On Anniversary of Kemp Administration Soliciting Cash Card Proposals, Questions Abound on Lack of Investigation

Two years ago on Aug 26th, the Kemp Administration solicited proposals to distribute $1.1 billion in federal COVID relief funds — in the form of $350 debit cards sent to Georgians receiving Medicaid, SNAP, and/or TANF benefits — right before the November 2022 election. According to a state audit, the administration violated state law by exceeding their purchasing authority without approval and failing to post the solicitation for proposals to the Georgia Procurement Registry. 

Kemp’s Office of Planning and Budget imposed several requirements on the four companies hand-picked to submit proposals, including:

• Giving the State the ability to design cards.
• Ensuring the program’s launch by September 15, 2022

The audit also noted that while state contracts typically take four to six months, and sometimes as long as a year, this contract was awarded just seven days later. Connecticut-based Rellevate — a gift card company with clients such as Crocs, Dunkin Donuts, and Subway — was the only bidder who could meet Kemp’s two requirements. 

Rellevate, who does not appear to have prior experience with governmental clients, was awarded the contract over two vendors that did. Both Conduent and Stralto have extensive experience processing government benefit payments as well as robust security and fraud prevention protocols. 

A timeline of the contract solicitation and awarding process follows here:

• August 15th: Governor Kemp announces the cash assistance program to distribute $1.1 billion in federal COVID relief funds.
• August 25th: The Georgia Department of Human Services and the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget solicited proposals from four hand-picked vendors.
• September 1st, just seven days later: Georgia announces a contract with Connecticut-based Rellevate, Inc. to administer the program at a price of $15 million.
• September 20th: The first $350 cash assistance cards go out to Georgians. Almost immediately, tens of thousands of users raised alarms that they were unable to access the funds.
• September 20th: The first overseas and military ballots were sent out for the 2022 general election.
• October 10th: The first domestic absentee ballots were sent out for the 2022 general election.

Despite clear evidence that state law was broken — even after multiple calls for the Attorney General or Inspector General to launch a formal investigation — no one in the Kemp Administration has taken responsibility or faced accountability for their wrongdoing in this case.