Sponsors (5)
The bill lets GSA block payment processors that classify merchants (e.g., as "gun retailers")—protecting federal employees from indirect support of those merchants and allowing exclusion without immediate contract disruption—at the cost of narrowing the vendor pool, risking higher procurement costs, reduced contractor revenue, and reduced transparency in transaction oversight.
Federal employees who use government payment cards will no longer have their transactions routed through processors that classify merchants as "gun retailers," reducing indirect federal support for those merchant categories.
The General Services Administration (GSA) can exclude payment processors based on merchant‑category policies while preserving existing contracts awarded before enactment, allowing implementation without immediately disrupting current SmartPay agreements.
Government agencies will have fewer vendor options for GSA SmartPay contracts, raising the risk of higher procurement costs and reduced competition for government payment services.
Payment processors and commercial vendors that adopt merchant‑category codes (MCCs) identifying 'gun retailers' could be effectively barred from future GSA SmartPay business, harming those contractors' revenue from federal contracts.
The policy could push transactions toward processors that do not transparently categorize merchants, complicating oversight and auditing of government card use.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Prevents GSA from awarding new SmartPay contracts to commercial payment systems that use payment processors assigning an MCC for gun retailers.
Introduced January 3, 2025 by Andrew S. Biggs · Last progress January 3, 2025
Prohibits the General Services Administration (GSA) from awarding any future SmartPay Program contract for a commercial payment system that uses a payment processor which has implemented a merchant category code (MCC) for gun retailers. Contracts already awarded before the law takes effect are explicitly exempted. The measure does not create new spending, change other statutes, or alter existing contracts; it only limits which payment systems GSA may select for new SmartPay awards based on whether their processors use an MCC for gun retailers.