Congressman Gerald Connolly has opened an investigation into the shady behavior of the fintech startup Ramp. This decision follows accusations of preferential treatment in connection with Ramp’s bid for a $25 million contract with the General Services Administration (GSA). Ramp focuses on enterprise expense management and has raised a combined $540 million since launching in 2019. Standalone, they’ve raised more than $1 billion in equity financing and $700 million in committed debt.
Ramp’s success has investors chipping in along the way, including big name Silicon Valley players like Peter Thiel and Keith Rabois, among others. The company’s valuation soared to $13b after a $150m secondary share sale in March. Its most recent attempt at landing a government contract is causing some major concern. This has led to a broader inquiry from Rep. Gerry Connolly, the Republican ranker of the U.S. House Oversight Committee.
The crux of the controversy has been Ramp’s alleged early outreach to these payment industry heavyweights. So, they asked for special bank identification numbers that are required to process federal government payments. This outreach took place before the official public notice of a coming request for information (RFI) on the contract. Connolly was clearly troubled by these actions, asking if this is all a sign of an unrealistic competitive edge.
In a letter addressed to GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian, Connolly demanded information and documentation regarding the agency’s reported plans to award Ramp the contract for a pilot program under its SmartPay initiative—a $700 billion internal expense card program. Radford is asking for a complete accounting of every meeting that took place between GSA officials and Ramp lobbyists. He’s particularly interested in seeing any communications that included the contractors and subcontractors.
Connolly’s inquiry finds that Ramp has “no federal contracting experience whatsoever.” That should raise significant questions about the good faith of its propose. The representative reiterated his alarm over the worrisome ties between Ramp’s backers and elected officials. He continued on to point out that Keith Rabois has raised more than $1 million for Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign.
Ramp says one of its ex-customers alerted it to this to the GSA’s RFI. This occurred just days after the Texas Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) tweeted on social media platform X, February 18. Unfortunately, this timeline has thrown a new wrench into this story, implying possible collusion or favoritism.
“Ramp appears to be the favorite,” – GSA employee (as stated by Rep. Gerald Connolly)
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