. 27 Clean Cities ............................................................................................................................................................. 27 GSA Customer Service Representatives ..................................................................................................... 27 Agency Fleet Managers ...................................................................................................................................... 27 Consolidated Response to Transaction Data ............................................................................................ 28 SmartPay®2 Contract and Task Order Recommendations .................................................................... 28 Dispute Inaccurate Fuel Transactions ......................................................................................................... 28 Restrict Refueling at Specific Sites ................................................................................................................ 28 Publish List of Vendors with Inaccurate Alternative Fuel Reporting ................................................. 29 Education and Outreach......................................................................................................................................... 29 Trade Organizations ........................................................................................................................................... 29 Trade Press ............................................................................................................................................................