The departments of Interior and Transportation have agreed to use purchasing cards from JPMorgan Chase & Co.
The New York banking company announced the two contracts Wednesday and said it has won similar contracts with about a dozen other agencies, though it would not name them.
The agreements are part of the General Services Administration's SmartPay 2 program. It began in 1998 to seek purchasing cards for government agencies from a limited pool of providers. SmartPay 2 is the second round of bidding, and all agencies in the program must sign contracts by November.
In the first program, JPMorgan won bids with three agencies and some of their subagencies; in this round, it now has won business with 13, though it would only identify the Interior and Transportation departments. All are four-year contracts with an option to renew for 10 years.
W. Stephen Kouns, the executive project manager at JPMorgan Chase's federal card solutions division, said his company's improved showing in the second round "has to do with the commitment of the firm to this market space."
He described the bidding as "an absolute level playing field" on which winning business with one agency does not improve its chances with another.
Its experience in the first SmartPay program helped, he said. "We have a reputation for a high customer service level with the agencies we've handled during SmartPay 1."
The Department of the Interior ordered 88,000 cards, which JPMorgan projects will generate $660 million a year of transaction volume. "There are very, very, very few corporate accounts that are capable of producing that type of volume," he said.
The Department of Transportation ordered 39,000 cards; the agency made $130 million worth of transactions in 2006.