Congressman is investigating fintech Ramp’s attempt to win $25M federal contract

Rep. Gerald Connolly, ranking subordinate of the U.S. House Oversight Committee, has initiated an probe into whether disbursal absorption startup Ramp is receiving preferential attraction successful its bid for a $25 cardinal authorities contract.

Connolly sent a letter to the General Services Administration (GSA) Acting Administrator, Stephen Ehikian, demanding accusation and documents related to the GSA’s reported plans to grant a declaration for a aviator programme to Ramp. News of the probe was archetypal reported by ProPublica.

Among Connolly’s biggest concerns are that Ramp allegedly has “zero national contracting experience” and its investors see a fig of Trump allies and supporters. Those investors see Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund; Keith Rabois of Khosla Ventures; Thrive Capital, which was founded by Josh Kushner, member of Trump’s son-in-law Jared; vocal Trump protagonist 8VC’s Joe Lonsdale and Jeb Bush, erstwhile politician of Florida and member of erstwhile Republican President George W. Bush. Rabois, according to Connolly’s letter, raised much than $1 cardinal for Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign. 

Connolly is requesting respective things from the GSA, including a elaborate database of each meetings between immoderate GSA authoritative and immoderate Ramp typical and each communications betwixt immoderate GSA official, contractor, oregon subcontractor and immoderate Ramp representative.

The government’s interior disbursal paper program, dubbed SmartPay, is simply a $700 cardinal program. Currently, Citibank and US Bank, 2 of the nation’s largest suppliers of recognition cards, are the authoritative banks of the existent SmartPay contract.

In April, Ramp’s caput of communications, Lindsay McKinley, confirmed to TechCrunch that the startup was “competing successful a modular procurement process for a SmartPay aviator programme based connected the spot of our solution.”

She claimed that the startup Ramp saw a nationalist station connected X shared by the Department of Government Efficiency, amended known arsenic DOGE, connected February 18 that said “the US authorities presently has ~4.6M progressive recognition cards/accounts, which processed ~90M unsocial transactions for  ~$40B of walk successful FY24.”

A erstwhile customer, Ramp claims, introduced Ramp to GSA a fewer days later.

However, Connolly alleges that Ramp reportedly began contacting entities successful the outgo manufacture astir peculiar slope recognition numbers required to process authorities payments earlier a petition for accusation (RFI) related to the declaration was publically announced. 

He besides claimed that a GSA worker precocious stated that Ramp was the “favorite” to triumph this business.

Ramp did not person immoderate remark connected Connolly’s investigation.

In March, Ramp doubled its valuation to $13 cardinal aft a $150 cardinal secondary stock sale. Since its inception successful 2019, the startup has raised implicit $1 cardinal successful equity financing and $700 cardinal successful committed indebtedness funding.