Home Rep. Gerry Connolly, rating member of the Committee on Oversight and Authorities Reform, has demanded an investigation into the Common Providers Administration’s reported plan to grant a $25 million pilot program contract to fintech startup Ramp.
In a Could 9 letter despatched to the company’s appearing administrator, Connolly, D-VA, requested data and paperwork associated to the bid Ramp has submitted to the GSA and up to date conferences between the fintech and senior GSA officers like Josh Gruenbaum, commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service, to raised perceive GSA’s contractor choice course of for the SmartPay program.
Connolly asserted that the Trump administration has known as SmartPay “damaged” and blocked entry for employees at federal businesses just like the Nationwide Institutes of Well being and the Federal Aviation Administration.
“In what seems to be a textbook instance of waste, fraud and abuse, the Trump Administration’s false claims concerning the SmartPay program could also be an try to discredit this system to offer a brand new, Trump-affiliated contractor with a profitable contract,” Connolly wrote within the letter.
The GSA’s pilot program, one of many a number of contracts that comprise its SmartPay program, is an initiative below federal oversight that gives expense playing cards to authorities workers to purchase workplace provides and tools, e-book journey, and pay for fuel.
The congressman mentioned Ramp has no federal contracting expertise, however alleged the corporate’s ties with Trump’s household and Elon Musk’s allies are serving to it bag the contract.
Ramp reportedly leveraged its political connections in at the very least 4 conferences with Trump appointees on the GSA to snag one of many contracts that makes up the $700 billion program overseeing the federal authorities’s expense card program, Connolly famous. ProPublica first reported the conferences final month.
Connolly has known as GSA’s choice to award the contract to Ramp an instance of “pay-to-play” because it bypasses protocols for a public bidding course of, and alleged {that a} GSA worker just lately said that Ramp is the “favourite” to win the contract.
The give attention to the company bank card agency is uncommon and suspicious as a result of “[y]ou don’t wish to give this impression that management has already determined the winner someway,” Connolly quoted a senior GSA official as saying.
Connolly highlighted that Ramp’s traders embody enterprise capital companies with ties to outstanding people linked to President Donald Trump, together with Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel and Jared Kushner’s brother Joshua Kushner, and allies of Elon Musk. Keith Rabois, one in all Ramp’s earliest traders, raised greater than $1 million for Trump’s 2024 marketing campaign, in accordance with the congressman.
Connolly insisted upon an in depth and complete rationalization of the choice metric utilized by GSA for the SmartPay pilot program contractors, all paperwork the company acquired from any firm bidding for SmartPay, and an in depth listing of all conferences and the aim of every assembly between any GSA officers and any Ramp consultant.
Connolly additional requested for all communications associated to Ramp and the SmartPay pilot program between GSA personnel and any particular person related to the president and the Division of Authorities Effectivity.
The RFI for the SmartPay pilot program, which was introduced on March 20, was open for fewer than seven enterprise days, Connolly mentioned. Ramp reportedly started tapping into its connections within the funds business about particular financial institution identification numbers required to course of authorities funds earlier than this RFI was publicly introduced, he mentioned. Connolly requested a proof about who selected the timeline of the RFI and the rationale for doing so.
Connolly has requested for the knowledge backed by paperwork by Could 23.
Ramp and the GSA didn’t return requests for feedback.
Democratic lawmakers have repeatedly requested for readability associated to Trump and his household’s ties with numerous firms and the potential earnings they stand to make from them. Final week, Home Democrats blocked a first-of-its-kind stablecoin bill, elevating issues about Trump benefiting from crypto due to his involvement in a billion-dollar enterprise deal that additionally has help from state-backed Emirati funding agency MGX, crypto alternate Binance, and Trump-affiliated World Liberty Monetary.
Earlier this month, Fortune reported that Eric Trump, Trump’s son, introduced that MGX will use stablecoins issued by WLF to pay for its current $2 billion funding in Binance.
