Concerns About Proposed Changes to GSA SmartPay Program

The GSA SmartPay® Program is the federal government’s primary system for handling over $700 billion in annual purchases across more than 560 agencies. It uses government-issued credit cards from established banks to simplify purchasing, reduce costs, and maintain strict oversight against fraud and misuse. Recent reports suggest that the administration is preparing to award a major new contract under SmartPay to a private company, Ramp, bypassing the standard competitive procurement process. As reported by Pro Publica: “Ramp’s meetings with GSA come as the agency is poised to take on a more significant role in spending decisions across government. The same day the SmartPay pilot was announced, Trump issued an executive order that seeks to centralize much of government procurement inside of GSA. The DOGE initiative has been effectively headquartered out of the agency …’There’s a lot of money to be made by a new company coming in here,’ said Hashmi, (a) former GSA official. ‘But you have to ask: What is the problem that’s being solved?’”  This raises three major concerns: 1 Lack of Competitive Process: Ramp appears to have been selected without the open, meaningful competitive bidding process that ensures the best value and transparency for federal contracts. This undermines longstanding protections against favoritism, and with Trump’s executive order, may foretell the future direction under the Trump Administration for awarding government contracts. 2 Potential Political Influence: Ramp is financially backed by firms closely tied to President Trump and Elon Musk. This creates serious concerns about conflicts of interest or politically motivated contracting decisions. 3 No Clear Need for Change: The current SmartPay program has worked effectively for decades, with no significant evidence of fraud or operational failure. Changing providers now appears to be a solution in search of a problem, risking disruption to critical government operations without any demonstrated benefit. Ramp has no prior experience handling federal government payment systems — which involve complexity, oversight, and security requirements. Given these concerns, I urge Congress to: • Demand a full explanation of the rationale for bypassing normal contracting rules; • Investigate any potential conflicts of interest; • Pause any pilot programs with Ramp until a thorough, transparent review is completed. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.