Posted on Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Reduces number of cards by over 80%, sets new restrictions on allowable purchases

Today, Mayor Danny Avula announced a reset of the City's p-card program. As of May 9, 2025, the number of City p-cards will be reduced by over 80% (from 320 to approximately 60), and the only allowable purchases will be those where public health, safety, and critical services would be disrupted if not allowed or where no other payment methods exist.

"P-cards are a best practice, but Richmond's p-card program needs a reset," said Mayor Danny Avula. "So, today, I'm turning off the vast majority of p-cards and placing new purchasing restrictions on the remaining cards. We'll take the next few months to reassess, retool, and reboot the program in an effective way that really serves Richmonders."

The reset will last at least 60-90 days during which the Department of Procurement Services (DPS) will redesign and then relaunch the p-card program.

During the program reset:

• The only allowable p-card purchases will be those where public health, safety, and critical services would be disrupted if not allowed or where no other payment option exists.
• No travel-related purchases permitted on p-cards. City employees will follow the existing travel advance/reimbursement policy.
• No Amazon purchases permitted on p-cards.
• No food purchases permitted on p-cards (excepting mission-critical, citizen-supporting programs like summer food programs or after-school programs).
• Department directors will no longer be issued p-cards, allowing directors to better focus on approval of purchases.

On April 22, 2025, DPS contracted with NIGP (the Institute for Public Procurement) to conduct an independent assessment of the City's p-card program. NIGP is a national organization that specializes in public procurement best practices, and, following their assessment, will provide DPS a set of recommended improvements to the p-card program.

"My team and I are absolutely committed to creating the most efficient procurement p-card program as possible — for the City of Richmond, the people we do business with, and the residents we serve." said Rene Almaraz, Director of the Department of Procurement Services.

DPS will immediately begin work on:

• Revising p-card policies and procedures based on the recommendations of the NIGP assessment
• Training staff on revised policies and procedures
• Implementing a third-party, AI-supported auditing tool
• Investigating additional revenue opportunities through the p-card programs rebate structure
• Evaluating alternate p-card providers, and, if there are significant benefits, switching card providers
• Updating related City policies like the ones regarding travel, discretionary spend, etc.

The reset period will end only after DPS staff has implemented updated policies, trained staff, and, potentially, changed card providers. The City of Richmond will make the updated p-card policies public when they are finalized.